Chapter 120 Tropical Disease Research Center
January 4, 1868
Berlin, the political center of Prussia, is also one of its academic centers.
Many Prussian universities, academic and research institutions are gathered here.
Today, Ernst also established a medical research institution in Berlin, the Center for Tropical Disease Research.
Ernst's knowledge of medicine was nothing more than a rolling pin blowing on fire. But with money, there is nothing you can't do. Once the funds are available, there are many capable people and strangers to invest.
Tropical Disease Research Center, as you can tell from the name, its research projects are mainly focused on conquering tropical diseases.
As a mid-latitude country with no overseas colonies, Prussia’s research on tropical diseases was basically zero compared to countries such as Britain and France in the same period.
In this era, not to mention the study of tropical diseases, even common infectious diseases are still in the exploratory stage, so it is absolutely difficult to make achievements.
Ernst does not expect that his research results will immediately improve the medical conditions in East Africa. It is only right to make technical reserves in advance.
Why in the past life, those Western medical companies and research institutions were able to monopolize the most cutting-edge theories and technologies in medicine.
It is not because they started early and the strong national support of the West allowed them to build a strong fortress.
The Tropical Disease Research Center is responsible for preparing technology and experience for future medicine in East Africa. If you fall behind one step, that is not a problem. It is terrible if you fall behind step by step.
The Tropical Disease Research Center, although the name contains the word "tropical", in fact, the research field is not limited to the tropics.
This research center will be divided into two parts, one will be built in East Africa and the other will be built in Berlin.
After all, when conducting infectious disease research in Berlin, without preservation technology, it is difficult to obtain tropical virus and bacterial samples (living samples are OK), so the Berlin part mainly studies traditional diseases in continental Europe.
As for the establishment of a tropical disease research center in East Africa, it will definitely cost more money. For example, for personnel, the only choice is medical talents with higher education in Europe.
Without huge benefits, whoever goes to Africa to work for you does not rule out people with pure love and lofty ideals who are willing to sacrifice their lives and blood for the cause of human medicine, but everyone still has to eat.
So the salary of the staff of the East African Tropical Disease Research Center must not be low, and they must be provided with huge insurance to eliminate their worries.
Medical equipment is a huge expense, which cannot be saved. If you want to achieve results, you cannot do without the blessing of the most advanced medical tools.
Berlin is okay, but that place in East Africa has to be transported by sea, which is time-consuming, laborious and expensive.
At the same time, Ernst is preparing to acquire a batch of medical materials from all over the world for professional reference.
For example, penicillin, Ernst heard that he had been exposed to this kind of thing in ancient China in his previous life. Ernst didn’t know whether it was true or false. After all, the Internet in his previous life was a big ditch, and rumors cost nothing.
But "artemisinin" has official endorsement, so it must be recorded in ancient Chinese medical books.
In addition to traditional Chinese medicine, other parts of the world have their own medicine, or witch doctors.
There are always some successful cases and mature medicines in these medicines for professionals to study.
In fact, according to the characteristics of this era, there is no need to set up a separate disease research center in the colony.
Many countries set up their research institutes at home and collect samples from all over the world. The main reason why Ernst went to great lengths to recreate a research center in East Africa was due to cognitive fear.
In the past life, the infectious diseases in Africa had a very bad reputation. AIDS, Ebola, Marburg... there were all kinds of viral ceilings.
So Ernst was very cautious. If he got African virus samples to Europe and caused huge losses... the consequences would be disastrous, especially if it was finally traced back to the source and found to be Ernst's work. Then there would be no Ernst in the world. A place to stay.
Of course, this is a bit unfounded. There was a special reason why Africa was a hotbed of viruses in previous lives.
Africa, as the place where humans originated, also retains the most diverse genes, which provides multiple possibilities for virus mutation.
Coupled with the poor sanitary conditions of Africans, such as drinking dirty water and eating raw meat...
There are other conditions conducive to the emergence of viruses, such as war, poor medical conditions, etc. Africans in previous lives were able to Become a hotbed for viruses.
As for the natural environment, South America, India and Africa are similar. It can be seen that the environment is not the main reason.
Moreover, the East African colony opened by Ernst was itself responsible for the task of driving away the local races. As a result, the genetic diversity of the local races was reduced.
At the same time, sanitary conditions were improved in the colonies and wild animals (especially primates) near the settlements were cleaned up to further reduce the breeding and spread of viruses and diseases.
With the increasing expansion of the East African colonies, it will definitely affect the pattern of the entire Africa in the future. It is hard to say whether the viruses that made people feared in the previous life will emerge.
For example, AIDS originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and appeared around the mid-to-late 20th century.
It's still early! According to the speed of expansion of the East African colonies and the current expansion goals, sooner or later the East African colonies will take over the Mitumba Mountains in the west and the plateau area in southern Congo.
These are places where savannah and tropical rainforest meet, suitable for agricultural development. In its previous life, Rwanda occupied part of Congo's land in the Mitumba Mountains.
Whether he will take over the entire Congo, Ernst has not yet considered. After all, the tropical rainforest is really difficult to develop, and with the help of the rainforest, it is difficult to drive away the indigenous people there.
However, when the northwest region is captured, there will definitely be indigenous people fleeing westward to the Congo and into Zambia in the future. The kingdom there will also face the fate of being driven into the Congo rainforest by the East African colonies.
But the rainforest is not a place where people can survive. In previous lives, most Congolese people settled along the edge of the Congo Basin.
If they want to feed so many people, they can only continue to flee north, to the Central African grasslands or the West African belt.
Anyway, the Congo region is definitely different from its previous life. It is hard to say whether diseases such as AIDS will appear.
However, Ernst's concerns are not unreasonable. The Marburg virus in its previous life was discovered in the Marburg laboratory in the Federal Republic of Germany, so it is necessary to establish a separate research center in East Africa.
The Marburg virus originated in monkeys in Uganda and Kenya, which is now an East African territory.
So, at present, Ernst’s extermination of native primates in East Africa still makes some sense.
You must know that this is the 19th century, and the medical conditions will only be worse than in 1967 (when the Marburg virus was discovered). It is safer to choose the direct method of physical elimination. .
(End of this chapter)