Liang Lei sighed and nodded, "Yes, Ye Ting has a younger sister named Ye Yu, who is only four years old, and after her sister became ill, she also began to show similar symptoms, this is Ye Yu's case report." ”

Liang Lei handed another document to Ye Zhenzhen.

Zhen Zhen moved the information to Nan Zhiqiao's side, and the two looked at it together.

Liang Lei has long memorized the case information, and while Nan Zhiqiao and Ye Zhenzhen read the information, Liang Chen introduced: "My sister Ye Yu's symptoms are similar to those of my sister Ye Ting, both of whom have memory loss at first, sometimes lose their temper, and sometimes suffer from mental depression, and then gradually develop into slurred speech and unsteady walking, and soon died of systemic spasms after being sent to the hospital. ”

It is a tragedy for a family to lose two children before and after.

Liang Lei continued: "Since the death of Ye Ting and Ye Yu, there have been more than ten cases of such patients in Nanwan Town, and the doctor suspected that it was an infectious disease, but the hospital could not find the pathogen, so the specimens of several of the patients were sent to the laboratory department of the Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention. ”

Speaking of which, Liang Lei put the remaining cases in front of Nan Zhiqiao.

Watching Nan Zhiqiao look through the cases of other patients with similar symptoms, Liang Lei paused, and then asked Nan Zhiqiao: "Teacher Nan, what do you think will cause this strange disease?"

Nan Zhiqiao quickly looked through all the cases, raised his head to look at Liang Lei, and said in an affirmative tone: "This is not an infectious disease." ”

Ye Zhenzhen and Liang Lei were both stunned, and Liang Lei asked rhetorically: "Teacher Nan, how do you judge?

Nan Zhiqiao analyzed the two and said: "The symptoms of all the patients in the comprehensive case data have one thing in common, that is, superficial sensory impairment, intellectual impairment, speech impairment, hearing impairment, visual field narrowing, motor disorders, increased involuntary movements, difficulty chewing and swallowing, and enhanced tendon reflexes. ”

Speaking of this, Nan Zhiqiao looked at Zhen Zhen and asked guidedly, "Summarize the common symptoms of these patients, what will they be?"

Ye Zhenzhen is a medical student with solid basic medical knowledge, according to Nan Zhiqiao's thinking, the analysis said: "It can basically be summarized into four major symptoms: cerebellar motor disorders, centripetal visual field narrowing, dysphonia, and sensory impairment. In addition, tremors, mild mental disorders, and hearing loss are common. Overall, the lesion is cerebellar-centric and extends to the cerebral cortex. ”

Nan Zhiqiao looked at Liang Lei and Zhen Zhen and asked, "Do you feel that these symptoms are familiar?"

Nan Zhiqiao stopped talking, waiting for the two to react.

"Minamata disease!"

Ye Zhenzhen and Liang Lei are almost in unison.

The two of them remembered that when they were in school, they both learned about the Minamata disease incident that occurred in Japan in the fifties of the last century.

The cause of Minamata was first discovered in Minamata City, Japan, and got its name.

Minamata disease is a disease characterized by brain damage, and at first people did not know the cause and only considered it as an endemic disease, but after many years of research and investigation, it was determined that it was a public nuisance.

At that time, there was a chemical factory in Minamata City, Japan, which mainly produced vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, acetaldehyde and other products.

A year after the chemical plant was in production, some sick cats appeared in the area, and the sick cats had unsteady gait, cramps, and some jumped into the water and drowned, which the locals called "suicide cats".

Immediately afterwards, fish and birds died in the area, but they were not taken seriously at the time.

Two years later, a patient with strange symptoms began with slurred speech, unsteady walking, and facial dementia, which progressed to general numbness, deafness, blindness, and nervous disorders.

After years of investigation, it was found that the culprit was the high levels of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater discharged into Hanoi from the chemical plant, which accumulated through the food chain and eventually became ill.

At present, the strange disease that appears in Nanwan Town is very similar to the Minamata disease back then.

Based on the patient's symptoms alone, Nan no Qiao thought that it might be related to Minamata disease.

Liang Lei did not think about methylmercury poisoning, because Lianhai City is a well-known livable city with a good environment, how can there be a large-scale collective poisoning incident?

Is it not an environmental problem? Is it food poisoning? There have been cases of methylmercury food poisoning in Iraq before, and hundreds of people have died at that time.

Liang Lei thought about the reason to himself, and Nan Zhiqiao reminded on the side: "Now you know what to do next, right?"

Ye replied: "First check the patient's urine mercury, mercury and blood mercury to determine whether it is a methylmercury poisoning incident, and finally investigate the source of the poisoning." ”

Nan Zhiqiao looked at Zhen Zhen with approving eyes, and Liang Lei also reacted and said, "I know, I will ask the hospital to collect the patient's specimen first, and the test results will come out soon." ”

——

After discussing the affairs of Nanwan Town in the afternoon, Liang Lei began to notify the local hospital to collect and send the specimens of the strange disease patients for testing.

Nan Zhiqiao and Zhen Zhen left Lianhai City Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhen Zhen was full of energy, and it was the first time to come to Lianhai City.

The Lianhai CDC and the hotel are on the east and west streets, and further north, there is a pedestrian street, which was the place where the old railway track passed more than ten years ago, and was later converted into a pedestrian street, and is now one of the most prosperous areas in Lianhai City.

Nan Zhiqiao and Zhen Zhen walked hand in hand in the pedestrian street, flanked by rows of shops, clothing stores, jewelry stores, handicraft shops, and souvenir shops......

There are a variety of shops, and people come and go under the neon lights at night.

The renovated pedestrian street is full of antique buildings, and the ground is paved with bluestone bricks, as if returning to a long historical era.

Walking along the pedestrian street, you pass through an intersection, and the architectural style on both sides of the road changes, and the words "seafood street" come into view.

Ye Zhenzhen stood at the entrance of the street and looked in, there were more people in the seafood street.

"Senior Nan, this is a snack street. ”

Looking at the endless snack street, Ye Zhenzhen suddenly felt very hungry.

After eight hours of travel in the morning, I only had a simple lunch in the service area of the expressway, and in the afternoon, I discussed with Liang Lei about the strange disease in Nanwan Town.

Looking at the snack street, Zhen Zhen showed the eyes of the snack goods.

"Are you hungry, what do you want to eat?" Nan Zhiqiao asked with a smile as he took Zhen Zhen's hand.

"Hmm...... When you come to a seaside city, you should eat seafood. ”

Growing up by the sea, she has a soft spot for seafood, and now in another seaside city, it's natural to try something different.

The two walked into the seafood street, and in front of the doors of the shops on both sides, rows of transparent aquarium boxes were placed in an orderly manner, and inside were fresh seafood for diners to choose.