"Sister Yanan, this is a steamed bun found in the kitchen, I'll take two and feed it to the dog, if you don't feed it, the dog will starve to death."

Xiao Chu said as he threw the two steamed buns in his hand in front of the two dogs lying on the ground.

The two dogs were a little listless, and I don't know if they were hungry or sick.

When he saw the food, the dog stood up and swallowed the steamed bun into his stomach in two or three clicks.

Xiao Chu was stunned, all he had been in contact with in the past were pet dogs, they were very docile, and they chewed slowly when they ate, and they had never seen such a gobbling dog.

"Sure enough, it's our Chinese pastoral dog, it's so good at eating, two steamed buns are not enough at all, I'll go to the kitchen to get a few."

Xiao Chu returned to the backyard kitchen, and Gu Yanan followed this time.

The kitchen of Wang Yunhao's house is the same as that of an ordinary farmhouse, with a firewood stove, a gas canister, a cupboard and a refrigerator, and everything is complete.

There are many black flour steamed buns in the steamer on the stove.

Xiao Chu took out 4 more from it, "This epidemic Wang Yunhao estimates that he will stay in the hospital for a while, and so many steamed buns will be bad if they can't finish eating, just to feed their dogs." ”

Gu Yanan opened the refrigerator and saw that there were still some unfinished dishes in it, "Xiao Chu, have you sampled all the dishes in the refrigerator?" ”

"Well, it's all picked." Xiao Chu took the steamed bun and sniffed it, "This steamed bun tastes very strange, like bread." ”

Gu Yanan also took out a steamed bun from the steamer.

It's not an ordinary white-flour steamed bun, the steamed bun here is black in color and soft when pinched, Gu Yanan also smelled it, "It's a bit like the rye bread sold in a bakery." ”

"Rye bread? Sister Yanan, are you saying that these steamed buns are made of rye? According to our eating habits in Lianhaishi, we generally eat rice or white flour, corn, black rice, millet and other grains, and there are very few people who eat rye. Xiao Chu asked.

"Foreigners eat more rye, I see a lot of rye in the yard warehouse, only people can't eat so much, it should also be for pigs." Gu Yanan analysis.

"Yes, now people and pigs eat the same things......" Xiao Chu seemed to suddenly remember something, and the words changed, "Pigs eat rye, Wang Yunhao's family has also eaten rye, the pig died, Wang Yuhao's family is sick, is there a problem with this rye?" ”

Gu Yanan and Xiao Chu realized the problem at the same time, Gu Yanan hurriedly went out of the kitchen and went to the front yard to see the situation of the two earth dogs, and Xiao Chu also rushed over behind her.

Just now the two dogs have eaten black flour steamed buns, if it is really a problem with rye, then the two dogs may get sick.

In the corner of the front yard, next to the kennel, two earth dogs were lying on the ground with weak breath and trembling limbs, obviously sick.

Just now the two dogs were listless when they were lying on the ground, and now it seems that they may have been sick before, and now they have eaten two black flour steamed buns to replenish energy, and their mental state is not better, but the symptoms are more serious.

Gu Yanan inspected the iron basin used to hold dog food next to the kennel, and there were also some food residues in it, which were black, similar to the food in the pig trough of the dead pigsty, and it was also a food composed of rye flour mixed with other feed.

It seems that these two earth dogs were sick because of these foods before, and the two black-flour steamed buns that Xiao Chuxin fed caused the symptoms to worsen now.

It seems that there is something wrong with the black-faced steamed buns.

Gu Yanan trotted into the warehouse in the yard, opened one of the sacks, exposed the rye inside, and took out a handful with gloves.

In the sun, the rye shimmered with oily light, and in the neatly shaped pile of rye were mixed with many large purple-black fusiform grains.

"Ergo?!" Gu Yanan's voice trembled a little.

"What ergot?" Xiao Chu took a closer look at the rye in Gu Yanan's hand, and didn't find anything unusual after looking at it for a long time.

