African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 49 Disease Prevention and Control
December 1866, 12.East African colonies.

Great Lakes District (Lake Victoria), Mwanza.

Today, the Great Lakes District is home to the second largest colony immigrant population in East Africa after the Upper Marina, which borders Mwanza Bay on the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria).

The Great Lakes region is rich in water resources, fertile land, and mild climate. The Great Lakes (Victoria) is formed by basin water and is the source of the Nile River.It is located between the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, and the East African colonies currently hold the southern shore of the Great Lakes region, while other areas are in the hands of indigenous peoples.

The first batch of primitive fishing in the East African colonies also started here, all of which were simple canoes, used to catch fish in the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) as a supplement for meat.

Today's Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) are not as devastated by the introduction of farmed Nile perch as in later generations.

Therefore, the special freshwater fish in the big lake are more diverse, and there is no polluted lake water, so it is reassuring to eat.

The Great Lakes region is a relatively humid and rainy area in Africa. The large lake (Lake Victoria) has a large area, which directly changes the local climate and environment.

In sub-Saharan Africa, wetness is not necessarily a good term. For example, Nigeria and Congo in later generations are hotbeds of tropical diseases.

Mosquitoes are also very difficult in East Africa because the equator runs through the middle of Africa.In most parts of Africa, the temperature is basically maintained at more than 20 degrees, which is suitable for the breeding of mosquitoes all year round.

A host of infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are transmitted to humans through mosquitoes.

In later generations, East Africa was the hardest hit area for various diseases such as malaria. In addition to the low level of medical care, the biggest problem was the proliferation of mosquitoes.

Ernst worked in Tanzania in his previous life. Although the protective measures were relatively good, there were so many mosquitoes in Africa that Ernst was infected with malaria twice.

It was the 21st century, and Ernst, a modern person, was still tricked under the blessing of mosquito nets and mosquito coils. One can imagine how terrifying Africa is in the eyes of Europeans in today's era.

So far, most of the European countries' colonies in Africa are narrow coastal plains, and they dare not go deep into the inland.

The Ottoman Empire has the largest land area in Africa, mainly in North Africa and Ethiopia, the second is the Portuguese, which opened up Angola and Mozambique colonies, the third is France, mainly concentrated in a small amount of land in North Africa and West Africa, and finally the British His Cape Colony, other countries, Spain, and the Netherlands can be ignored.

So Ernst's East African colony has become a school of its own in Africa, and it is the first colony to go deep into the inland plateau of Africa.

The Portuguese colony is also relatively large, but the Portuguese management is relatively rough, using the method of controlling the indigenous tribes by the indigenous tribes, fanning the flames everywhere, and finally reaping the benefits of the fisherman.

Although the East African colony is as black as crows, Ernst is indeed running it as his own home. Although the interests of the natives are sacrificed, it is convenient for future immigrants. This is to stay here for a long time.

Comparing the Portuguese colonies with the East African colonies, it is not too much to say that the current environment is such that Portugal can get away with it. After World War II, under the instigation of the United States and the Soviet Union, African countries will still be driven out by the indigenous people.

Of course, this is the history of the previous life. Maybe this world will be annexed by the East African colonies. Anyway, Ernst will not let Mozambique go. No one is allowed to snore on the side of the couch.

The Portuguese have criminal records. They had thought about it in the Sultanate of Zanzibar back then, and they were finally beaten up by Fatty.

There are also Zimbabwe and Zambia regions. The Portuguese also entered a few years ago, but finally withdrew due to the outbreak of indigenous diseases.

Therefore, the greedy Portuguese will attack the East African colonies sooner or later. Ernst must keep an eye on them. If the East African colonies develop smoothly, then the Portuguese will worry about their colonies.

The annual temperature in Dongfei is above [-] degrees, causing the wanton reproduction of mosquitoes, and various viruses are also relatively active.

The current disease is also the biggest problem threatening the survival of immigrants, so the rectification of the sanitation problem in the East African colonies has always been a major issue.

Among them, the water sources near the residence are strictly managed, and the behavior of polluting water sources is strictly prohibited.

