From 19 10 to11year, Harbin suffered a catastrophe due to the opening of the Middle East Railway, and many people died inexplicably. This must be a pandemic. 19 10 year 1 1 month, a pneumonic plague was introduced into China from Lake Baikal along the Middle East Railway, and spread rapidly around Harbin. Within four months, it spread to five provinces and six cities, killing more than 60 thousand people, including 5272 people in Harbin alone. At that time, the whole world was shocked by the bodies everywhere. At that time, the Qing government did not have a special epidemic prevention agency. Both Russia and Japan demanded monopoly of epidemic prevention work on the grounds of protecting overseas Chinese, and even threatened to send troops. In this way, if you don't succeed, you will die. Russia and Japan took advantage of epidemic prevention and seized the police power in the three northeastern provinces.
19 10 year1February, the Qing government urgently called Lian Dewu, an assistant inspector of Tianjin Army Medical College, who had studied in Britain in his early years and obtained a doctorate in medicine from Cambridge University, to Harbin to investigate and deal with the plague. Lian Dewu lived up to expectations. After going to Kazakhstan, he resisted the unreasonable demands of Russia and Japan. 19 1 1 year 1 month, he established the first plague research institute in Harbin and served as its director. He was only 3 1 year old at that time.
With the joint efforts of Lian Dewu and his assistant, soon, the test results came out, and the epidemic in Northeast China was pneumonic plague. Lian Dewu immediately sent a telegram to the Qing government, demanding that a large number of doctors from inside Shanhaiguan pass come to Kazakhstan for epidemic prevention. The first applicant who arrived in Harbin was Mesny, a French doctor. He was a surgeon of the French army and was then the chief professor of Tianjin Beiyang Medical College.
Plague is usually spread by active fleas on mice, but Lian Dewu was surprised. If it's a hot climate, that's all. It's freezing now, and it's over 30 degrees below zero in the northeast, so fleas can't move. How did the plague spread? At that time, the Japanese began their own epidemic prevention method: killing mice. This epidemic prevention method was followed by Russia, and they even thought that the epidemic would be controlled soon. Japan, which has always coveted the three northeastern provinces, once again appealed to the Qing Dynasty to give them the right to epidemic prevention.
However, even if a large number of rats were killed, the epidemic was still not controlled. Lian Dewu has been looking for new methods. Finally, after summing up, he boldly proposed that this plague was "pneumonic plague", which was mainly spread by droplets. Who knows, as soon as Lian Dewu's statement was put forward, it was questioned by foreign experts. Japanese doctor is a student of Kitasato Shibasaburo, a famous bacteriologist, and French doctor is Mesny, who has experience in preventing and treating plague. Both of them strongly opposed Lian Dewu's bold idea and even scoffed at the idea of droplet spread.
When I visited the Russian Railway Hospital in Liandewu New Town, I found that the doctors and nurses here were unprotected and no one wore masks. At that time, people did not know that pneumonic plague, a powerful epidemic, spread from person to person through breathing. He was invited to make rounds with Russian doctors, and only gave him a white robe, a white hat, rubber gloves, and no masks like Russian doctors. Lian Dewu watched several plague patients warily, and felt that the working environment was very dangerous, so he left the ward in a hurry.
While several parties were arguing endlessly, Mesny, a French doctor, contracted the plague and died! After investigation, Lian Dewu learned that Mesny was infected with the plague by contacting patients without any protection, which made him more sure that the epidemic was spread by droplets.
In order to ensure the safety of the isolation team, Lian Dewu also invented the earliest medical mask, a mask made of two pieces of gauze and one piece of absorbent cotton. The cost is only two pounds.
Mesny was the first doctor who died in an epidemic area. Mesny's death shocked all parties, awakened people's awareness of self-protection, and became an opportunity for the popularization of Wu mask. He used his precious life to make sacrifices and contributions to the epidemic prevention in the three northeastern provinces, which may be unexpected.
19 1 1 In April, medical experts from Japan, Britain, the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Mexico and China 1 1 held the World Conference on Plague Research in Fengtian. Liande Wudang was elected as the chairman. At the meeting, he systematically introduced the experience of plague prevention and control in China, and experts from various countries exchanged their research results. After the meeting, Lian Dewu was appointed as the medical officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while still retaining the post of deputy supervisor of Tianjin Army Medical College.
1935, Lian Dewu was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his "outstanding achievements in the practice and research of pneumonic plague prevention and the role of marmots in its spread". Because the candidate's confidentiality period is 50 years, this news was not officially disclosed on the official website of the Nobel Foundation until 2007. Wu Lianzhai's ability and political integrity is the first person in China's history to approach the Nobel Prize.