episode_0203

Episode 203. Unidentified Pneumonia (1)

****

A plague was raging in Karnak.

At first, I thought it was just a common winter cold that comes every year. Then people started coming. The shrine’s mortuary was full.

This wasn’t your average winter cold. This was a plague that was killing people. A disaster had come. There were people on the front lines fighting the disease.

“Hey, one of the patients collapsed!”

The priests of the temple ran to where the voice had come from, and were startled by the horrifying sight.

Blood from the patient’s mouth was sprayed everywhere. It looked like he had coughed it up earlier.

“Still alive!”

Not even the priests were willing to step forward, but one brave healer ran forward wearing gloves and a plague doctor’s mask.

“Prepare the bed!”

Although covered in blood, the masked priest seemed unconcerned as he supported and moved the slumped patient. Other healers followed suit.

“Amira. Your blood-”

“First, the patient’s bleeding.”

There was a lot of saliva, phlegm, and blood mixed on my clothes, but there was nothing I could do. The patient who had collapsed and was bleeding immediately came first.

A healer wearing a mask came in, and Amira wiped the blood from the patient’s mouth with a cloth soaked in alcohol.

“Are you feeling better?”

Looking back, it wasn’t a healthy amount of blood. What kind of illness do you have that makes you cough up so much blood…?

Amira wiped the blood from her sleeve.

There were more than one or two healers who contracted the plague. Even Amira, who had just been covered in blood, was not infected with the plague, which is strange.

Amira pushed away her worries.

Let’s focus on saving the dying patient now. We need to clean up the blood, prevent choking on blood, and administer medicine to stop the bleeding.

Amira laid the patient on his side to prevent blood from collecting in his mouth, tilted his head back, and inserted a small flute to secure the airway.

The method presented by Professor Asterix.

****

The opportunity to enjoy joy is fleeting.

A person I haven’t seen in a long time. Hedwig was waiting on the roof of the Academy with a serious expression. With that one wyvern.

“This is a big deal, Professor.”

“Is it a plague?”

It was essentially an air ambulance, although it was carrying doctors rather than patients.

Hedwig was one of the few cases where she could both be a healer and control a wyvern.

“A strange disease, thought to be pneumonia, is spreading in a nearby territory. It’s quite severe. If you catch it, you’ll collapse and vomit blood.”

“Really?”

Infectious diseases that cause you to vomit blood are not common. The first thing that comes to mind is Ebola, but I don’t think it’s Ebola.

There was a high possibility that there was some kind of misunderstanding. At least in terms of spitting up blood. Or that there was a combination of more than one disease.

“Should I go now?”

“No.”

Hedwig shook her head.

“The situation is different than before. It’s so dangerous that I won’t go in a hurry… … . I’ll prepare thoroughly and leave tomorrow morning.”

I think we used to say let’s run an hour faster. Do you think that the situation is such that nothing will change even if we go faster?

But the situation is more serious than before.

Hedwig and I have only visited two suspected cases of the Black Death. Seeing Hedwig so scared, I guess it must be a serious situation… … .

What disease is more serious than the Black Death? I couldn’t think of anything else besides Ebola.

We picked an empty classroom and began our discussion. Let’s first figure out what the disease is and then predict what treatment will be needed.

blackboard.

My graduate students, Linea, and Hedwig gathered around. I looked at Hedwig.

“Please explain what kind of disease it is.”

Hedwig nodded resolutely.

“It’s a disease accompanied by pneumonia. It’s spreading very quickly, and there have already been dozens of deaths. But the specifics are… … .”

“Yes.”

“There have been quite a few reports of patients vomiting blood. So the bad rumors are going around.”

“I see. Any other information?”

No matter how much I thought about it, the only disease that could cause sudden death by vomiting blood was Ebola. If you cough a lot, your bronchial tubes can be damaged and bleed.

“Local healers are said to be reluctant to respond because of fear. In fact, many people are said to have contracted the plague.”

I thought it was quiet for a while.

“If this is a serious situation… … . Should I take both graduate students with me?”

Hedwig looked at my graduate students.

