African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1356: European Flu

This also makes the Spanish flu in the previous life known as the biggest medical disaster in history. If it is not handled properly, even developed countries will find it difficult to cope with it. For example, in the United States in the previous life, because of this plague, the average life expectancy in the United States at that time dropped by nearly ten years.

And this is not the real horror of the Spanish flu. The deadly thing about the Spanish flu is that it mainly killed young and middle-aged people. Half of the deaths from this flu were concentrated between the ages of 20 and 40.

If this plague develops as it did in the previous life, it would probably cause headaches for governments around the world, especially in Europe, which has already lost a large number of young and middle-aged men due to the war. If the plague causes the loss of a large number of young and middle-aged people, it would undoubtedly make the situation worse, especially for a country like France, where population resources are relatively precious.

……

East Africa.

In Rhineland, at the East African National Epidemic Prevention Office, experts in related fields are reporting to Ernst.

"We call this flu the European flu because so many countries were involved and it is possible that the virus had already appeared at the end of the war, so it is almost impossible to trace its source."

"It is impossible for us to find the source of the virus even if we want to, because during the war, countries strictly controlled public opinion and many diseases were concealed by European countries."

"Besides, this is a job that can easily offend people. After all, if we really find the source of the virus, we might offend a certain country. And now that the plague has broken out and is spreading around the world, it's unrealistic to find anyone to blame."

Ernst nodded and said, "In that case, let's name this plague after what you call the European influenza pandemic!"

Generally speaking, commands for such large-scale infectious diseases are named after the place where the disease originated.

There is no doubt that Spain was a very unlucky scapegoat in its previous life, because it was the first country to report the true situation of the influenza pandemic, and because it failed to control public opinion and maintain the moral high ground in a timely manner, it eventually became the scapegoat, and the influenza was prefixed with "Spain".

There is no doubt that this caused irreparable damage to Spain's international image at the time, and almost the whole world accused the Spanish of being the creators of the flu.

This time the Spaniards escaped, and East Africa became the first country to discover the epidemic, and the outbreak was detected at the beginning of the epidemic.

Ernst naturally had to learn from history, take the initiative in public opinion and morality, and pin the root cause of the plague on the European continent.

He told his fellow officials: "Our media organizations must do a good job of propaganda, not just targeting the domestic public's awareness of the dangers of this round of European influenza."

"We must also do a good job of international publicity. We must know that this epidemic originated in Europe. Although we don't know which country it first appeared in, we must prevent Europe and the United States from putting the blame on us."

As for Ernst's concerns, it is clear that officials in East Africa do not realize the seriousness of the problem.

East African Minister of Health Garowe said: "Your Majesty, isn't this a bit groundless? No matter what, it is impossible for anyone to blame us for this epidemic!"

Ernst said bluntly: "It's better to be cautious. European and American countries are not good people. What's more, Europe is the center of world public opinion. They have the ability to turn black into white and white into black."

That being said, Ernst actually knows very well that even if European and American countries want to shift the blame, they are unlikely to put it on East Africa, after all, East Africa was not the initial outbreak site of the epidemic.

In the previous life, the reason why Spain was blamed was not only because it suffered losses from the first report, but the deeper reason was that when Spain reported the epidemic in the previous life, the epidemic in Spain was already very serious.

Moreover, the time when the epidemic broke out in Spain in the previous life was too close to the time when the Spanish flu broke out in Europe, and Spain itself is located in Europe, so Spain itself is also highly suspected as the first source.

This is not Ernst's fantasy. After all, no one can completely deny the Spanish flu in the previous life. Spain is really not the source. After all, in addition to the war, the Spanish flu may also be caused by the poor sanitary conditions in Spain. This possibility is very small, but it cannot be completely ruled out, so Spain has suffered. Ernst said: "In short, we must be alert to the possibility of this happening. We must exclude East Africa first and let the world know in detail and truthfully how we discovered this epidemic. This epidemic came from Europe."

After all, the first batch of cases discovered by East African customs were brought by people on European ships, so Europe could not escape suspicion at all.

It's not even a suspicion. It is 100% certain that the source of the plague is Europe, but it cannot be confirmed to a specific country.

Of course, according to Ernst's personal inference, there is an 80% probability that the source of the European influenza pandemic is France. After all, France is the main battlefield on the Western Front, and the harsh environment of the battlefield is the most conducive breeding ground for the plague.

However, Ernst's personal inference obviously cannot be used as evidence, and no European country can completely get rid of suspicion.

Of course, Ernst and the East African government don’t care which country it is, as long as it is a European country.

Following Ernst's instructions, the mainstream media in East Africa, led by the Rheinische Presse (Rhine Empire News Agency), and overseas media controlled by East Africa soon began to spread the "European Flu" around the world.

The truth about the European flu was made public, but it did not cause much controversy among countries around the world and it still needs time to ferment.

The reason for this result is that, except for a few countries such as France, no one has taken this epidemic too seriously.

Many people believe that the East African and French governments are just sensationalizing. The so-called "European flu" may be just a simple cold, and the two countries are making a big fuss out of nothing.

It was not until several months later that the concept of the "European Flu" became widely spread. By that time, the epidemic in Europe and other parts of the world had become uncontrollable and caused great damage, but for a country, it was already too late.

By the time the epidemic broke out, the "European flu" had already been deeply rooted in people's minds, which also caused European countries to blame each other.

After all, although it has been confirmed that the source of the plague is Europe, which country is the source? This is a topic that people in European countries are very concerned about. After all, no country wants to bear the "stigma."

This led to the situation that a few months later, national media in Europe, big and small, listed their most hated countries as suspects and accused each other of "poisoning". The French media was particularly busy, and they searched for suspects everywhere.

The French believe that their arch-rival Germany and "former ally" Britain are both possibilities, while also not ruling out France's neighbors such as Spain and Belgium.

The Germans naturally accused France of being the source of the European influenza pandemic, and the British also listed Germany and France as suspects.

The major European countries accused and suspected each other, while the small and weak countries in Europe also behaved in an ugly way. Even Serbia, which had just restored its independence, secretly accused Bulgaria of being the source of the virus.

The reason for this result was that the European influenza spread too quickly and may have spread to most parts of Europe by the end of 1919.

Of course, the Western European countries are the most suspected, namely the four countries that first discovered problems with the ship's personnel in East Africa: Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.

This is why it is ridiculous for Serbia to accuse Bulgaria of being the source of the virus. It is obvious that the Serbs are completely driven by personal emotions and do not care about rational thinking. After all, Bulgaria has offended Serbia the most.

In fact, judging from the characteristics of the spread of the epidemic in Europe, it is impossible that it occurred in the Balkan Peninsula countries in southeastern Europe.

(End of this chapter)