For hepatitis B, I think everyone is no stranger.
You know, China was once known as the "big country of hepatitis B", which is the country with the largest number of hepatitis B virus infections and hepatitis B patients in the world, and almost 1 in every 10 Chinese is a hepatitis B carrier.
In the 60s and 70s of the last century, China's medical technology was far from being comparable to other developed countries, and the awareness of prevention and control of various viruses was very weak, and the knowledge of virus prevention was not popularized.
At that time, the population base of hepatitis B virus carriers in China was quite large, ranking first in the world.
However, in November 2020, the State Council Information Office released a piece of good news---- china's children under 5 years of age, the rate of hepatitis B virus infection fell to less than 1%.
This means that China can now take off the hat of "hepatitis B big country".
But who knows: behind this battle against the hepatitis B virus is inseparable from the hard work of generations of Chinese scientists.
Of the 120 million people living with hepatitis B virus, she volunteered to study abroad
As early as the 1970s, China began to develop a hepatitis B vaccine. At that time, China was in the midst of a hepatitis epidemic, and a large number of people were killed by liver disease every year.
At that time, due to the backward medical conditions, the sanitary conditions were often not up to standard, and many places in the countryside even shared a needle, and sometimes they were not disinfected. In addition, it was the period of rapid growth of newborns in China, resulting in the rapid spread of the hepatitis virus.
At that time, the medical expert in charge of research and development --- Tao Qimin, at that time, the domestic understanding of the hepatitis B virus was almost blank, and she was anxious but powerless.
(At that time, the hepatitis B vaccine research team of Beijing People's Hospital (third from the right Tao Qimin))
It was not until 1972, when the hepatitis B virus surface antigen was discovered internationally, that Chinese medical scientists realized that hepatitis originally had the classification of hepatitis B.
It happened that when the German doctor Hans Miller and his Japanese wife returned to Japan to visit relatives, they learned about the international hepatitis B virus detection and diagnosis technology at that time.
(Hans Miller and his wife Kyoko Nakamura)
Subsequently, the young Tao Qimin volunteered to come to Japan to learn hemagglutination detection techniques with the help of Hans Miller, and began to test hepatitis B after returning to China.
But at that time, there was no dextran in China, she used a variety of alternatives to carry out a variety of labels, with different speeds to analyze, after 4 months of experiments and countless failures, Tao Qimin finally made a sensitive blood cell with surface antigens.
This is also the first set of self-developed hepatitis B detectors in China.
(HBeAg Ab EIA kit developed by the Institute of Liver Diseases)
Soon, hepatitis B virus detection technology was rapidly promoted in China, and through data comparison, the number of hepatitis B anti-positive people in China reached 120 million, accounting for 1/3 of the world.
In the face of a large number of hepatitis B virus carriers, Tao Qimin realized that --- must develop relevant antibody vaccines as soon as possible in order to effectively eliminate the spread of hepatitis B virus.
(Professor Miller, Professor Tao Qimin, Professor Feng Baifang)
In ancient times, Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, and now she has tried vaccines by herself
On July 1, 1975, Tao Qimin's team finally developed China's first generation of bloodborne hepatitis B vaccine, in order to commemorate this day, the team named the vaccine "7571 vaccine".
Although it was successfully developed, it does not mean that it is complete, because clinically the vaccine needs to undergo rigorous safety tests before it can be promoted and applied.
(Professor Miller and Professor Tao Qimin in the process of detachment)
According to international practice, at that time, gorillas were animals known to be infected with hepatitis B virus, but gorillas were not native to China, and if they wanted to do vaccine trials, they needed to buy abroad.
According to the conditions of economic strength at that time, Tao Qimin decided to start with himself in order to verify the effect of the vaccine as soon as possible!
(Tao Qimin (first from the left) experiments with hepatitis vaccines on himself)
On August 29, 1975, Tao Qimin asked her colleagues to inject herself with the hepatitis B vaccine, followed by daily temperature measurements, weekly blood tests, and after 3 consecutive months, she found that antibodies had appeared, which showed that the hepatitis B virus vaccine developed was successful.
In addition to Tao Qimin, there is also researcher Feng Baifang. For 3 months after the vaccination, they were testing the body's indicators every day, and everything was in the normal range, and then they successfully detected antibodies in the body.
Finally, Tao Qimin and his team provided their own blood-borne vaccine technology and technology to scientific research institutions free of charge and began to promote it.
In 1978, the first batch of liver disease research laboratories in China were born;
In 1984, China approved the establishment of the "Liver Disease Research Institute";
In 1989, Merck in the United States transferred the world's leading recombinant hepatitis B vaccine production technology to China for $7 million, and since then China has finally been able to produce hepatitis B vaccine on a large scale;
In 1992, China began mass production of genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccine expressed by Chinese hamster ovarian (CHO) cells;
In 1992, China included hepatitis B vaccine in immunization management, and all newborns must receive hepatitis B vaccine after birth;
According to a 2014 survey, the rate of hepatitis B virus carrying in children under 5 years of age has dropped to 0.32%.
.......
Until November 2020, China finally took off the hat of "hepatitis B big country".
Yin Yin's love is all in China, and every inch of Dan's heart is a home country
In the 25 years from the application of the blood-borne hepatitis B vaccine in 1975 to the cessation of its use in 2000, the hepatitis B vaccine developed by Mr. Tao Qimin has saved at least 40 million Chinese from the threat of hepatitis B.
Nowadays, with the hard work of generations of scientific researchers and the joint efforts of tens of millions of grassroots epidemic prevention workers and medical personnel, I believe that mankind will be able to overcome more medical problems.
As the saying goes: at the top of the mountain, you can see the great river rushing; above the peaks, you feel the long wind.
Everyone's struggle is an indispensable powerful note in the tide of the times, and it will converge into a surging force for realizing personal dreams and Chinese dreams.