Chapter 196 - Doomsday Escape 02 (2/2)
In his mind, Yu Hanjiang’s low voice rang out. “Just sit here. Rest a.s.sured, I can see everyone in the conference room. Once someone attacks you, I will deal with the trouble immediately.”
Xiao Lou nodded and turned to sit by the window.
The clock pointed to 12:30 and the grey-haired dean opened his mouth. “Okay, the professors and department heads have arrived. Let’s start the meeting.”
He took out a notebook full of notes and spoke with a heavy expression. “I anxiously called you over because I have bad news to tell you. There is an unknown influenza virus that is infecting the residents of our city. There was a severe patient with the flu in the respiratory department of the Second Hospital yesterday who suddenly ran out in the middle of the night and bit people. The patients, doctors on duty and nurses of the respiratory department were all affected by her bite. All those in the respiratory department died this morning. She is the only one alive.”
“At present, the Second Hospital has been forcibly quarantined. I have just received a notice from the Department of Health that all medical staff should take preventative measures. Our hospital must urgently set up an expert group to study the structure of this virus and develop an anti-virus vaccine as soon as possible.”
After listening to the dean’s words, all the doctors sucked in a breath.
An old professor couldn’t help asking, “Did the doctors and patients in the respiratory department of the Second Hospital all die overnight? The course of this disease progressed too quickly! What is the cause of death? Is there a conclusion?”
“An autopsy was conducted by a medical examiner and the cause of death was a brain hemorrhage,” the dean replied.
A male doctor next to him said, “I have been in the infectious diseases department for many years and I have never heard of a virus with such a rapid infection rate and high mortality rate. Death from a cerebral hemorrhage? Influenza viruses affect the respiratory tract. Even if they mutate, can they cause a cerebral hemorrhage?”
The doctors discussed it. “Is the transmission method through blood? Are they infected after being bitten?”
The dean frowned. “Based on the surveillance video, the doctors and nurses of the respiratory department were all bitten but it can’t be ruled out that it was spread by droplets. After all, they are on the first floor of the respiratory department and it is easy to be infected through air.”
The director of the emergency department said, “Oh, I heard from a colleague in the emergency department that a woman suddenly went crazy while getting an infusion. She bit a dozen patients and medical staff before being controlled by the security guard. Is she an infected person like the dean mentioned?”
The dean’s expression sharply changed. “What? Why didn’t you report such an important matter to me earlier?”
The director of the emergency department touched his nose with embarra.s.sment. “It happened 10 minutes ago and I just knew about it…”
After hearing this news, everyone’s face became ugly.
The dean reacted quickly and snapped out orders. “Immediately call the emergency department and have all the medical staff and patients who weren’t discharged after being bitten isolated in the infectious diseases department!”
The director of the infectious diseases department frowned. “I don’t think it is necessarily a viral infection. We need to find a living infected person and check carefully to determine the case. Maybe it is bacterial, fungal or a parasite? Different infection types have different treatment plans. We need to know the pathogen clearly before we can consider the next step.”
Xiao Lou sat there and listened carefully. The director of the infectious diseases department was right. In fact, it was still unclear if the infectious pathogen was viral, bacterial, fungal or a parasite. There were four categories of infections and each type of treatment was different.
The spread of influenza viruses was through the air and it spread very rapidly. It was just that this time, the infected people had characteristics. They attacked the same kind, it was transmitted through blood and the cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage. It didn’t sound like a mutated flu virus at all.
Perhaps it was just a coincidence that the infected person had the flu? After all, winter time was indeed p.r.o.ne to large-scale influenza infections.
Just then, a doctor hurriedly knocked on the door. “Dean Lin, a CT scan of the head of the surviving patient in the Second Hospital was taken and the information has been pa.s.sed on.”
The dean’s expression was overjoyed as he asked everyone to close the curtains. Then he opened the meeting room’s slide and logged into the database to view the video information.
Yu Hanjiang saw the curtains closing and instantly asked Xiao Lou, “What’s going on?”
Xiao Lou explained in his mind, “We are looking at the CT scan of an infected person’s head and need the curtains to be drawn. Don’t worry.”
