A great plague broke out in the late Qing Dynasty. How did you control the epidemic?

191kloc-0/0 With the death of the first plague patient in Manchuria, the epidemic spread to every corner of Northeast China in a short time. Even plague patients were found in Hebei and Shandong. So, how did this plague start? How did it finally disappear?

(Doctors involved in epidemic prevention)

In Northeast China, mink coats have always been the standard for the rich, and there was a great international demand for mink at that time. So, the wise man found that the groundhog's fur was not inferior to mink after treatment. So catching marmots has become the livelihood of some people.

In a short time, the prairie dog's fur has increased several times. However, in this way, demand is still in short supply. Seeing that it was profitable, the Russians set up a stronghold in Manchuria where marmots gathered, and recruited a large number of workers from China to hunt otters.

Because of the good treatment, some coolies who fled to the northeast continued to join the team of hunting otters, although they did not have hunting skills.

The so-called groundhog is actually a groundhog. Although they are naive, they actually move very fast, which is not easy for inexperienced people to catch.

However, swollen armpits and slow-moving marmots occasionally appear on the grassland. They are all sick otters who were expelled from the same kind after being infected with the plague.

For local residents and experienced hunters, this kind of sick otter is very dangerous, so they never go near them.

But those who have no hunting skills, driven by interests, never let go of those marmots infected with the plague, and even cooked the skinned marmots to satisfy their hunger.

(Isolate epidemic patients)

Soon, marmot hunters were infected with the plague.

At first, there were only one or two cases in Manzhouli, but after only a week or so, the plague has spread to Harbin, which is more than 800 kilometers away from Manzhouli, and it is still spreading to the periphery.

At that time, on the eve of the Spring Festival, the plague spread rapidly in crowded places because no preventive measures were taken. Hundreds of patients are added every day, and countless people die.

Out of fear of the plague, many people in the epidemic area began to flee. However, with the escape of these people, the epidemic area has spread throughout the three northeastern provinces. In the process of fleeing, people spread the plague to more people.

At that time, both Japan and Russia had ambitions to seize the Northeast.

Japan saw the plague raging in the northeast and thought it was profitable, so it fought? Humanism, saving lives? Slogan, intervene in northeast affairs. Deliberately set up an isolation zone to prevent other countries from asking about the epidemic situation in northeast China. At the same time, they also set up epidemic prevention bureaus in various parts of Northeast China, taking the opportunity to place a large number of military and police and intelligence personnel to spy on information and prepare to launch a war of aggression at any time.

With its strong national strength, Russia directly stationed troops in the northeast without going through the Qing government. And warned the precarious Qing government that if the epidemic threatened Russia, they would impose martial law on Harbin and other places.

In addition, the Russians regard China workers who hunt marmots for them as victims of plague, and they are all isolated in several train carriages. Due to cold and hunger, many China workers trapped in the carriage and patients infected with plague died in the carriage.

In addition, refugees who fled to the Russian border were also deported by Russians to ensure that Russia would not be infected by plague.

Faced with the arrogance of Japan and Russia, officials in the three northeastern provinces repeatedly wrote to the Qing government to ask for self-help because they were unable to set up epidemic prevention institutions.

(Old photo of Lian Dewu)

On the recommendation of Foreign Minister Ke Sze Sao, the Qing government finally appointed Lian Dewu, deputy inspector of Tianjin Army Military Medical School, as the chief medical officer to go to the epidemic areas in the three northeastern provinces for epidemic prevention and treatment.

Lin Dewu, a Malaysian, received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Medicine degrees from Cambridge University in his early years. After that, he went to Germany, France and other medical universities and research institutes for further study, and obtained a doctorate in medicine. Later, he opened a clinic for many years and had rich medical experience.

1907, when Yuan Shikai was training in a small station, he invited Lian Dewu as the deputy supervisor of Tianjin Army Medical School.

Since then, with the efforts of Lian Dewu, western medicine has gradually been accepted by Chinese people.

After receiving the appointment of the Qing government, Lian Dewu quickly arrived in Harbin, the worst epidemic area in the three northeastern provinces, and established the first plague research institute.