Clean up bushes, puddles and other environments suitable for mosquito breeding by fire attack and soil burial.

In large waters, some natural enemy fishes that release some mosquito larvae control their race size.

In the East African colonies, malaria and other diseases were like a lottery, drawing the unlucky immigrants. Fortunately, quinine had appeared in this era.

Ernst also specially introduced the cinchona tree species from South America to be cultivated in suitable places in East Africa, as well as various Chinese herbal medicines,

Western medicine is still relatively metaphysical and not fully mature. Bloodletting therapy is still the mainstream treatment method of contemporary doctors. In 1833 alone, France still imported more than 4000 million leeches.

Fortunately, more and more scholars are beginning to question and oppose the theory of traditional western medicine. Ernst is in the era of transition from traditional western medicine to modern medicine.

19世纪是西药进入到飞速发展时代。 1816年默克（美国）、1849年辉瑞（美国）、1859年诺华（瑞士）、1863年拜耳（德国）、1873年葛兰素（英国）、1875年史克（英国）、1888年雅培（美国）、1896年罗氏（瑞士）等西药公司纷纷成立，人类进入西药时代。

It is undeniable that in some European and American medical laboratories, countless crystallizations of medical wisdom may be bursting out, and will completely replace the status of traditional medicine in the next few decades.

But this process is long and will last until the 20th century before the edifice of modern medicine can be completely established.

Although cutting-edge medicine is advancing by leaps and bounds, the mainstream clinical medicine in the current era is still performed by those traditional "old Western medicine".

These "old Western doctors" who have not been eliminated still have a cognition of diseases, bacteria and viruses in the previous era, and there is no concept of anesthesia, hemostasis and disinfection in surgery.Therefore, outrageous medical accidents often occur.

Ernst did not dare to gamble with them, so it is more reassuring to use those prescriptions with proven experience and few side effects.

In addition to obtaining some local herbal medicines from the natives of East Africa, they also searched for some mature and reliable medicines from traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine.

For example, Cinchona Cream, Artemisia annua, and other drugs that are effective against malaria. Ernst is not a medical student and does not know how to deal with these drugs.

But it is better to have medicine in hand than myrrh, if the colonial immigrants are unfortunate enough to get malaria.

I can only use these two kinds of boiled water to drink. It’s not that I don’t want to use the extracted medicine, but the cost is too high. The colony is so big and the population is large, and the expenses in various aspects are not small. Besides the labor cost, planting medicine is almost free. additional cost.

The land is ready-made, as long as the environment is suitable, you can plant as much as you want, and the price of ordering medicine from Europe is high.

Right now, the most effective way to prevent and control infectious diseases in the East African colonies is to isolate them. Once a problem is found, they will be isolated separately.

The immunity is good enough to survive, but if it cannot survive, it can only die in pain.

Of course, Ernst also purchased some medicines, but due to traffic reasons, most of the medicines were in the Shangbin District, which is the closest to the harbor.

The inland is relatively lagging behind in terms of supplies and medicines, so this requires the inland colonial strongholds to play a greater subjective initiative than the upper coastal area.

Many immigrants were organized to carry out sanitation and cleaning activities, centralized planning and management of garbage and excrement, elimination of mosquito habitats, and planting of mosquito repellent plants (East Africa is the origin of pyrethrum)...

To maximize the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases, in the current era, it can be said that the East African colonial immigrants have the world's leading concept of hygiene.

They may not know what hygiene is, but they know that the chief asked them not to litter, eat food, defecate everywhere...

These are all enforced by the colonial management, otherwise those who violate the rules will be severely punished.

In fact, the colonial management did not have much concept of hygiene, but Ernst forced the colony to follow his instructions, and Ernst told the colonial management righteously that these were the conclusions drawn by European experts.

Believe it or not, colonial officials in East Africa did keep disease at low levels after doing what Ernst told them to do.

Compared with the colonies of other countries, the effect is remarkable, even better than some well-developed regions and countries, such as Mozambique next door and India in South Asia.

(End of this chapter)