Li Anyuan hurriedly came to Liu Jin and Wang Shouren. He was leading the medical team that came to Jiangnan this time. He had extremely rich experience in fighting epidemics and had once led a team to Huanghuangzhou to fight smallpox.
He even personally traveled to Africa in order to study yellow fever. He has conducted in-depth research on many infectious diseases and is regarded as the Ming Dynasty's authority in the field of infectious diseases.
"Professor Li, how is the situation?"
Seeing Li Anyuan, Wang Shouren also asked quickly.
"The situation is quite optimistic. Although the situation in Yangzhou and Suzhou is particularly serious and a large number of patients are sick, this kind of schistosomiasis is not very contagious. As long as you do not come into contact with infected water, you will not be infected.
There is no need for emergency measures such as city closures and road closures.”
"But schistosomiasis is not just limited to Suzhou, it is also found in Yangzhou and Yangzhou. It is widespread in the entire Yangtze River Basin and even in large areas south of the Yangtze River."
"Although there are no large-scale outbreaks in normal times, it is still extremely harmful. A large number of people die from this disease every year."
"And currently, we have not found any effective method or drug to treat schistosomiasis. For patients suffering from this disease, we can only pray that they can survive it."
Li Anyuan shook his head as he spoke.
"Is there really no way to cure it?"
When Wang Shouren heard this, he frowned deeply.
Judging from the data reported in Yangzhou and Suzhou, hundreds of thousands of people in the two places are infected with this kind of schistosomiasis. If there is really no treatment, it means that a large number of people will die from this disease.
"There is currently no good solution."
"Whether it is ancient books such as "Qianjin Prescriptions", "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", "Back of the Elbow", "Three Causes of Prescriptions", or many medical books written now, we have too little research on this kind of schistosomiasis."
"The main reason is that there were no large-scale outbreaks of this kind of schistosomiasis before, or even if there was an outbreak, it was not taken seriously, so in the end it was left alone, and there was too little research on it."
Li Anyuan shook his head helplessly and said.
"Well, let's do this. I will ask the Ming Dynasty Daily to report and publish this news. At the same time, I will seek help from doctors all over the world to see if there are any doctors who know good prescriptions and methods to treat these schistosomiasis."
Liu Jin on the side thought for a while and said.
Since schistosomiasis is widespread in several provinces throughout the south, there may be doctors who have studied it and figured out effective prescriptions and treatments.
"This is a good idea. Now that there is a telegraph, if there is a good recipe and method, we can implement it soon."
When Li Anyuan heard this, his eyes immediately lit up.
Nowadays, transportation and information are very smooth. He was still in the capital a few days ago, but now everyone has arrived in Jiangnan.
As soon as the news reached the capital via telegram, the order was issued to him, and he immediately formed a medical team and came to Jiangnan without stopping.
By taking the train, he arrived in Jiangnan in less than two days. This efficiency and speed were something he could not even imagine before.
"In addition to controlling the epidemic, we also discovered an important reason for the schistosomiasis pandemic in Jiangnan through visits to many places."
After thinking about it, Li Anyuan talked to Wang Shouren and Liu Jin about their research findings.
"Tell me quickly."
Wang Shouren immediately became energetic and asked quickly.
"We have conducted a lot of research on schistosomiasis through microscopes, and we found that in areas where there are a large number of snails, schistosomiasis outbreaks are particularly severe."
"We also found a large number of schistosomiasis in snails, which are the main hosts of schistosomiasis. In addition, schistosomiasis are also found in cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, cats, dogs, rats and other animals, but the number is not
many."
"At the same time, we also found that the reason why there was a large-scale outbreak of schistosomiasis in Jiangnan this time has a lot to do with the living habits of people in Jiangnan."
"Jiangnan is a water town with a dense network of rivers extending in all directions. The lives of people in Jiangnan are closely related to water. People habitually dump excrement into the rivers, and at the same time they also habitually wash toilets, chamber pots, and water in the rivers.
defecating on the ground and so on.”
"Even in some areas, there are people who drink water directly from rivers without boiling it. They like to drink raw water."
"At the same time, the Jiangnan area is prosperous, and people have always raised cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, etc., mixing humans and animals, and excreting livestock excrement, feces, etc. into rivers and fields at will."
"These have greatly promoted the infection and spread of schistosomiasis, which is also an important reason for the seriousness of schistosomiasis in water towns!"