Gu Yanan picked out a few purple-black fusiform particles in the rye, showed them to Xiao Chu, and explained, "This is ergot, a fungus that forms a sclerotia after infecting cereal crops, which is poisonous!" ”

Xiao Chu finally remembered the knowledge he had learned in books, "Ergot formed by ergotis infected with cereals turned out to be like this."

Ergot fungus will produce a large amount of ergotamine and other toxic substances after invading cereals, and people and animals will produce poisoning symptoms after eating, in addition to gastrointestinal symptoms such as malignant vomiting, the toxin will also attack the nervous system, so that the ingester will hallucinate, and some will go blind.

Ergot toxin can also constrict blood vessels, causing bruising all over the body, and in severe cases, gangrene, which are consistent with the symptoms of patients in this outbreak.

Sister Yanan, we should have found the source of this epidemic, which is these ergots. ”

Xiao Chu, who was immersed in the surprise of finding the source of the disease, suddenly reacted, "The symptoms of Wang Yunhao's family can be explained by ergot poisoning, but how can other patients explain the symptoms of poisoning?" Did you eat the same rye? ”

Gu Yanan: "To determine whether it is ergot poisoning, you need to go back to the laboratory to test for ergot toxin, and combined with the flow data of other patients, the source of poisoning can always be traced." ”

——

Lianhai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Experimental Building.

Gu Yanan and Xiao Chu sent the specimens collected from Wang Yunhao's house in Wangjia Village to the laboratory.

As soon as Section Chief Li of the laboratory saw Gu Yanan, he came up directly and complained, "I said Director Gu, the number of specimens in this epidemic is too large, and the detection range is so wide, and the laboratory is screening for several bacteria that can cause gangrene." There was a salesman who came to sell the 4th generation nanopore sequencer, this instrument should be applied for and bought as soon as possible, with this instrument for rapid sequencing, pathogens can be quickly analyzed, and there is no need for us to screen pathogens one by one, not to mention, it also delays the diagnosis of the epidemic. ”

Since Section Chief Li fell in love with this nanopore sequencer, he feels that it is time-consuming to use ordinary nucleic acid detection technology.

Sure enough, scientific and technological progress has brought about a change in thinking, and the PCR technology that was still commonly used before has been disliked in a blink of an eye.

Gu Yanan handed over the specimen to Section Chief Li and comforted, "This nanopore sequencer will be available sooner or later, but this time I don't need it, just now I went to Wangjia Village to find a clue that can narrow the detection range, and all the specimens are currently tested for ergot toxin." ”

"Ergot toxin?" Section Chief Li asked in surprise, "Are you suspected of ergot poisoning?" ”

"Well, we found moldy rye in the house of patient Wang Yunhao, and there was a lot of ergot in it."

"Okay, since there are clues, you have determined the scope of detection, I will send the specimen to the physical and chemical group, and I will notify you as soon as the results come out."

——

It was 9:20 p.m. that night.

Lianhai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Emergency Office.

The office was brightly lit and the six members of the emergency response team gathered.

Zhou Lao, Gao Fei and Lu Li returned one after another with the flow data collected by their respective counties and districts.

Everyone sorted out the flow information they brought back, and Gu Yanan received a report from Section Chief Li of the laboratory.

High concentrations of ergotamine, ergometrine and ergotoxin were detected in the patient's blood and vomit, rye feed from Wang Yunhao's pig farm, and black flour steamed bread in the kitchen.

As previously inferred, it was indeed ergot poisoning, and the source of poisoning for Wang Yunhao's family was found to be moldy rye, so where was the source of poisoning for other patients in the city?

After Gu Yanan fed back the test results to the hospital, several members of the emergency team began to discuss.

Zhou Lao: "The flow data in my hand shows that the distribution of patients is scattered, and there was no dinner party two days before the onset of the disease, and the only thing that can be contacted may be that they have eaten certain brands of condiments, and the staple food they have eaten is basically rice steamed buns, and bread is used for breakfast. ”