"Our county CDC just went in to investigate, and found that there are currently 5 dead people in Lijia Village, and 4 patients have been sent to the county hospital, two of which have died, so there are now 7 deceased. However, the villagers we found in the survey also had symptoms of cough and fever. ”

"You've seen a patient, how would it feel?"

"Pneumonic plague." Section Chief Li said with certainty, "Although there are no laboratory results to support it now, from the clinical symptoms, nine out of ten are pneumonic plague." ”

Section Chief Li's speculation is consistent with the results of the discussion between Gu Yanan and his party on the flow shunting car.

Xiao Zhang, a young staff member of the county CDC who had been following Section Chief Li, muttered in a low voice, "We have been monitoring the rodent density in several villages under Qingcheng Mountain throughout this year, and we have also done tests on the corresponding pathogens we carry, and no plague bacilli have been found." ”

The rat density monitoring work in Qingcheng County was guided by Zhou Lao and Lu Li, and implemented by the local county disease control staff, Lu Li is very familiar with this aspect, and then said: "The rat density monitoring work we do is in and near the village, catching house mice and some wild mice, and it is normal for the villagers to miss detection, and the villagers are not necessarily exposed to pathogens at home or near the village, but may also enter the Qingcheng Mountains." ”

Xiao Zhang, a young staff member, said, "There was just a plague outbreak in this Lijia Village last winter, and the villagers all knew that the thousand-year-old tomb in the Wild Monkey Ridge in Qingcheng Mountain would spread the plague, and no one dared to wander around the neighborhood since last winter, and this pneumonic plague should have nothing to do with that ancient tomb." ”

"The rats in the ancient tomb will not only stay in the ancient tomb, the fleas on the rats may also be transmitted to other animals, the entire Qingcheng Mountain is a natural epidemic source, as long as there are villagers who have entered the mountain, there is a chance to be infected." Lu Li went on to explain, "The key issue now is to see where the first case is. ”

Section Chief Li: "After the preliminary investigation just now, the first case should be Li Erzhu, who lives in the west of the village, who died 4 days ago and was buried three days ago, his wife and grandson also died successively, and his son and daughter-in-law are now hospitalized in the county hospital. ”

"What about the other deceased?" Gu Yanan asked.

"In addition to the three deceased members of Li Erzhu's family, there are also two deceased people from his next-door neighbors, who all attended Li Erzhu's funeral and carried his coffin before he died."

"What about the others who attended the funeral?"

"Investigating."

"Find out that the people who attended the funeral were close contacts."

"Well, because the county disease control staff is not enough, we have mobilized the village committee and called on every household to take the initiative to report."

In addition to the investigation of the deceased, symptomatic persons and close contacts, the environment in which the first case is located is the focus of the investigation.

Gu Yanan asked Section Chief Li, "Has the home of the first case, Li Erzhu, been investigated?" ”

"Not yet, because there is no one in Li Erzhu's family now, three generations of the family have died, and two have been hospitalized, so there is no one at home, and I haven't checked it yet."

"Call the village cadres and let's go and have a look."

At the west end of the village, Li Erzhu's home.

The black wooden door is pasted with Spring Festival couplets, and there are two large stacks of firewood piled up in the open space next to the door, and the snow that was cleared a few days ago is slowly melting on the side of the road, and the surrounding dirt road is very muddy.

The village chief who led the way for the CDC group was an old man in his 50s, about the same age as Section Chief Li of the county CDC, but his face was panicked because of the fear of the epidemic.

The village chief was only responsible for opening the door of Li Erzhu's house, but he didn't dare to go in, "I'll open the door for you, I'll stay outside the door, you go in and check." ”

Gu Yanan didn't enter the door, but asked the village chief questions first.

"Village chief, did Li Erzhu have a different situation than usual before he died? For example, what special places have you visited? What special people have you met? Have you ever held a banquet? ”

"In our village, few people like to go out in winter, especially when it has snowed recently, and most of them are at home.

Some strong laborers like to go into the Qingcheng Mountains to catch hares. Although Li Erzhu is almost 60 years old, he also likes to go into the mountains to catch some wild things like young people.

A few days ago, he just caught a snow-white wild fox from Qingcheng Mountain, and when he returned to the village, he walked on the village road and showed off to the neighbors, saying that he would use fox skin to make a fur hat for his little grandson, and the big guys were still envious.

Unexpectedly, on the second day, people died, many people said that the wild fox was a spiritual thing, especially the pure white silver fox, Li Erzhu caught such a spiritual thing, and also skinned and ate meat, and made a hat from the fur, it must have offended the gods and suffered retribution, the death of a family of five, the hospitalization of the hospitalized, the evil......"

The more the village chief talked, the more evil he became, and the more he talked, the more frightened he became.

Gu Yanan had already grasped the point from his words, Li Erzhu had gone into Qingcheng Mountain to catch a wild fox before he died, and it was likely that he skinned the fox and ate meat.

Gu Yanan entered the courtyard of Li Erzhu's house and assigned tasks to everyone, "Lu Li is in charge of the east wing, Xiao Chu is in charge of the west wing, and Section Chief Li and I will go to the main house and kitchen to have a look, focusing on whether there are any white fox skins, thrown away animal offal, or leftover meat and bones." ”

Several people began to split up.

The main house was a mess, with dried vomit on the floor, a large dark brown puddle, and it could be seen that there was a lot of blood mixed in addition to the stomach contents.

There were also blood stains on the bed, and it seemed that the owner had left in a hurry and had not had time to clean it up.

Section Chief Li opened the sampling box and took samples of the vomit on the ground and the blood stains on the bed.

Through a door, enter the kitchen from the main house.

The kitchen is typical of a rural kitchen, with a fire-burning stove next to a coal-fired stove with a plumbing connected to the main house.

Opposite the stove is a cupboard with lots of washed dishes, plates, chopsticks, and some leftovers.

Next to it is a vertical refrigerator with the upper level refrigerated and the lower level frozen.

When you open the refrigerator door on the upper floor, a special smell of stewed meat wafts into your nostrils.

Gu Yanan took out the fragrant ceramic basin from the refrigerated layer.

Inside was half a basin of meat with bones, which had been cut into small pieces, and the soup had turned into jelly.

Judging by the bones exposed on the aspelly, they are much thicker than chicken bones and a little smaller than dog bones.

"This pot should be fox meat, take it all back."

Section Chief Li re-wrapped the entire basin with a sampling bag and put it into the sampling box.

The other side of the kitchen door is connected to the yard, and when you push that door open, there is a trash can next to the door.

Gu Yanan wore gloves and brought a straight branch in the shape of a burning stick from the kitchen and rummaged through the trash can.

Flipping through the rotten cabbage leaves on the top of the garbage can, there is a pile of bloody animal entrails at the bottom of the garbage can.

"These may be the entrails of the fox, and they should be brought back as well."

Gu Yanan was loading the fox entrails into the sampling bag with Section Chief Li, when he suddenly heard Xiao Chu in the west wing shouting: "There is a fox skin here!" ”

vertex