The disease is not contracted in the United States, and the infected people are all male...... Sun Lien learned some information from Iweala, but he didn't see any use for it now.

Compared to this, the treatment record is more meaningful. Sun Lien returned to the office in the quarantine area with a stack of reports, and a vacant room was vacated for Sun Lien and others to use. At the same time, all the medicines carried by the two medical teams were open to Sun Lien and others - in order to know what to do, Hu Jia volunteered to count the drug inventory first. Sun Lien and Hu Chunbo began the "arduous" paperwork - Director Liu summoned several American doctors who still dared to go to the front line to take care of the patients together.

According to the treatment plan of the American side, they treated 28 patients in groups. One group was infected with a variety of antibiotics, including meropenem, depending on the bacterial infection. The other group was treated with antiviral drugs, including ganciclovir and acyclovir. The third group was even more desperate, and they even used amphotericin B to fight possible fungal infections.

However, there was no direct difference in the performance of the three groups of patients treated with treatment. The death toll continues to climb rapidly. Six out of 10 patients died in the antibiotic group, seven out of 10 patients in the antiviral group, and six out of seven patients in the antifungal group. Statistically, almost all treatments have no effect on the disease. The mortality rate of all patients with acute meningitis is consistently as high as 70%, regardless of treatment.

"Something isn't right. The more Sun Lien looked at it, the more frightened he became, he put down the treatment record in his hand, and said to Hu Chunbo, "All treatments have no effect, what must be the source of infection?"

Twenty-eight people were sick at the same time, and it was certainly not a hereditary disease – it must have been caused by a pathogen capable of infecting twenty-eight people at the same time.

"It has something to do with the brain, and the lethality rate is so high...... It can't be mad cow disease, right?" Hu Chunbo was also a little worried, the first disease he could think of and the current situation was mad cow disease. However, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease does not progress as quickly as a person infected with the virus, and the symptoms do not appear as consistently. This idea was immediately rejected by himself, "It is true that it is difficult to treat, but the course of the disease is not right." ”

Sun Lien's attention was drawn to the few remaining survivors, "If everyone will die within forty-eight hours of the onset of the disease...... he clicked on the record in his hand, "then this one is sick...... How come the fifty-four-hour soldier hasn't died yet?"

Andrew Jackson, a 19-year-old U.S. soldier. The medical records record that he was serving for the first time and was sent overseas for the first time. The case documented that Andrew had a history of drug abuse five years ago. After receiving community drug rehabilitation, he successfully enlisted in the army through a medical examination at a military recruitment station.

"He and Director Liu's old friend had a disease on the front and back feet of a man named Mathieson. As soon as Matthisen had a seizure, he began to have an indifferent expression, fever and vomiting. Hu Chunbo also saw this case, and he clicked on the content on it word by word, "It has been more than 54 hours since the onset of the disease, but he is still alive." ”

"It may be a little worse than dead, but he's still alive. Sun Lien nodded, "The biggest difference between him and the other deceased should be that he is young - the average age of the other patients who died was thirty-two years old, and the older they were, the faster they died...... But there are exceptions. "This person is Mathieson's teacher, Alexander Jefferson, who is sixty-nine years old this year, who has been ill for forty-nine hours and has not yet died." ”

"If the situation of these two patients is not a special case, then it means that they both have some kind of characteristic that can slow down death. Hu Chunbo nodded, Sun Lien's discovery was very important. "Younger people may be more resistant and have a more active immune system. This activity caused him to die at a slightly slower rate...... That is, it is indeed some kind of pathogen that can be cleared by the body's immune system that infects them. It's certainly not a virus. ”

"And this older one...... I suspect that he died slowly, simply because of age. The human brain shrinks slightly as we age. Sun Lien pointed to Alexander's case and said, "Because of the state of cerebral atrophy, he has a stronger tolerance for increased intracranial pressure." ”

The logic is smooth. But...... Sun Lien and Hu Chunbo shook their heads together, "These two people are not from the same treatment group." ”

Alexander was treated with amphotericin B injections, while young Andrew was a treatment recipient for meropenem. The two belong to different treatment groups, and the situation cannot be simply reduced to one thing.

"I'm curious about why only men get sick. The first conjecture direction seems to be temporarily unworkable, and Sun Lien's thinking naturally diverges in the second direction, "From the age of 19 to 69, the only infected patients are men? ”

"There's something wrong with that. Regarding Sun Lien's question, Hu Chunbo is very open, "Men are boys until they die, don't look at the age difference, in fact, men's lives are basically the same." Especially in a country like the United States, which claims to be free and open, all men's lives are basically the same – beer, sports, women. Hu Chunbo shook his head and smiled, "Not to mention the United States, the situation in China is similar." I had seen syphilis at the age of 17 when I was an intern, and I saw syphilis encephalopathy at the age of 70 when I was the main treatment. Actually, it's all the same. ”

"In other words......" Sun Lien chewed on Hu Chunbo's words, his mind was running at full speed, trying to grasp any possible inference, "the way they were infected could be a ...... Alcohol or tobacco products at a party of 28 people...... Maybe maybe a woman in a special service industry got sick, so it took twenty-eight people to get infected at the same time?"

"Quite a bold speculation. Hu Chunbo nodded, nodding and muttering in his heart that young people still lack life, "But the last one is unlikely, after all, receiving twenty-eight guests in one night, even women in the special service industry can't bear it." And you have to know that Americans are still very afraid of AIDS when they go to Africa. The U.S. military's condom distribution system is free to prevent this kind of thing. ”

"So it's not sexually transmitted, but other ways are still possible. Sun Lien was immediately interested, and he seemed to see the crux of the diagnosis, "I'll ask Ms. Iweala again, maybe she has any ideas." ”

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"I don't have any possible thoughts about it, my dear. Ms. Iweala shook her head with a tired smile, "We have carried out three epidemiological origin-tracing activities. But none of the activities could explain why they got sick, while the rest of the people who participated were able to stay healthy, not just the women, but the dozen or so men in the camp who didn't get sick. ”

"Can you tell me about any group activities you've had lately?" Sun Lien still didn't give up, his previous career told him that if he wanted to find the right answer to his question, he had to break the casserole and ask to the end. "Like a party that everyone is involved in?"

"This one happens all the time. Ms. Iweala nodded, "We've had our suspicions about this issue too, but we've done sampling inspections of the beers and cigars provided by our suppliers for the past two months and found nothing wrong. ”

Another road was blocked. Sun Li wanted to scratch his hair sadly. "Do they have any small group activities, such as small gatherings or whatever?"

"If I had known about this kind of thing, I would have told you a long time ago, my dear. Lady Iweala spread her hands, "If it's their little party, I'm sure I don't know." If you still want to ask, I suggest you go and ask Captain Huen, who has just become ill, or his deputy, Lieutenant Park. ”