Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 467 Tropical Fertile Soil ([-])

Apart from carpenters and old farmers, the people of New China were most concerned about Chinese medicine practitioners from Ming Dynasty.

The environment in the tropics is harsh. In addition to the number one killer, malaria, the residents of New China are also suffering from diseases such as typhoid, plague, dysentery, and colds. The annual mortality rate is as high as 10%. It is an overseas colony (South Africa, New China , Heishui three regions) where the death rate of residents is the highest.If it weren't for the extremely rich land here and the very important geographical location, to be honest, I'm afraid the Executive Committee would not be very willing to develop this tropical colony.

Later generations, the Dutch developed Indonesia, the British developed the Malay region, the French developed Equatorial Africa, and the Japanese developed Taiwan and New Guinea. All of them paid a heavy price, and the number of staff lost due to illness was even unbearable.This was still in the 19th and early 20th centuries when medical and health conditions were good. One can imagine how much staff reduction would be caused by this kind of development of hot areas in the 17th century when medical care was blank.We can say without hesitation that the annual death rate of more than 10 official residents in Xinhua Port and Tacheng is currently controlled at 20%, and the people on the east coast have done a very good job.According to normal circumstances, the death rate of the immigrant population should be between 30% and [-]%, because they do not have the natural resistance to some tropical diseases in the bodies of local residents who have lived for a long time.

Therefore, one can imagine the thirst for doctors in the New China colony.In the past, most of the immigrants recruited by the people on the east coast were from refugees. Among them, there were not many skilled ones, and even fewer were doctors. The only few were taken away by the local people.This time, Shi Qinjie and others had to keep a few of them, even if they went to the executive committee to file a lawsuit with the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

There are only two doctors in this group of immigrants from Yucheng County, an experienced Chinese medicine practitioner in his 40s and his young apprentice, well, the two clerks in his pharmacy don’t know if they should be counted, let’s count them for the time being Bar.So, that is, they intercepted a total of four medical staff.God is sorry, these are the first batch of official doctors in the New China Colony.

The good news spread throughout the city immediately.The old Chinese doctor who had been sitting in Xinhua Port for a period of time was carried to the square by the excited residents. Farmers from Ireland, fruit farmers from Provence, Cossacks from the South Russian Plain, and the vast majority of them came from Shandong Daming Immigrants, everyone is venting their happiness in their own way.Everyone shared the lychees produced in the back mountain (introduced by the Portuguese three years ago), the high-quality honey produced on the small islands in the bay, the fresh coconuts picked in the port, and the big ones just caught in the bay. Lobster, even the introverted immigrants from the Ming Dynasty were all smiling.

The tall Pei Suoning closed the window to block out the hustle and bustle of the square.After the windows were closed, the refreshing sea breeze could no longer blow in, and the air in the house suddenly seemed a little hot and humid.Now Xinhua is the season when the hot season alternates with the cool season. Even in the cool and suitable Xinhua Port, the nighttime temperature here still reaches as much as 23-[-] degrees.It sounds like the temperature is not high, but if you consider the super high air humidity here, you will not be so optimistic. After all, this place is tropical—tropical unsuitable for human habitation.

"Sir, I think this drug is really effective." The former Irish farmer Charles McKinley, who has officially changed his name to McKinley, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Pei Suoning in a slightly excited voice. .

Pei Suoning is a student of zoologist and botanist Meng Hu. His original name is Pei Suoning. He comes from Finland.Currently serving as Shi Qinjie's assistant, but he only devotes part of his energy to government affairs in his daily life, and at other times he is doing another crucial thing under Shi Qinjie's order - that is to find another drug that can treat malaria. Drugs with good therapeutic effect.

Pei Suoning is deeply convinced of this. The urgency of this matter is beyond doubt, even more important than some industrial development projects, because it is directly related to the lives of local residents. After all, no one can guarantee their own safety. Don't be bitten by mosquitoes.If you bite you, there is almost a 1% chance of getting malaria. This is no joke. Outsiders like them basically have no resistance to this disease, and the chance of getting sick is very high.If within 24 hours of getting sick (the most antibodies produced in the body at this time), the person has not been able to resist the outbreak of malaria, then the person can be pronounced the death penalty.In the New China area where falciparum malaria is prevalent, this person can't live for a few days.Even if his luck was overwhelming or his physique was against the sky, if he survived it at the time, he would still face the threat of relapse in the future, which is simply a nightmare that will haunt him for a lifetime.

