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    Chapter 93 Cholera? Typhoid? Dysentery?

    Aunt Irene was sick?

    Gretel was startled. The City Guard and the War God Temple had always had a close relationship. If Aunt Irene fell ill, Uncle Kalen could definitely use his connections to find a Pastor to take a look. At least Little John would definitely come…

    So, what happened?

    How could they not even get a Pastor?

    “I’ll go with you!” Gretel said decisively. He rushed in, grabbed his surgical instruments and alchemical materials, and quickly walked out of the Mage Tower. He rode his horse, asking questions as he went. In the whistling wind, he heard Raymond’s brother’s story in bits and pieces:

    Aunt Irene had fallen ill the day before yesterday. She had diarrhea a few times the day before yesterday, and they just thought she had eaten something bad, so they didn’t think much of it. However, yesterday she suddenly developed a high fever, and from last night to this morning, she had diarrhea a dozen times, her stomach hurt so badly that she couldn’t even stand up. Seeing that the situation was not right, Uncle Kalen went to the War God Temple early this morning to ask for a Pastor…

    “The Pastor wouldn’t come?”

    Gretel asked urgently. Raymond’s brother, hunched over the horse, shook his head vigorously, his face full of bitterness:

    “All the Pastors have been called away… Even apprentices like Little John have been called away. The Temple entrance is full of people… sitting, lying down, some even start to have diarrhea while lying down… Little Gretel, you wouldn’t believe it…”

    Full of people?!

    Starting to have diarrhea while lying down?!

    A bolt of lightning struck through Gretel’s mind. Raymond’s brother’s description made him reflexively think of a word:

    Medical overcrowding!

    Too many patients appearing in a short period of time, and the medical facilities are simply not enough to cope—and if the symptoms of these patients are all the same, or similar…

    The city gate was just ahead. Gretel nudged his horse, slowing down. Two City Guards were on duty at the gate. Seeing Raymond and him coming back together, they shouted:

    “Little Gretel, you’re back! – Go home quickly, your Aunt Irene is sick!”

    “Little Gretel, could you come to my house later? My daughter is sick too—”

    Sick too?

    So many sick people?

    Gretel’s heart was troubled. He nodded haphazardly, and quickly passed through the gate. The black mud and sewage on the main street were already much less than last time. Clearly, the urban cleaning plan that Gretel had promoted had already taken effect. However, it didn’t take long before he turned onto a small road, and the stench immediately hit him.

    Too late…

    The plan to clean up garbage and feces, and clean the streets, started far, far too late…

    Gretel tried to speed up. When he reached Uncle Kalen’s house, they both dismounted. Raymond rushed in and called:

    “Aunt Irene! Aunt Irene, are you alright?”

    “I’m alright…” A weak voice came from the bedroom. Gretel followed the sound and saw Aunt Irene, with difficulty, covering her abdomen, while she was cleaning up the basin on the ground. She saw him come in and immediately waved:

    “Go out, go out! Dirty…”

    “Aunt Irene!” Gretel rushed over. The woman’s pale face immediately flushed red, she turned her body half-way around, trying to hide the smelly basin in her hand. Gretel, however, grabbed it, holding her down:

    “Aunt Irene, let me take a look. It’s alright, it’s alright, I’m a Healer…”

    The basin was filled with black and yellow things, half liquid, half solid, all the excrement from her diarrhea. Aunt Irene was embarrassed and at a loss, but she was weak after her illness, and she couldn’t fight back against a young man. She could only let Gretel take the basin to the door, where the light was brighter, and observe it carefully.

    Gretel took one look and was relieved. There was a lot of solid matter in the basin, and the color was darker, not the rice-water like form that he feared most—not cholera! Thank goodness, at least it wasn’t cholera!

    He found a small wooden stick, stirred the contents of the basin, and picked it up to examine it. There was mucus, and pus and blood, smelly but not fishy, a typical mucus and pus stool—God have mercy, why did he have to personally look at this? In his previous life, this kind of work was done by the lab technicians!

    While complaining, he combined the previous symptoms of diarrhea, fever, etc., and Gretel already had a preliminary idea in his mind. Putting down the basin, he washed his hands and continued to ask about her condition and examine her:

    Fever, abdominal pain, tenesmus, increased bowel sounds, significant tenderness in the left lower abdomen—

    Consider bacterial dysentery.

