Zhu Xiongying must have been nine years old at that time, already past the high-risk age for child mortality. Queen Ma had just turned fifty, and her body and bones were very strong. She didn't even have headaches or fever at all.
Apart from malignant infectious diseases, there is no way to explain how two such people could become suddenly ill at the same time and die within a few days of each other.
In addition, after Empress Ma fell ill, she refused to allow the imperial physician to diagnose and treat her.
She said that if the imperial doctors could not cure her, the emperor would definitely kill them to vent his anger. So she simply refused to let them treat her. This shows that Empress Ma knew that the imperial doctors could not cure her disease.
Therefore, there is almost no other explanation other than a malignant infectious disease that can kill people. As mentioned before, the most likely possibility in Nanjing is smallpox.
~~
The smallpox epidemic in the palace that year caused a huge psychological shadow to the already sensible Fifth Brother, which was also the reason why he determined to study medicine.
Although it is cruel, Zhu Zhen feels that under the current medical conditions, isolation is the most effective way to deal with this terrible infectious disease.
Fifth Brother felt that this method was too passive. As a doctor, we should take the initiative to challenge the acne plague and defeat it!
So he has been studying books and medical records in this area. After studying for a long time, one day, Fifth Brother excitedly told Lao Liu that he had found a way to prevent smallpox from the medical skills of the Song Dynasty - vaccination with variolation!
The sixth brother was frightened to the point of peeing, and he quickly told the fifth brother that you should try cowpox, which is much safer.
~~
Smallpox virus was introduced to mainland my country in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
It is said that when Fubo General Ma Yuan pacified Annan and escorted the captives back to the court, the soldiers were infected by the prisoners and developed terrible pox one after another. In the end, most of them died of the disease, and their deaths were extremely miserable...
Subsequently, this terrible disease took hold in our country and has continued to exert its power for thousands of years, killing people regardless of high or low.
Generations of doctors, while fighting the disease of smallpox, discovered that the 'pox method' could be used to prevent smallpox infection. The pus and scabs from smallpox patients were used as vaccinia and planted in healthy people to obtain the disease.
Immunity to smallpox.
However, variola vaccination is very dangerous. Basically, you have to be lucky. If you encounter a weakly toxic vaccine, you will be safe. If you encounter a highly toxic vaccine, it is basically not much different from getting smallpox, and the fatality rate is also quite high.
,
As the saying goes, 'No one out of ten who has a favorable seedling will die, and eight out of ten who will have an unfavorable seedling will survive'. According to Wu Ge's research, the vaccination mortality rate is one-fifth.
The mortality rate from natural pox infection is one-third, and not everyone will be infected with smallpox in their lifetime, so in fact, even if an individual does not get variola, the probability of dying from smallpox is far less than one-third.
The risk-benefit ratio is too low.
Therefore, the ‘variolation method’ of this era cannot be promoted on a large scale.
With his talent as a doctor, Fifth Brother is keenly aware that he can cultivate as many Shun seedlings as possible through selective breeding of Shun seedlings, which can greatly reduce the vaccination mortality rate.
Lao Liu felt that this method should be feasible, but he could not let his dear Fifth Brother experiment.
First, without proper protection, Fifth Brother’s risk of infection is too high.
Secondly, he knew the safer source of the vaccine - cowpox, so why did he let Fifth Brother take a detour?
"Cowpox?" Fifth Brother was shocked when he heard this. "Can the Great Sage Pingtian also get smallpox?"
"That's not possible." Zhu Zhen adapted the story about "milking girls don't get smallpox" into the story "shepherd boys don't get smallpox" and told it to Fifth Brother.
"When we were in Jinqiaokan, the cowherd boys from several villages were herding cows together." Lao Liusha said in a pretentious manner:
"I found out that none of them had pockmarked faces. I asked them if they had never had smallpox? They still had some secret recipe. They said they had never had it. The old man told them that because the goddess of pox had a surname of cow, she herded cattle.
As long as you take good care of your cow, you won't get acne."
"That was made up by the old man in order to coax his children to herd the cows." Lao Liu concluded rudely:
"Based on my many years of experience in herding cattle, I have found that cattle can also get smallpox, and it can also be transmitted to humans through cattle. However, cowpox is not the same as variola. People who get it will only feel slight discomfort and can be cured.
There will be no sequelae, but you will never have to get smallpox again for the rest of your life."
"Is he really that amazing?" Fifth Brother said in disbelief.
"Have I lied to you?" Lao Liu asked.
Fifth brother shook his head like a rattle...
~~
It has been two years since the two last talked about this matter.
Unexpectedly, Fifth Brother did it without saying a word!
Lao Liu repeatedly looked at the chrysanthemum on Fifth Brother's shoulder. It was almost the same as in his memory.
He asked excitedly: "Tell me, how did you do it?"
"First of all, I personally visited more than a dozen prefectures and dozens of counties in Zhili, summoned all the local cattle herders to the county government, and asked them if any shepherd boys had contracted smallpox. The result was exactly as expected.
explain……"
Talking about his career in the past few years, Fifth Brother became very energetic and his whole person was shining. "In fact, not only among the shepherd boys, but also in the entire countryside, there are fewer cases of smallpox than in the city, and more of them are in wealthy families.
"The old people said that ten years ago, there was not such a big difference. At that time, the disease was treated equally. It didn't matter whether you were rich or poor in urban or rural areas, you would get what you deserve." King Zhou said solemnly:
"The biggest change in the past ten years is that in order to reward the various prefectures in Nanzhi for their contribution to the dragon, my father has given oxen to every farmer. The treasure of small farmers and small households is still there. The whole family hangs around the oxen all day long, and the result is that
They spend less. Rich families and city dwellers don’t have access to cattle, so there are no changes.”
"Is that so..." Lao Liu suddenly realized that his father carried out large-scale immigration, and all the immigrants were used to farm cattle, which inadvertently played a role in eradicating smallpox.
It seems that in the future, we want heroes to ride less in Geely cars and get closer to Lamborghini.
"I also found that those shepherd boys and cattle farmers did not have smallpox, but the symptoms were very mild. They just had some small pustules on their bodies. This kind of mild pox can be cured in less than half a month, and it will not
Leave a scar." Lao Wu looked at Lao Liu with admiration and said:
"I guessed that this was the cow smallpox you were talking about, so I asked these patients to bring in their cows, and sure enough I found that their cows were also sick - some ulcers and blisters would be found on the skin not covered by cow hair.
Something like that. So..."
As he spoke, he grasped Lao Liu's shoulders with both hands, stared at him enthusiastically like a Confucian scholar looking at Confucius, a military general looking at King Yue, or a beggar gang brother looking at Boss Zhu, and said:
"You are really amazing - your guess is absolutely correct, it is the cow that has gone into bloom and is transmitted to humans!"
"I was just making wild guesses. It's all thanks to you that Fifth Brother can figure it out." Lao Liu hurriedly said humbly: "Then what?"
"Then, I will follow the method you told me, use a blade to cut the shoulder, and insert the pus from the sick cow." Zhu Ru patted his shoulder and said.