“No, you can’t. Aren’t you the students who will follow in the professor’s footsteps? Students should be raised safely.”

Amy looked relieved, and Istina scratched her head sheepishly. Well, that’s true.

“Okay.”

“If the professor goes to the field, it will boost the morale of the people fighting the disease. It may sound strange to say this, but ”

There was something like that too.

“Then let’s pack our gear and go. We’ll have to check our hazmat suits more closely than usual.”

A respiratory infection that causes bleeding.

Given the severity of the symptoms, it is likely a bacterial infection that increases the tendency to bleed, such as through sepsis.

Vomiting blood means that there is damage to the bronchial tubes or lungs. Assuming that this illness is a bacterial lower respiratory disease.

If it’s a gram-positive bacteria, it can be treated with penicillin, but if it’s a gram-negative bacteria, you’ll need to use a different drug. That’s all I can think of.

“If infected people spit up blood, it means the disease increases the risk of bleeding or lower respiratory damage”

“Right?”

“Let’s structure the problem. First, we’ll need a ventilator. And we’ll need a microscope to identify the types of bacteria in the sputum.”

Hedwig tilted her head.

“Lower respiratory tract infection… … . I didn’t think of it that way. I feel a little relieved that the professor is helping me.”

****

Karnak, the city of marble.

Graduate students will not be attending this Wang Jin. It will be just me and Hedwig. I packed my bags again, and Mint was looking at me from the rooftop with her arms crossed.

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“No.”

It’s not dangerous to me.

Because I always have dozens of healers around me, I can summon modern medicine, and I can diagnose my own symptoms.

I shook my head. No matter what I said, it wouldn’t ease Mint’s worries.

“Sigh.”

“No need to worry.”

Mint looked extremely worried.

Enough to bring tears to my eyes.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, teacher… … . Even if I say that, I won’t stop worrying.”

“I will come back healthy.”

Mint frowned deeply.

“Have a nice trip.”

Mint let me go after a more passionate hug than usual and a few kisses. I wish it was an easily treatable condition.

The situation I heard was quite dire.

Well, now it’s time to go.

I grabbed my bag and walked towards Hedwig, who was waiting next to a herd of wyverns. There were more wyverns than last time.

Today, five of them flew in.

The group of wyverns looked at me and the princess with interest. Since wyverns are creatures imbued with mana, I had heard that they like magic tools and wizards.

“If you’re ready, let’s go.”

I climbed on the back of a wyvern.

The monster flapped its wings. The wyvern’s massive wings sliced through the cold air. We soared into the sky.

It would have been an amazing experience if only the circumstances were different.

It wasn’t very fun because I had to ride the wyvern every time a disaster occurred somewhere.

It was so cold too.

****

Choices come with costs. Amira chose to be the first to help the patient who was vomiting blood, and in the process, she got blood on herself.

The price of heroism was harsh.

Amira was lying in the ward. It was either because she was looking after the patients too hard or because she had blood on her body.

Even Amira fell victim to that disease.

I never knew coughing could be this painful. Every time I coughed, I could taste blood.

‘Even healers are people after all.’

There was no way to avoid the plague. Rather, since you had to watch the disaster from up close, the possibility of becoming a victim was high.

Amira covered her mouth and coughed.

Am I going to die now?

Even if I don’t know what disease it is, once you get it, you won’t get it again, right? You have to get up quickly, help your colleagues, and save the patients.

What about moving and walking? Amira didn’t even have the strength to raise her hands right now. But she had to raise her hands to eat… … . And she didn’t have the manpower to feed her.

“Hey, Professor!”

Amira squinted her eyes painfully.

It looks like a guest has arrived in the ward.

Because the surroundings suddenly became noisy and bustling. But it wasn’t a situation where people would come from outside. Could it be a saint or something?

Did an angel come down from heaven?

Amira blinked as if seeing something. A large crow appeared. A human-sized bird stood before Amira.

“Are you feeling better?”

It wasn’t a crow, but a man wearing a plague doctor mask. The man wearing the plague doctor mask lowered his head and looked at the patient.