Li Anyuan is worthy of being an authority in the study of infectious diseases in the Ming Dynasty. In a very short period of time, he roughly understood the schistosomiasis infection situation in the Jiangnan area.
"But our Jiangnan area has lived like this since ancient times?"
When Wang Shouren heard this, he thought about it and said.
"Yes, it is true that people in the Jiangnan area have always lived like this, but it does not mean that this way of life is correct."
"I have consulted the local chronicles of Yangzhou and Suzhou, and also learned about relevant aspects with local doctors."
"Schistosomiasis itself is very popular in the Jiangnan area. A large number of people usually suffer from this disease. We have also found it in the local chronicles of the two places."
"This kind of schistosomiasis breaks out almost every once in a while, and it is especially serious and common among fishermen."
Li Anyuan also replied immediately.
"So how do we do that?"
In front of the authority of Li Anyuan, Wang Shouren had no choice but to obey.
"What we can do now is mainly prevention. If we want to control schistosomiasis in the long term, we still need to change our living habits."
"First of all, we need to control the snails and organize villagers from all over the country to salvage and bury all the snails in the fields. Moreover, the snails must be eliminated regularly every year. Without the snails, there will be no main infection and host body for schistosomiasis.
It can greatly control the outbreak of schistosomiasis."
"In the shortest time possible, don't let people swim, play or have fun in water with schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis larvae can enter the human body directly through the skin and take up residence."
"The third is to strengthen the management of human and animal excrement. Every household digs cesspools, and all excrement must undergo sedimentation and fermentation to kill schistosomiasis and prevent it from becoming a new source of infection."
"The fourth is to strengthen drinking water management. Do not drink water from rivers. Boil well water before drinking. Drinking more hot water is not only to prevent schistosomiasis, but also to prevent most diseases."
"Fifth, special attention should be paid to large-scale disinfection during floods, and quick lime should be used in large quantities to disinfect polluted ditches and fields."
"Sixth, separate humans and animals. Try not to mix humans and animals together. If they are too close, not only schistosomiasis, but also other infectious diseases can be easily transmitted from livestock to humans."
Li Anyuan spoke out one by one, focusing on preventing schistosomiasis, controlling the source of infection, cutting off transmission routes, and being clean and hygienic.
"I'll have someone do it right away."
Wang Shouren listened carefully, and also asked the officials around him to remember it and start handling it immediately. What can be done should be done now, and it cannot continue to spread and spread.
"I will ask Daming Daily to report this matter to people all over Daming and promote healthy living habits."
Liu Jin thought for a while and added.
This schistosomiasis is not only found in Jiangnan, but also in the entire Yangtze River Basin. The relevant experiences and lessons must be made known to everyone.
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In fact, it is not just schistosomiasis. There have always been many diseases in rural areas. For example, children are very easy to get roundworms. This is largely caused by unhealthy and unclean living habits.
During this period, people basically drank raw water and did not drink hot water at all. Speaking of boiling water, it was mainly because boiling water was very inconvenient and required a lot of firewood.
Even in later generations, there are still a large number of rural areas that still maintain the habit of drinking raw water. Many people find it troublesome to drink boiled water and hot water. This is okay in winter, but even more so in summer.
As for the mixing of humans and animals, the random discharge of excrement and water, and open defecation and so on, it is even more normal. Everyone does not pay attention to this aspect and does not care, which also leads to various diseases.
Very popular.
This is also the reason why the average life expectancy of people in ancient times was low. A large number of children died young. This is closely related to unhealthy and unclean living habits. At the same time, adults often cannot bear it and are prone to falling ill or even dying of illness directly.
"We Ming people have some unhealthy and unclean living habits that must be changed."
Thinking of this, Liu Jin also sighed slightly.
In such an era, the most difficult thing to do is probably to change people's living habits and thoughts, especially for the vast rural areas of Ming Dynasty.
Transportation is inconvenient, information is limited, and the key is that people are often ignorant.
The big cities of the Ming Dynasty are better. With the spread of the Ming Dynasty Daily, everyone can listen to it more or less, and can slowly and subtly make some changes.
For example, drinking boiled water, as there are more and more cooked water shops in big cities, people will gradually get used to drinking boiled water and hot water. At the same time, the popularity of new buildings has also reduced emissions such as feces.
With better management, various diseases in cities can be better controlled, but in rural areas, we can only take things slowly.
It is estimated that it will take a long time for everyone to slowly establish healthy and clean living habits.