Subsequently, Lian Dewu imposed compulsory isolation on plague patients, traced the source of the disease, and vigorously carried out epidemic prevention propaganda.

However, there are many difficulties and obstacles in the process of preventing and controlling epidemics in Liandewu.

For example, there are no corpses that can be used for medical anatomy.

Although this plague claimed many lives, people in China have always had this disease? The victim is the biggest? Therefore, the family of the deceased refused to take the deceased out for medical anatomy.

Finally, Lian Dewu managed to find the bodies of two foreigners and was able to conduct an autopsy to determine the epidemic situation.

For another example, at that time, some foreign doctors thought that plague patients would get infected only after they came into contact with mice, and the spread of the epidemic could be controlled by eliminating the source of infection, so they launched a rat-catching campaign.

However, after observing the captured mice, Lian Dewu found that there was no Yersinia pestis on them. He found a large number of Yersinia pestis on the fur processed by the Russians. After finding the source of the epidemic, he boldly concluded that the plague in the northeast was spread by droplets and air, so he began to vigorously promote masks.

(promoting masks)

However, foreign doctors don't agree with Italy's argument. They constantly put pressure on the officials in the three northeastern provinces, hoping to force the Qing government to dismiss Lian Dewu through the officials in the three northeastern provinces.

At this time, a foreign doctor who treated plague patients was infected without touching the patients and died soon.

The death of foreign doctors confirmed Lian Dewu's inference, so masks were popularized.

For example, despite Lian Dewu's efforts, the epidemic has not been effectively controlled. Finally, Lian Dewu draws a conclusion based on his rich medical experience for many years: the reason why the epidemic can't be controlled is that a large number of corpses have not been properly disposed of.

After continuous experiments, Lian Dewu found that Yersinia pestis was on the corpse and could survive for three months. He believes that in order to block the source of infection on the corpse, the corpse must be strictly treated, either buried deep or burned.

Due to the shortage of manpower, it is obviously inappropriate to bury it deeply, so it can only be burned.

(Old photo of Lian Dewu)

Although even De Wu has been studying abroad, he also knows that China people always pay attention to food? Rest in peace? So he didn't dare to make a decision. Therefore, he can only write to the Qing government and report to the Qing government in detail the tragic situation of lying dead everywhere in the northeast. And clearly told the Qing government that the active bacteria in those corpses would lead to more people dying of epidemics.

The Qing government did not dare to be careless. In order to control the epidemic as soon as possible, they specially issued an imperial edict approving cremation in the name of the emperor.

This imperial edict had a great influence on the people in the three northeastern provinces. Soon, many bodies died of epidemic diseases were piled up in public cemeteries, and some buried bodies were dug up and put together.

On this day, it is the first day of the New Year, and the whole country is immersed in the peaceful atmosphere of the Spring Festival. However, in the cemetery on the outskirts of Harbin, there are more than 100 coffins, large and small, stacked together, which looks extremely sad.

Organized by officials in northeast China, more than 200 epidemic prevention personnel dug a deep pit. Later, people piled these coffins full of bodies in deep pits. Because there were not enough coffins, many bodies were piled on coffins.

Subsequently, the epidemic prevention personnel poured kerosene and ignited.

In the raging fire, more than 2000 bodies were quickly reduced to ashes.

Lian Dewu knew that the family of the deceased could not accept this kind of funeral. In order to comfort those who are alive, he distributed leaflets and encouraged everyone to set off firecrackers to wash away bad luck.

Everyone wants the epidemic to pass as soon as possible, so firecrackers are everywhere in urban and rural areas.

Unexpectedly, when all this busyness ended, not only the death toll began to decline, but also the epidemic was slowly controlled.

It turns out that the gunpowder in firecrackers can play a role in disinfection and epidemic prevention after explosion, which has played a benign role in epidemic prevention and control. In addition, Lian Dewu not only blocked the source of infection, but also actively took effective preventive measures, so the epidemic that raged for two months was finally controlled. Then everything developed in a good direction until the death toll was zero, which put a perfect end to this plague that made people panic.

Lian Dewu not only defeated the plague, but also effectively prevented Japan and Russia from invading the northeast of China, which caused great repercussions internationally. Even the Nobel Foundation listed him as a Nobel candidate.