    Without blood tests, stool tests, bacterial cultures, or colonoscopies, nothing… he could only “consider” bacterial dysentery…

    Gretel silently added emphasis marks to the two words “consider.” If it was bacterial dysentery, then the treatment plan was very clear, and some of it was within his reach now—Gretel didn’t even have to think hard, he turned around and said:

    “Brother Raymond!”

    “What’s wrong?”

    Raymond was nervously squatting beside him, watching Gretel’s every move. Hearing Gretel call him, he immediately jumped up:

    “What do you want me to do?”

    “Is there any boiled water at home? – No? Then go boil some! Boil it until it’s bubbling, then pour a bowl over here, remember, wash your hands first, then rinse the bowl with boiling water! Give me some salt! If you have sugar, bring some over too!”

    Raymond rushed about doing as he was told. Gretel calmed himself down, sat next to Aunt Irene, and closed his eyes slightly.

    The pathological changes of bacterial dysentery mainly occur in the large intestine, mainly in the sigmoid colon and rectum. Therefore, the focus of treatment should also be on the intestines.

    “The health of the people is entrusted to me—”

    His right palm glowed with a warm, white light, pressing against the patient’s left lower abdomen.

    Kill the bacteria, reduce intestinal secretions, accelerate metabolism, and allow the toxins that have entered the blood to be quickly broken down…

    Gretel silently pondered, trying to sketch out the location and structure of the intestines in his mind, imagining how the healing energy flowed. The white light in his palm became brighter and brighter, and only after a long time did it dim down. Aunt Irene excitedly sat up and pressed her abdomen:

    “Little Gretel, I’m better! My stomach doesn’t hurt anymore!”

    “Aunt Irene, lie down!”

    Gretel pressed her down, then turned to take the water bowl from Raymond, and fed her the salt and sugar water. He waited another half an hour, making sure that Aunt Irene’s stomach no longer ached and she no longer wanted to have diarrhea, then Gretel was relieved and stood up:

    “Raymond, watch over Aunt Irene, I’m going out.”

    “Where are you going?”

    “To see how many people are sick in this city!”

    Gretel left these words behind, and like the wind, he rolled out of the room, mounted his horse.

    First, he ran to the War God Temple. On the three steps in front of the temple, there were densely packed sick people. He then rode to the Spring Water Goddess Temple. The temple gate was closed, and not even a temple guard was seen at the gate. On the small square, hundreds of people were sitting or lying down, filth was flowing, and the air was filled with a stench.

    Gretel’s heart sank lower and lower.

    Hartland City only had a population of twenty thousand. Just the people gathered at the temple gate seeking medical treatment numbered two hundred.

    Then, how many had been healed by the Pastors?

    How many were too weak to come?

    How many had not yet fallen ill, or were not seriously ill, and felt that they didn’t need to come?

    A 1% infection rate, this was already terrifying—the medical system alone could not handle it. They had to report it, activate the emergency plan, and the administrative forces had to step in!

    Fortunately, it wasn’t far from the City Lord’s Mansion. Gretel ran to the front of the City Lord’s Mansion, dismounted, and grabbed a guard:

    “Where is the City Lord?”

    “He went out of town!” The City Guard, who had helped him during the Midsummer Festival incident, had a good impression of him, and answered quickly this time:

    “Three days ago, more and more people in the city were getting sick, so the City Lord went to his manor!”

    Sigh!

    Gretel threw a thank you, stamped his foot, and turned to leave. He went straight to the slum, expertly navigating the streets and alleys, and found Elder Elvin:

    “Teacher, this won’t do! A great plague has come, and treating them one by one won’t save everyone!”

    Elder Elvin stopped casting his spell. The old man’s snow-white hair and beard were now covered with sweat, drop by drop. He looked at Gretel:

    “What do you suggest?”

    “Please, Teacher, summon all the leading figures in the city and re-establish order. Then—”

    Gretel looked outside. He looked at the endless line that snaked out from the doorway, he looked at the hopeful eyes:

    “We, will curb this plague!”

    Did anyone guess that the plague was coming in the last chapter?

    I struggled for a long time, and finally decided to make it a Class B plague. Class A is too fierce…

    Please collect, please recommend, please leave comments… Please do everything…

    Please come to see me every day! Help me boost my readership, let’s make one last push in the rankings!

    (End of Chapter)

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