Yu Hanjiang replied, “Be careful and tell me the moment something happens.”
The projection screen on the wall was lowered and the CT scan of the head of the infected person clearly appeared. Xiao Lou couldn’t help gasping when he saw the image and the doctors around him were also dumbfounded.
They saw countless white spots on the CT film of the infected person’s head. The entire brain tissue was occupied by a strange creature. Not a single bit of normal brain tissue could be seen in the patient’s head!
The director of the infectious diseases department almost shot up from his seat. He took a deep breath and declared seriously, “It should be a parasite.”
The dean’s face was extremely ugly. “The brain has been eaten up yet this person is still alive?”
The doctors around him also felt incredulous.
Xiao Lou clenched his fists. He was pulled to this meeting but he wasn’t an expert in this area. He didn’t need to speak. It was just that listening to everyone’s discussion, he gained a lot of important clues. It was indeed the right decision to come to the meeting. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have known that the large-scale infection wasn’t a virus but an unknown parasite.
This parasite lived in the human brain and would quickly eat up normal brain tissue.
It didn’t affect the human’s actions because it occupied the control centre of the brain. It became the master of the body, controlling the human nerves like limb actions, expressions and language…
The infected person looked normal on the surface. There wasn’t much difference with other people but the core brain had long been replaced.
Although zombies were disgusting, they were slow to move and had no IQ. Xiao Lou had many attack and control cards in his hands and it would be easy to work together to beat the clumsy zombies. However, this time the infected person not only acted agilely but had a clever parasite in their heads!
This was the scariest thing.
After watching the film, the curtains were all opened and light was restored to the meeting room. The warm noon sunlight poured into the room but looking at this strange CT image, everyone only felt a hint of coldness.
After a moment’s silence, the director of the infectious diseases department said, “This news can’t be published or it will cause a panic among the people. The infected people must be isolated immediately. We need to take a sample of the parasite from the patient’s brain to see what type of creature it is and if it can be killed with medicine.”
Someone spoke in a deep voice. “The problem is that the parasite will eat human brain cells. From a medical point of view, those infected are already in a state of brain death. They are dead people but look alive because the bug is in control of their bodies. Even if we kill the parasite, we wouldn’t be able to save the patient.”
The group fell silent again.
Indeed, the brain was gone. Could those things that moved and talked still be called ‘human’?
The dean ordered decisively, “The infected people can’t be saved but we can find ways to prevent it so that fewer people are infected! An expert group will be urgently established. I will personally lead the team and isolate the infected people in the emergency department. At the same time, I will inform all employees of the hospital to wear isolation clothes and gloves starting from tomorrow. They have to take protective measures to prevent their skin from touching the wounds of patients!”
Every time a virus, bacteria, parasite or other infections were encountered, the hospital was the first hardest-hit area. The frontline medical staff were actually in quite a dangerous situation. These doctors might only be plot characters of 8 of Spades but Xiao Lou admired that they didn’t flinch. Many large-scale plagues and viruses had raged in the history of humanity and many paid a blood price for the development of vaccines.
The dean was very courageous to set up a team of experts and let the hospital act immediately.
The emergency meeting lasted half an hour before everything was arranged properly.
Just then, there was a knock on the door of the meeting room. The person near the door opened it and revealed Xu Rongrong standing at the door with a smile. “Dear hospital leaders, you didn’t eat at this big lunch meeting? I called takeout for everyone.” She was followed by several security guards who were carrying boxes of takeout.”
The people in the meeting room were surprised. Why did a young doctor suddenly come to the room to deliver meals?
The director of the surgery department smiled, “This is Dr Xu, who is a newcomer. She is kind enough to order food for everyone. Haha, is everyone hungry? It is better to eat first before finis.h.i.+ng the work.”
Xu Rongrong walked in with a smile, letting the security guards place the takeaway on the table.
The director of the emergency department licked his lips and smiled. “Thank you, I’m really hungry.”
Just as everyone thought he was going to grab a box of takeaway to eat it, he suddenly grabbed the hand of the male doctor next to him and bit down on it!
Xiao Lou, “……”
<script>