Chapter 120 Tropical Disease Research Center

January 4, 1868

Berlin is the political center of Prussia and one of its academic centers.

Many Prussian universities, academic and research institutions are gathered here.

Today, Ernst also established a medical research institute in Berlin, the Center for Research on Tropical Diseases.

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 its 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 at the same time.

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's not because they started early and the strong national support from the West allowed them to build a strong fortress.

The Tropical Diseases 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, but if you fall behind step by step, it is terrible.

Although the Tropical Disease Research Center has the word "tropical" in its name, its research fields are not limited to the tropics.

The research center will be divided into two parts, one in East Africa and one 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, it will definitely only be 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.

Therefore, 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 relieve their worries.

And 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 was something that Ernst heard about in ancient China in his previous life. Ernst didn't know whether it was true or not. After all, the Internet was a big ditch in his previous life, 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.

In many countries, research institutes are located in the country and samples can be collected 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.

Add to that 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., which made Africa a hotbed of viruses in previous lives.

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 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 previous lives will emerge.

Take AIDS, for example, which originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and appeared around the middle 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 territory in the Mitumba Mountains.

Ernst has not yet considered whether he will take over the entire Congo. After all, tropical rainforests are really difficult to develop, and with the help of rainforests, 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 into 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, and it’s hard to say whether AIDS and other diseases 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 part of East Africa.

Therefore, 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. .