The epidemic situation has been reported layer by layer, and health departments at all levels are anxious, and they must find the source of infection of this sudden epidemic, and only by finding and controlling the source of infection can we prevent the further spread of the epidemic.

That night, Nan Zhiqiao sent the specimens collected from the waterfall canal to the local city CDC overnight, and after a brief communication, Nan Zhiqiao personally went into battle to do the specimen examination.

After settling her cousin Qianqian in the guest house near the hospital, Ye Zhenzhen followed Nan Zhiqiao to the laboratory of the city CDC, where the experimental equipment is very complete, and a simple microscope can be used to check whether various specimens contain schistosomiasis.

Under the high-power field of view of the microscope, the eggs, larvae, and adults of various schistosomas are clearly visible.

Bloodworm larvae were detected in canal water and snails, but no signs of schistosomiasis were detected in the water upstream of the waterfall.

In the face of today's sampling test results, Nan Zhiqiao and Ye Zhenzhen began to discuss and analyze, the geographical barrier of the waterfall is also the barrier of schistosomiasis epidemic water, the upstream of the waterfall is a non-epidemic water area, and the downstream of the waterfall is the epidemic water area.

From the distribution of the intermediate host of schistosomiasis, snails, the snails in the lower reaches of the waterfall are widely distributed, and no snails were found in the upper reaches of the waterfall, which may be the root cause of the outbreak.

Xiaobin once said that the snails here were almost extinct a few years ago, why did the snails appear in a large area?

Nan Zhiqiao shared the experimental results with the corresponding personnel to facilitate the CDC and relevant departments to arrange the next anti-epidemic work.

When the source of infection was found, the relevant departments began to carry out snail eradication activities, and at the same time carried out population health education and drug chemotherapy for people in affected water areas.

Everything was arranged, and Nan Zhiqiao and Ye Zhenzhen returned to the hospital.

After a few days of recuperation, Xiaobin's parents met the criteria for discharge and were ready to go through the discharge procedures the next day, but an accident suddenly occurred that night.

The accident was not Xiaobin's parents, but the old man Zhang and his wife who had just been admitted to the hospital.

The elderly couple, whose condition had been controlled by medication, suddenly deteriorated and both entered the intensive care unit.

In addition to the sudden recurrence of the old couple's condition, there are also patients who were hospitalized just two days ago, Xiaobin is worried that although his parents seem to be cured, in case of recurrence like everyone else, he insists that his parents stay in the city hospital for a while.

The trip home was delayed, Nan Zhiqiao, Ye Zhenzhen and Qianqian also stayed in the hospital, Qianqian helped Xiaoxian take care of Zhang's father and mother, and Zhang Xiaobin was busy for the old couple who had just been admitted to the intensive care unit.

Nan Zhiqiao and Ye Zhenzhen study the sudden recurrence of schistosomiasis at the attending doctor.

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In the laboratory of the laboratory department of the city hospital, Nan Zhiqiao, Ye Zhenzhen, and the inspectors of the hospital gathered in front of the computer screen, everyone was serious, and Nan Zhiqiao also frowned slightly.

On the computer screen connected to the microscope, a magnified photograph of a schistosomiasis, the male is milky white and transparent, the female is black and brown, and the two insects are hugging each other, like a soft branch with a branch, and like two silk threads of different colors intertwined.

Lao Li, a middle-aged man in his forties, has been working in this city hospital for more than 20 years, during which he has also seen many samples of schistosomiasis patients, and he is a very experienced one.

Ye Zhenzhen also echoed: "The length of adult schistosoma is generally about 20 millimeters, but in the patient samples tested today, the length of schistosoma is twice as long as normal - 40 millimeters, and I feel that I am about to become a nematode." ”

"It's certainly not a nematode. Lao Li of the Municipal Laboratory Department pointed to one end of the schistosoma on the computer screen and said firmly, "It has suckers, dioecious, with blood parasitism, and has typical schistosomiasis characteristics." ”

Ye Zhenzhen analyzed: "There are many species of schistosomiasis, Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma haematii, and Mekong schistosomiasis, among which only Schizosoma japosis has been found in China. ”

"Could it be a new subspecies of schistosome?" Lao Li's nervous tone was slightly excited.

Ye Zhenzhen: "It is very likely that, in addition to its external form, its pathogenicity has also changed, and the acute schistosomiasis patients who have this time have ectopic parasitism and ectopic lesions, which are rare in previous Schistosoma japonosis infections. ”

Ye Zhenzhen and Lao Li discussed whether the schistosoma in front of them was a new subspecies, and Nan Zhiqiao, who had been silent, suddenly said: "Whether it is a new subspecies or a new mutation, the first thing to solve now is how to treat it. ”

Ye Zhenzhen and Lao Li then remembered that the first task now is to cure the disease and save people, no matter what the new pathogen is, finding effective medicine is the key.

Nan Zhiqiao and the attending doctor selected all the drugs related to parasite treatment on the market and experimented with a new species of schistosoma grown in the laboratory.

After batch after batch of experiments, one effective drug was selected from dozens of drugs.

When he saw the name and manufacturer of the selected drugs, Nan Zhiqiao's heart was inexplicable.

This drug is actually produced by a pharmaceutical company under the Nanmu Group, and the patent of the drug is also in the Nanmu Group, in other words, this drug is produced by the Nanmu Group only in the world.

didn't think too much, Nan Zhiqiao used his personal connections to urgently transfer a large number of medicines.

The replacement of the drug was used on the patient, the condition was quickly controlled, with the effect of clinical treatment in the hospital, the new drug was widely used in all patients in the epidemic area, and the new drug was also recommended for the preventive medicine of people and livestock.

The supply of new drugs exceeded demand, and Nanmu Group stepped up production and soon reached a balance between supply and demand.

Hospitals are busy treating patients, the disease control department is busy eliminating the source of infection and preventing new cases, and Nan Zhiqiao is busy analyzing the new large schistosomiasis.

Due to the limitations of local disease control conditions, Nan Zhiqiao sent the schistosoma isolated from the patient back to the central laboratory of the CDC in China, and asked Li Guoyi to conduct DNA analysis on the schistosomiasis, and the sequence data was quickly fed back to Nan Zhiqiao.

Through sequence comparison, the newly discovered Schistosoma DNA is indeed different from the previously prevalent Schizosomes japonica DNA, and the newly emerged Schistosoma DNA has a sequence encoding a receptor protein that is obviously mutated, and the rate of mutation is a geometric multiple of the natural mutation rate in nature.

Nan Zhiqiao looked at the DNA sequence comparison results, and his face was solemn.