episode_0120

Episode 120. Black Death (3)

****

The people present pushed the rat they had caught with a broom into the flames, and the situation ended sooner than expected.

At first glance, it looks like hundreds of them were burned.

Istina poked me in the ribs.

“Professor. Is it over now?”

“A piece of the puzzle. You have to catch bugs, catch rats, and treat patients.”

It was just a necessary process. People threw the last remaining rats into the fire.

“That’s horrible. Even though they’re rats, they were summoned with magic and burned to death.”

“How many people died because of them?”

“It’s not that I feel bad for them… … It’s just that the squeaking of mice and the rat-riding sounds are unpleasant.”

Okay. I nodded.

“You weren’t bitten by rats or fleas, were you?”

“Oh, yes.”

“I’ll disinfect and go to Winia’s main castle. I’ll wait for news. I’ll report the situation directly to the lord and tell him what I need to say.”

Istina took a step forward.

****

This is the audience room of Winia Castle.

I bowed my head before the Lord of Winia. The Lord of Winia had been looking at me with a corpse-like appearance just a few hours ago.

Istina stood behind me as silently as a mouse. The lord spoke first.

“Are you here, Professor?”

“Your face is full of worry. I heard you are anxiously waiting for news.”

“I’m a little worried. I understand that the professor wants to explain in person, but I wonder if it’s okay to meet the lord rather than the patient. What if the Black Death spreads like this?”

“Are you worried about catching the disease?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head.

“The risk of the disease spreading from person to person is low. Most people with the plague contracted it from insect bites, and only those with pneumonia spread the disease from person to person. And if treated early, it can be cured.”

After thinking for a while, Mr. Youngju continued speaking, as if he had gathered his thoughts again.

“That’s good. Let me explain the current situation of the hospital. What were you doing just now? The wizards are leaving.”

“Using Captain Lin’s magic, most of the rats living in the city were burned to death.”

“You killed the rat?”

The lord’s eyes narrowed.

“I keep asking questions, so I’m curious. What happens if you kill a rat? What changes?”

If you don’t know much about the Black Death, you might think that way. The Lord of Winia scratched his head. I thought about my answer.

“Rats are likely carrying the plague. Since most of the rats in the city have been killed, the plague’s contagiousness will be reduced.”

Step one: kill the rats before they spread, before humans get the plague.

“Isn’t this a disease that only affects humans?”

no.

The Black Death is a disease that can affect most mammals, although there are some animals that are more susceptible to the disease and more likely to transmit it.

“The Black Death is a disease that is mostly spread by flea bites. The bacteria can survive on rats, and rats carry fleas around.”

Fleas cannot travel far or survive long without a suitable host, so rats are needed to sustain the plague.

“It’s complicated.”

“We must block all the processes by which the disease is transmitted and spread. We will kill the fleas, clean the patient’s house, and treat the patient.”

The problem cannot be solved by treating patients alone. We must prevent diseases on the spot and reduce the number of patients. The lord of Winia looked at me.

This is the second step.

Cleaning the patient’s house. Killing insects that can directly transmit disease to the patient.

In fact, only one patient returned to home quarantine. The others died. If things continue this way, there will be no patients left in a few days.

“We are going from house to house to carry out quarantine work, but there are quite a few dead people. The rioters are going around burning the houses of patients in quarantine.”

“Did the professor go there in person?”

“Yes. It’s the plan I made.”

The lord of Winia nodded.

“I heard. Arson. Yesterday, there were people who set fire to the houses of the sick people who were in quarantine.”

“Yes.”

“We have to respond.”

The lord of Winia sighed again.

“What happened to the euthanasia story?”

“Hmm. The number of patients is already decreasing rapidly. We are not doing it now.”

Third step.

Treating patients directly.

It’s the most obvious thing, but since there’s no guarantee that you’ll get better once you’ve contracted the Black Death, in some ways it might be the worst way.

“That’s good. Isn’t it good?”

“Uh… … . Yes.”

“How much time does the patient have left?”

