50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 562 A Song of Great Love
Yesterday, Captain Xiao had already heard the reports from Dr. Huang and Head Nurse An and knew that a Hong Kong businessman wanted to visit.

He welcomed this, saying that their coming to Africa to help the local residents was not only not a secret, but should be publicized; that would be a good thing.

When he finished his work, he didn't see anyone. He guessed that he had waited too long and the person had already left, so he didn't pay any attention to it.

Today, this Hong Kong businessman surprised him with a big surprise.

Diesel fuel and generators are what they need most right now. They have a generator here, but it's very small; it can only be used to light a lamp or something when there's a power outage.

The key issue is that all the diesel fuel here needs to be imported and settled in foreign currency. We are short of foreign exchange, so where would we get the money to buy oil to generate electricity?

In his view, the diesel oil delivered by Sun Zhiwei was more important than the generator. With oil, the generator could generate electricity; with electricity, many things would be easier to do. This was a great gift.

Captain Xiao quickly stepped forward and shook Sun Zhiwei's hand: "Thank you, Mr. Sun, for your strong support of our medical team."

"It's just a small contribution. The construction team I just hired is the one who's digging a cellar in the backyard to store diesel fuel."

"However, perhaps it's because I'm getting old. I rushed to the other side of the river to find the oil tanks last night and forgot to come over and tell you about the construction team. As a result, I made a misunderstanding today. I'm really sorry."

"It's alright, it's alright, this is a good thing, we will definitely cooperate. Dr. Huang, could you please go outside and let the construction team in to start the work?"

After hearing this, Dr. Huang went out, which gave Sun Zhiwei time to inquire about the medical team.

From Captain Xiao, Sun Zhiwei finally learned the information he wanted to know: Ebola outbreaks do indeed occur here from time to time.

What puzzled Sun Zhiwei was that each outbreak would disappear on its own after lasting for a period of time, and their medical team did not know the reason for this.

However, they believe that this is due to viral mutation. Ebola did not disappear, but rather mutated and hid in the human body, waiting for the next outbreak.

According to the data provided by Captain Xiao, the mortality rate of infected individuals is around 90% after each Ebola virus outbreak.

Regardless of the measures and medications they used, this percentage did not increase or decrease as a result.

In other words, modern medicine currently has no effective treatment for it. Its extremely high and rapid mortality rate is also one of the reasons why it hasn't spread widely around the world.

Because often, the person dies before the host has even left the area.

What is most terrifying is that after Ebola develops, its internal organs will melt into bloody fluid, and the patient will vomit all of the melted internal organs and bloody fluid before dying.

Moreover, it can be transmitted through the air. Anyone who gets close to an infected person or contaminated bodily fluids or blood without protection will almost certainly become infected.

Therefore, whenever a major outbreak occurs, the entire medical team must wear heavy full-body protective suits before daring to approach the patients.

Previously, when this situation occurred in Zaire, there was only one way to deal with it: send troops to surround the infected village and then burn the village and its inhabitants to the ground.

During this time, Captain Xiao also took out photos they had taken during their last encounter with the epidemic. The bloody and irrefutable evidence made Sun Zhiwei hesitate about his plans for the first time.

Now Ebola is trapped in Africa, far removed from modern society. Should he release this terrible demon?

The reason why Ebola was trapped in Africa and failed to spread was not for any other reason than the poor transportation there.

If it reaches a major city with convenient transportation, it can spread throughout the world in just a few days via global flights. The key point is that this thing doesn't distinguish between friend and foe, and currently there are no effective methods of prevention or treatment.

What if his relatives, friends, or even himself contract the virus? This is a question he has to consider.

The more he thought about the consequences, the more he hesitated.

Seeing his serious expression, Captain Xiao was secretly pleased, realizing that his introduction had been effective.

"Captain Xiao, is there anything else you need here?"

“Sigh, we lack everything here. You know, even a backward country like Zaire can’t produce its own masks.”

"Medicines are fine, the government provides support and they can be shipped from China every year. But for some ordinary supplies, it's not good to ask the government to pay for them. We try to save money wherever we can and use substitutes whenever possible."

"Just like yesterday when Dr. Huang went out to buy something, he actually went to buy a kind of aquatic plant that is produced locally. We will dry this aquatic plant and use it to replace absorbent cotton."

"Also, did you notice that everyone's lips are purple?"

"Yeah, what happened?"

"Because malaria is rampant here, we have to take antimalarial drugs for a long time, and over time our lips turn purple."

Sun Zhiwei fell silent upon hearing this.

These medical personnel came here to work at a great cost; many of them lost their lives in this distant foreign land.

Captain Xiao and his team all came from various hospitals in Hebei. This is a tradition: whenever China decides to provide aid to a country, it will designate a province to coordinate with that country.

Al-Alia (Hubei, 1962), Somalia (Jilin, 1965), Yemen (Liaoning, 1966)
Sierra Leone (Hunan) and Zaire (Hebei) in 1973
Ethiopia (Henan), Togo (Shanghai), 1974.
Cambodia (Shanxi), Madagascar (Gansu) in 1975
Niger (Guangxi), Mozambique (Sichuan) in 1976...
Gabon (Tianjin), 1977.
From 1963 to the end of 1992, 27 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities undertook the task of dispatching medical teams to foreign countries.

China has sent more than 1.3 medical personnel to more than 60 countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, and has provided medical treatment to nearly 2 million patients in the recipient countries.

Behind these impressive and proud figures lies the hard work of tens of thousands of medical workers over decades.

As of 2024, a total of 51 members of Chinese medical teams aiding other countries had sacrificed their lives while on duty in the recipient countries.

Chinese medical teams aiding foreign countries have composed a song of great love through their actions.

Sun Zhiwei could have been fine if he couldn't see the medical team elsewhere, but this medical team was right in front of him. If he didn't do something for them, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

As for Ebola, forget about it.

An uncontrollable virus is too dangerous and could potentially harm both the user and others. He didn't want Tong Jiajia, Sun Hongying, and Sun Aiguo to encounter such danger.

There are many ways to reduce the population of Java Island; it doesn't have to be Ebola. If all else fails, he can take charge himself.

Now we need to consider what kind of support to provide to this medical team.

(End of this chapter)