Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 408: It turns out that vaccination with cowpox was successful
"Do you want to tell Gu that your research over the past ten years has failed?"

Zhu Zhantang suppressed his anger and asked in a cold tone.

He actually knew in his heart that in terms of Ding Baoguo's one thousandth failure rate, it was not considered a failure.

After all, Zhu Qika is too young, and if he gets vaccinated, he is likely to be one thousandth of the chance of failure.

As for his five sons from a concubine, except for the third and fourth sons who died due to premature birth, the other three sons were all successfully vaccinated after the age of three and are now very healthy.

Zhu Zhantang asked Ding Baoguo to study vaccination ten years ago just so that it could come in handy in the future.

But now, his only legitimate son is about to die due to the pox epidemic.

Of course, the beautiful princess Zhang is still very young and will give birth to a legitimate son for him in the future, but after all, Zhu Qika is his only legitimate son at present, and he must do his best to keep him.

"How's the cowpox research going?"

Zhu Zhantang asked again.

Because Zhu Gaoxu had previously appointed a special imperial medical organization to study cowpox vaccination, so ten years ago, he asked Ding Baoguo to also conduct research on cowpox vaccination at the same time.

"I would like to report to your Majesty that in the past three years, I and my disciples have vaccinated more than [-] people with cowpox, but none of them failed, including my direct descendants."

Ding Baoguo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and quickly added: "I planned to report to the king before the Spring Festival, but I never thought that His Highness would be infected with pox."

What he meant was that there was nothing he could do about Zhu Qikan at the moment. After all, the child was too young and was not old enough to be vaccinated. Even if he was vaccinated in advance, the danger would be a narrow escape.

"Have you succeeded in getting vaccinated against cowpox?"

Zhu Zhantang asked lukewarmly.

Ding Baoguo replied cautiously: "Among the more than ten thousand people, not one has failed. It should be successful."

"It's foolproof, it's done."

Zhu Zhantang felt sad and happy at the same time, and sighed: "God is not kind to me! God is not kind to me!"

In ancient times, smallpox was a terrible infectious disease with no cure.

However, once you have it once and recover, you will never get it again.

Based on this characteristic, ancient Chinese doctors used several methods to cause people who had never had smallpox to be slightly infected with smallpox, thereby gaining immunity.

In Ge Hong's "Emergency Prescriptions" written by Ge Hong in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Chinese people recorded the onset and symptoms of smallpox in detail for the first time and discussed treatment drugs.

Since then, Chinese doctors have taken a brave first step in immunology, revealing a glimmer of hope in defeating smallpox. In Sun Simiao's medical book, he proposed for the first time the concept of "fighting poison with poison" and suggested using the infected "father's blood" and "pus" "Carry out immune prophylaxis.

In the Song Dynasty, doctors began to try "variolus" to prevent smallpox.

Specifically, a little scab was taken from a person who had smallpox, ground up, and put into the nostrils of a person who didn't have smallpox with a cotton swab.

After hundreds of years of gradual improvement, it had reached a fairly mature level by the Ming Dynasty.

That is, when taking smallpox scabs, take them from people who have the disease but are relatively mild, so that the harm of the virus is less severe.

The scabs that are just removed are called "raw seedlings". If they are taken again after vaccination and continued for seven generations, "the selection and practice will become more and more mature, the fire poison will be eliminated, the essence will still remain, and everything will be perfect without any trouble." It can be called "Mature seedlings".

"Cooked vaccine" is less toxic than "raw vaccine", which makes it safer for people who receive vaccination.

Historically, the technology of "variolation" gradually took shape in the Ming Dynasty, but the people were tabooed against vaccination out of fear. The vaccination itself was also very immature due to the lack of scientific research collection organized by the court, so it did not receive enough research in China. promotion.

In the 17th year of Yongle reign, since Zhu Gaoxu came to power, he paid great attention to the technology of smallpox prevention and control.

In addition to continuing to attach importance to isolation and investment in drug research, new prevention and treatment methods have also been boldly launched.

Later, Zhu Zhantang was infected with smallpox, and Zhu Gaoxu sent people to find Mo Qilai, an old gentleman who was proficient in vaccination medicine, for treatment.

After Zhu Zhantang recovered, Zhu Gaoxu strongly recommended the vaccination method to Zhu Di. Not only was it approved, but he was also the first to try it out in the palace.Every spring and autumn, Zhu Gaoxu sent people to assist the old doctor Mo Qi in the Forbidden City to vaccinate royal children aged three to six years old with variola, and achieved good results.

