Chapter 313 Prelude to the Age of Plague
Even though he had seen many terrifying scenes, Xia Ren couldn't help but take a breath when he saw the projection.
To be honest, he didn't realize at first that it was a human brain. It was a bit dark yellow brain, like a pile of tofu dregs, but when you look closely, you can still distinguish the unique trench structure of the cerebral cortex from the disgusting white residue.
"This is a loss of 30 mass of the patient's brain."
The vice president introduced: "The patient suddenly reported that Long Zheng died suddenly while working. Except for poor sleep before his death, his family and colleagues did not find any other obvious abnormalities. After an anatomical examination, he found that although his brain lost nearly one-third of its mass, the lost parts almost did not touch the functional area."
"What is Bulongzheng?"
Xia Ren whispered to Niu Changshou around him, who explained: "You can simply imagine your brain as several rooms, where the room is connected by a channel. Bulongzheng means that cysts, tumors, or cystics appeared in the fourth room. Because the human position suddenly changed, these things also moved their positions, blocking the exit of the fourth room, and affecting the brain function. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
Xia Ren nodded.
Actually, he still doesn't understand very much.
These professional medical terms involve his blind spots in knowledge. Even the introduction just now was confused, such as hepatic encephalopathy, chorea disease, and cerebral artery blood thief syndrome, which was completely confused.
The vice president switched to the next picture. This time his brain was much more complete than before, but the slender and twisted holes in the cleft grooves in the cerebral cortex can still make people feel severe discomfort. Xia Ren subconsciously recalled the escape he experienced in an ancient dream not long ago. The cave in Baiyaki was like this enlarged version of the brain at this time. The winding and rugged cave inside was the hole in the brain at this time.
That was a bad memory. When Xia Ren thought of the last stage of Gu Meng and the fat body under the maggot cloak, he felt that the discomfort in his heart became even more serious.
“It’s not just that.”
The vice president continued: "Dissing the brains of the other patients, it was found that although these hollow holes were eroding the brain, they basically did not touch the functional area, and most patients' brains did not have any infections, so although they seemed terrifying, the harm they caused to the human body was actually very limited.
According to the information currently available, nearly 70% of patients die not because of brain damage, but other reasons.”
"Do you have a clue?"
Niu Changshou asked.
The two professors and the vice president looked at each other and kept shaking their heads.
"There are too many ways to die, many of which are caused by physical fatigue and accidents in life, some are because of huge mental stress, and some are because of sudden death from unknown causes and irreversible multi-organ failure."
One of the professors added: "The reason for the formation of hollow holes in the brain and where the disappearing brain tissues went is also a puzzle. We guessed that it was because of some kind of parasite, but no trace of insect activity was found so far, and no secretion of parasites or other foreign bodies were detected in the patient's brain. What's more, no suspicious patient had an immune response, indicating that there was no foreign body invasion in the body. Or in other words, the patient's body was not invaded by normal organisms."
The immune response refers to the immune response process of the host to produce parasite antigens, which are divided into three stages: antigen processing and presentation, immune cell reproduction and differentiation stages, and cellular immunity and humoral immunity.
Although it seems to be a way for the immune system to fight parasites, in fact, immunity should not only bring good results. It is divided into two types: one is protective immunity that has different degrees of protection to the host, and the other is causing damage to the host tissue and immunopathological damage. Usually, these two results will exist simultaneously in the same host.
Most of the clinical manifestations produced by the immune response process are relatively obvious, so it also helps doctors diagnose.
If these cases are really caused by some kind of parasite, it is really a tricky thing to not trigger the human immune response, or the immune response is extremely weak.
Niu Changshou listened quietly to their opinions and summarized his thoughts in his heart.
"From the first suspected case, until now, we have shown the residence addresses of all patients in the order in which they appear on the map in the order from shallow to deep, and we have obtained such a rendering."
The vice president adjusted the map and could clearly see that starting from Dongpu University of Science and Technology, dense red dots were circular like the spread of the entire Dongpu City, and the source of atypical phobia was instantly clear.
"Tongpu University of Science and Technology..."
Niu Changshou narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Maybe it is related to the incident two years ago."
"Two years ago?"
The vice president frowned and thought for a while, suddenly said in surprise: "Are you talking about the case where the paleontologist disappeared with more than a dozen students?"
“It’s not certain yet.”
Niu Changshou stretched out his body and said, "Let's introduce this for the time being. Are there any surviving cases? Take me to see."
"Can."
The two professors stood up from their seats, experts in cardiovascular and neurosurgery, and knew the existence of the World Superman Association, so they were able to participate in this.
The vice president walked in front and guided them the way, saying, "At present, the number of hospitalized patients in our hospital has decreased by about 70%. We do not accept hospitalized patients. All suspicious cases in Dongpu City have been admitted to our hospital in a concentrated manner."
"Then aren't you afraid of being infected?"
Qin Yun couldn't help asking.
The vice president turned around, looked at her, and said calmly: "You don't understand what this means."
Yes, Qin Yun is not a major in medicine. She couldn't understand the other party's explanation just now, so she didn't realize the seriousness of the problem.
A disease with a mortality rate of almost 100%, with strong occultness and acute symptoms, which can greatly affect the patient's quality of life and is highly likely to be confirmed to be contagious, but the worst thing is that its contagious route is still unknown.
There are very few examples that can be found in history of such a serious infectious disease. If one has to be found for comparison, it is - the plague!
Although only 1,200 cases have been found, the diagnosis is so difficult that no one can know how many people have been infected.
As a large commercial tourist city, Dongpu City accepts more than 300 million tourists every year. The airport runway has never stopped for 24 hours a day. Aircraft take off and land here at all times, carrying people around the world and people from all over the world here.
Atypical phobia took several months to spread from Dongpu University of Science and Technology to every corner of Dongpu City, with a permanent population of more than 10 million, increasing the population mortality rate of the entire city by thirteen percentage points.
So how long does it take to spread its existence to every corner of the world with Dongpu City as the center?
This is no longer just a disease.
Chapter completed!