Nan Zhiqiao continued: "This patient is very strange, at that time, the deceased had ecchymoses on his face and chest, and his whole body was blue, especially on his upper arms. Although the doctor who received the patient felt that there was something abnormal, he did not find out the cause for a while, and the patient had died, and this case did not attract much attention from the hospital. ”

"What's next?" asked Vera Ye.

"At 9 a.m. on June 26, the third day after this death, the Third People's Hospital of Yuanyang City admitted another male emergency patient with high fever and subcutaneous hemorrhage. The hospital immediately administered anti-shock treatment to the patient, but the effect was very poor, and at about 8 o'clock that night, the patient died after rescue efforts failed. ”

"It's another death! The hospital should be alert. ”

"Well, on July 5th, July 9th, and July 12th, the hospital admitted three more cases in a row, two of which died, and the above five patients had very similar symptoms. ”

Hearing this, Ye Zhenzhen, who was lying on the bed and preparing to sleep, put up a pillow, sat up, and asked worriedly: "With so many deaths, has the cause been found?"

"Not yet. The local hospital suspected 'epidemic haemorrhagic fever', but although the clinical manifestations of the patients were similar, they did not fully match, and laboratory tests were quickly ruled out. The hospital could not determine the cause for a while, and in this case, the hospital made a report to the local CDC, until this evening, after consultation and discussion, the expert group tentatively named the disease 'toxic shock syndrome'. ”

"Toxic shock syndrome, this is a method named after the patient's symptoms when the cause is not clear, and the next thing is to find the cause, Senior Nan, are you going to check the case file tomorrow?"

"Yes, in this case, we should compare the cases with similar symptoms in June and July in Yuanyang City this year, and we should be able to find clues. ”

Ye Zhenzhen looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table, it was already half past ten in the evening, and the two of them chatted for more than half an hour unconsciously.

Both of them have something to do tomorrow, and Ye Zhenzhen took the initiative to hang up the phone.

——

In the morning, as soon as the sky was bright, a mobile phone ringtone woke Ye Zhenzhen from her sleep.

When I called at this point in time, there must be something urgent, could it be that something happened in the laboratory? Or was there an urgent disease control task? Or was there something going on on Senior Nan's side?

Pick up your phone from the bedside table, caller ID, unfamiliar local number.

Picking up the phone, an unfamiliar young man's voice came from the phone. "Excuse me, is it Ms. Ye Zhenzhen?"

"I am, you are?"

"I'm a staff member of the District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and I want to ask, did you go to Baiyun Ranch yesterday?"

"Been there, what's the matter?"

"That's right, at about eight o'clock last night, the district hospital admitted a group of patients sent from Baiyun Ranch, and by this morning, three patients have died, and our district disease control is investigating, if you have any uncomfortable symptoms, please go to the hospital in time. ”

Ye Zhenzhen was frightened and hurriedly asked: "How many patients are there, and what are their symptoms?"

The district disease control staff who called was obviously reluctant to say more about this incident, but asked: "Do you have any uncomfortable symptoms?"

Ye Zhenzhen knew that in the investigation stage of the health incident, before the cause and truth investigation were clear, the relevant departments would not release news at will, so Ye Zhenzhen reported her identity, "I am Ye Zhenzhen, a research assistant in the Nanzhiqiao Experimental Group of the Institute of Infectious Diseases of the China CDC, can you tell me anything about it?"

"Director Nan?!" The district disease control staff on the other end of the phone obviously heard Nan Zhiqiao's name, and hurriedly changed his tone, and said enthusiastically: "Teacher Ye, the case from Baiyun Ranch this time, because of the tight time, has not yet been entered into the epidemic system, and the death case may be an infectious disease, so stay in the hospital to prepare for autopsy and sampling, if you have time, you can come and take a look." ”

Although the matter of Baiyun Ranch is being investigated by the district disease control and control, the same staff of the disease control system, and the matter involves all the people who have been to Baiyun Ranch, including the students of the experimental group, as well as Senior Nan, Ye Zhenzhen naturally wants to know more about the situation, so she agreed, "Okay, I'll go to the district hospital now." ”

"Well, the staff of our district disease control and control are also in the district hospital, waiting for you to come and have a look. ”

After hanging up the phone, Ye Zhenzhen hurriedly washed and changed her clothes, and took the car keys out of the Xincheng apartment.

Before Nan Zhiqiao went to Sichuan, he left his car to Zhen Zhen, and at that time he considered that it would be convenient for Zhen Zhen to go to the old house in the suburbs to visit his grandfather, but he didn't expect it to come in handy now, and there was a standing emergency sampling box behind the car, which was just used for sampling.

On the way to the district hospital, Ye Zhenzhen called everyone in the experimental group to make sure that everyone was fine, and then put her mind at ease.

At this time, Nan Zhiqiao had already begun to read the relevant case files in Sichuan, and when he received a call from Zhen Zhen, he was also taken aback, and was very concerned about the emergency situation in Baiyun Ranch, and told Zhen Zhen to report and deal with it in time if there was any situation.

In the district hospital, Ye Zhenzhen met with the staff of the district disease control and went to the ward to see the patients sent from Baiyun Ranch.

Six people were sent from Baiyun Ranch last night, and by the morning three had died, and the remaining three were concentrated in a ward by the hospital.

Ye Zhenzhen recognized at a glance that one of the patients was the owner of Baiyun Ranch, a middle-aged man about forty years old, and the other two were also very familiar.

After taking a closer look, Ye Zhenzhen remembered that when she and the rancher were chasing wild boars with the rancher yesterday, these two young men were also inside.

Ye Zhenzhen walked to the hospital bed and looked at the patient's symptoms carefully, the rancher's face was bruised, his whole body was blue, and the ecchymosis on his arms and legs were connected into patches, and then the symptoms of the other two were similar to those of the rancher.

The doctor who followed the disease control personnel said: "The three people who died this morning also had this symptom, the patient was sent in shock, although anti-shock treatment was carried out, but the effect was not good, this morning changed to antibiotics and albumin treatment, the remaining three patients are still unstable." ”

Ye Zhenzhen asked rhetorically, "Treatment with antibiotics is useful, do you know what kind of bacterial infection?"

The accompanying doctor shook his head, "At present, the cause is not clear, and the pathogen has not been detected, we just speculate that it may be a viral or bacterial infection based on the symptoms, because the test level of our hospital is limited, and we have sent the patient's specimen to the district disease control and are waiting for the feedback results." ”

Ye Zhenzhen looked at the district disease control personnel who were traveling with her, and there was a young man who had just called, he was in his thirties, surnamed Zhang, and was the person in charge of the district disease control department.

Section Chief Zhang looked at Shang Ye Zhenzhen's inquiring gaze and explained: "I just called the laboratory department, and I checked various rapid test reagents, but no pathogen was found. ”