Last year, Pei Suoning learned from some local aborigines who took refuge in the East Coast Republic that in the southern jungle, many kinds of plants grow, which more or less have the effect of resisting or suppressing malaria. Thousands of local people These drugs have been used for treatment for many years.Pei Suoning attached great importance to this situation, and he quickly recruited three assistants in Xinhua Port to go deep into the southern jungle with him for sampling and research.

A large mountainous jungle in the south of Xinhua Port is controlled by the newly established island of Eight Banners. With the help of the people on the east coast, these people continue to resist the invasion of hostile tribes and even the feudal kingdom on the central plateau.Therefore, when Pei Suoning and others asked them to assist in sampling for research, these people did not refuse.

In the next year, Pei Suoning would often take his assistants deep into the island's Eight Banners' station in the southern jungle, take samples and then return to the city to treat the patients to see how the effect was, and so on.He has experimented with hundreds of plants that are said to be effective, medicinal teas that local people often drink to treat malaria, and even so-called "medicines" that appear in some witchcraft ceremonies.In the end, he selected 229 anti-malarial plants that he and his assistants had observed for a long time and believed to have "at least a little effect", and one of the plants seemed to have a much higher curative effect than the others.

According to a local doctor who once gave a lecture, this plant can only act on malaria liver cells in the early stage, and does not work on malaria in the blood stage. Therefore, it can be judged that this plant can only treat malaria that has just been ill Patient works.Although there are some limitations, this is already a huge breakthrough, because it means that quite a few people may be saved.

There are many plants of this kind in the jungles of the south. According to an incomplete list of animals and plants compiled by Menghu, Pei Suoning thought that this plant should be classified as strychnopsis thouarsii in the family Fangji.The locals grind the bark of this plant and make it into a decoction, sometimes with their homemade antimalarial tea, which has a certain effect.Pei Suoning and others once tested this drug on patients. As a result, one of the three patients did survive after taking the decoction, and it seemed to be cured, and there has been no recurrence so far.

Concerned that this was an accidental event, Pei Suoning and others went deep into the jungle to collect a considerable part of the materials, and at the same time learned the antimalarial tea from the locals. Malaria patients), Pei Suoning and others found that this drug really has a certain effect.Especially for those malaria patients who are in the early stage of onset, the effect is quite outstanding.Generally speaking, this drug has a certain inhibitory effect on malaria. If it is combined with other treatment methods and the patient's physical fitness is stronger, it may be able to be cured. The ratio is about one-fifth.

Moreover, although the curative effect of this medicine is not as strong as cinchona bark powder, once it is cured, it is generally difficult to relapse.Because after a person is bitten by a mosquito carrying malaria parasites, there are likely to be dozens of malaria parasites in the body, and cinchona bark powder cannot kill them all at one time, so the patients often relapse after being cured.However, this drug inhibits the early development of malaria parasites. Once malaria is cured with other "drugs" such as herbal teas and plant roots, it will be difficult to relapse.Therefore, the role of this drug should not be underestimated.

"Thanks to the unique geography, climate, and animal and plant environment of Xinhua Island, this is a closed continent isolated from the world, and there are no diseases and insect pests that are found on many continents. At the same time, there are also growths here that can resist the evil disease of malaria. Drugs, I have to say, the true God loves this piece of land too much." Pei Suoning was not as excited as McKinley, but his voice was also a little passionate.

Perhaps realizing that he had lost his composure, Pei Suoning calmed down his mood a little, and then said: "This drug should be decocted with antimalarial tea, the effect will be greatly increased, but there is no guarantee that everyone can be cured. The effect on local aborigines will be stronger, but it will be much worse on outsiders, but this is still an excellent drug, at least it can save the lives of 20%-30% of malaria patients. It's a huge credit."

"How should this drug be named?" McKinley asked subconsciously with a packet of decoction in his hand.

"We conducted a total of 108 experiments before and after, and lost two friends forever, let's call it drug No. 108." Pei Suoning simply replied, "50% of the drug patent rights belong to the New China Pioneering Team who sponsored us All, 30% of the rights and interests are owned by the Xinhua Port Health Center that provided the test equipment and venue, and the other 20% is owned by you and me and the other two friends who participated in this matter. Although they have passed away forever for various reasons, their Direct heirs have the right to enjoy this right. I will explain this to Captain Shi, and he will approve it."

(End of this chapter)