In the 20th year of Yongle, Zhu Gaoxu was not satisfied with Mo Qi's success. After hearing that there were folk doctors in Jiangdong who were good at vaccination, he even ordered Wang Jinghong, an eunuch and eunuch, to go and seek advice. The local chief envoy participated in politics and recommended doctor Ding Qixun to answer the imperial edict.

After Ding Qixun came to Beijing, he inoculated the descendants of the royal family and ministers with variola, and achieved remarkable results. He was admitted as an imperial doctor at the imperial hospital. In the sixth year of Qianxi, he was ordered to go to the Western Regions and the desert to inoculate soldiers from various capital guards.

Half a lifetime of vaccination career increased Ding Qixun's experience in prevention and treatment. In the eighth year of Qianxi reign, he was ordered to compile the "Complete Book of Vaccination".

From then on, the vaccination technology was officially recognized by the imperial court and became an authoritative method to prevent and treat smallpox, which was quickly promoted throughout the country.

With the encouragement of the imperial court, doctors from all over the country studied hard and continued to ponder. Some experienced "acne department" doctors have a success rate of nearly [-]% in vaccination.

Zhu Gaoxu not only sent people to find medical talents to vaccinate, but also published the "Using the Method of Universal Vaccination" among the people, persuading people to vaccinate their children and children to prevent smallpox infection.

In addition, the "Conclusion of Pox Rash" was published and distributed to disseminate vaccine planting technology.

Under the leadership of Zhu Gaoxu, Ming Dynasty achieved initial results in its battle against smallpox.

Ding Baoguo is Ding Qixun's nephew. He studied medicine with Ding Qixun when he was young. Later, he followed the American King Zhu Zhantang across the ocean to Wozhou.

Zhu Zhantang was vaccinated against human pox when he was a child and almost failed to survive, so he took this very seriously.

Moreover, Zhu Gaoxu once said that the Wozhou natives might be wiped out by the infectious diseases carried by the Ming people. If the Wozhou vassals want to turn barbarians into summer, they must pay attention to vaccination.

Therefore, Zhu Zhantang asked Ding Baoguo to study vaccination.

Because Ding Baoguo often led his disciples to vaccinate the people with pox, he found that some people were already resistant to smallpox when they were vaccinated with smallpox.

In order to find the specific reason for this, he went through many inquiries and was surprised to find that these people had all had cowpox before.

The symptoms of cowpox are not that severe. Although many milkers will be infected with cowpox by cows, Ding Baoguo has never heard of anyone dying from cowpox infection.

And he himself has been ordered to study the technology of vaccination with cowpox, that is, using "vaccination with cowpox" instead of "vaccination with variola".

He constantly observed and recorded the status of cowpox. After years of practice, he was convinced that cows infected with cowpox would not die, and neither would people infected with cowpox.

That's why he dared to use his direct descendants for experiments.

Ding Baoguo's eldest grandson died when he was vaccinated against variola, and his second grandson was even weaker. He was worried that variola would make his second grandson follow in the footsteps of his eldest grandson, so he let his second grandson try it. A new method of vaccination with cowpox.

He clearly remembered that on the day of his fiftieth birthday, he completed the experiment of inoculating cowpox on his second-grandson.

He took fluid from a cowpox pustule from a milkmaid's hand, then made two cuts with a scalpel on his six-year-old second-grandson's arm and injected the fluid from the pustule.

This experiment was very successful. Ding Baoguo's second grandson not only recovered, but also showed almost no obvious pox reaction when he was vaccinated with variola.

"Go and submit the medical record of your successful vaccination with cowpox. After I enter the capital this time, I will take the opportunity to ask my father for credit."

Zhu Zhantang raised his hand and said slowly.

As usual, he and his brothers overseas would take their wives and children back to Beijing every Spring Festival to reunite with Zhu Gaoxu and Li Yao to celebrate the New Year.

They will stay in the capital until mid-March before returning to their respective feudal states.

Because in early March the court would hold a ceremony for Queen Ren Xiaowen (Xu Miaoyun) and Emperor Taizongwen, followed by ancestor worship at the Ancestral Temple, and then a vassal meeting, there would be a lot of things going on.

After all, during Qingming Festival, also known as March Festival, Ancestor Worship Festival, etc., it is very normal for grandchildren to pay homage to their grandparents.

"Your Majesty is kind, I thank you!"

Ding Baoguo bowed with great excitement.

(End of this chapter)