There are 34 patients remaining in the ward.

“Oh, there are 34 patients left in the temple, and the patients in home quarantine went to the temple.”

One of Lord Winia’s servants handed her some papers, and the Lord frowned.

“Professor, tell me honestly. No need to be polite or anything. What’s the situation outside?”

“Well, well, the situation is under control. It looks like it will be under control going forward.”

“It’s more positive than I thought.”

That’s what I thought.

Patients are being treated with antibiotics, and those that don’t respond to the drugs are all dying, while other transmission methods are being controlled.

It’s no wonder the number of patients doesn’t increase.

“I’m telling you the truth. The number of patients is decreasing, and there are almost no new patients. The situation is under control, and it seems that the situation will be resolved soon.”

“Please tell me in numbers.”

“When I first came here, there were 50 Black Death patients hospitalized in the temple, and now there are 34. When I first came here, there were 12 houses under quarantine, and now there are 4.”

“Professor. Aren’t those people just dead, not cured? The mob set fire to their houses, and their limbs rotted away with the Black Death?”

“The number of patients is decreasing anyway. Soon there will be no patients left.”

“Let’s assume that’s true. Can I explain to the citizens that if they respond calmly, they will be able to overcome this epidemic?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“How long will it take?”

“In a week, there will be no patients left in the city. This time, too, in just one day, the number of patients went from 50 to 34… … .”

Come to think of it, if this trend continues, three days will be enough. Yeongju looked at me.

“Would three days be okay?”

“It looks like that.”

“Three days… … . If it’s fast, it’s fast, if it’s long, it’s long. It’s all thanks to the professor coming to see me.”

“It may also be because the Lord has appropriately asked for help. I am just a healer, not a politician or a monarch.”

I bowed my head again.

The Lord of Winia had finally regained color in his face. He seemed a little relieved to hear that it would be over in three days.

“Then. I’ll go now.”

The lord motioned for us to go, and Istina and I left the castle. The lord’s servants moved to disinfect the area where we had been.

The Black Death must have been really scary.

One of them was holding an incense burner. No, I keep saying that it doesn’t work.

****

Istina thought about it a bit. Since she came here, everything has turned out just as the professor said. It’s so creepy.

Professor Asterix immediately advocated euthanasia for seriously ill patients. However, due to the opposition of the priests, he did not actually carry it out.

Patients with the Black Plague, whose limbs had turned black, or what the professor called the Septicemic Plague, were given only one day’s worth of the medicine.

Those people died within a day, just as Professor Asterix had said. Only then did the priests lose their cool and start distributing painkillers.

It’s scary.

Could he be a prophet?

Actually, that was the thing I didn’t understand the most.

How did Professor Asterix know the mechanisms of the Black Death in such detail?

Other officials or local healers might have just assumed it was the case, but Istina, who had studied the relevant literature in the past because of suspected Black Death patients, knew the truth.

Istina had also read a lot of literature on the Black Death, but nowhere was there anything about what Professor Asterix said after he came to Winia.

To summarize… … .

It was concluded that the Black Death was spread by fleas carried by rats, and that some patients developed pneumonic plague, but only patients with pneumonic plague could directly transmit the disease to people.

How did you figure this out?

It’s an incredibly complicated subject. I don’t know if there’s any logical basis for it. If you ask a professor, he’ll probably answer as if it were obvious.

As always.

Istina eventually couldn’t contain her curiosity.

“How did you figure that out? How did you figure out how the Black Death spread?”

“Think about it. Structure and function.”

The professor answered as if it was obvious, as Istina had expected. As if he had not guessed this either. Istina opened her notebook.

“The Black Death turns you black and you die. Why does it turn black? It’s because the bacteria spread through the blood and the blood clots.”

“Yes.”

“How do bacteria get into the blood?”

Istina thought about it, but couldn’t think of any reason other than a bug bite for the bacteria to enter the patient’s blood directly.

This time the professor was right again.

Now that I know the answer, it seems easy.