bookrandom Chapter 50 Smallpox
Chapter 50 Smallpox
Five days ago, just as Qin Xuan had ordered Zhuge Xuan to send people to investigate the plague symptoms, an unexpected yet reasonable person appeared in Beining City.
This person is a monkey!
This man, who was born with dwarfism, almost died on the way back this time.
When the Shence Army picked him up, his whole body was covered in red rashes, and in some places, blisters had formed and were oozing pus.
"Your Highness, a plague is raging in all four cities of Danxia, and 200,000 refugees are on their way. You must not open the city gates."
The weak monkey lay on the bed, but as soon as it saw Qin Xuan, it struggled to utter these words.
Seeing this scene, Qin Xuan felt a fire burning in his chest.
Zhuge Xuan and the Monkey King, didn't they all want to save the people from suffering?
But they knew that accepting those 200,000 refugees would inevitably affect the entire city of Beining.
So the monkey was willing to risk dying on the road to come back and tell Qin Xuan the seriousness of the matter in advance.
He feared that his prince was too benevolent and would be exploited by the Daqi court.
"Monkey, you're fucking my lucky charm!"
Qin Xuan's seemingly random remark left everyone present somewhat bewildered.
But Qin Xuan was extremely excited at this moment, and the gloom on his face was completely gone.
"Your Majesty, what are you doing..."
Zhuge Xuan was filled with doubt and couldn't help but ask.
Knowing that these people would definitely be curious, Qin Xuan simply said, "From the symptoms on the monkeys, I already know the origin of this plague, and I have also thought of a solution."
Upon hearing this, the entire room fell silent instantly.
A few breaths later, Zhuge Xuan grabbed Qin Xuan's arm excitedly, disregarding the proper etiquette between ruler and subject, and said in a flustered manner, "Your Highness, do you really have a way to cure this plague?"
Qin Xuan nodded, then glanced at the monkey who had just fainted from a fever, and quickly said, "Immediately send someone over to wash the monkey's body, then use cold water to cool him down, and at the same time burn all his clothes and give him a new set."
"Your Highness, why is this?" Zhuge Xuan asked incessantly, like a curious child.
"This plague is actually called smallpox, which is a highly contagious disease that can be transmitted through the air and skin contact."
When Qin Xuan saw the pustules on the monkey's body, he already knew that this plague was smallpox.
Smallpox infections typically begin with symptoms such as cough, headache, and body aches, followed by fever and diarrhea, and in some cases, even other complications.
This is the second stage of smallpox symptoms. After that, red rashes break out all over the body, which then evolve into blisters, pustules, and eventually ooze pus and blood, leading to a painful death.
The entire process, from infection to outbreak, takes about half a month, with an incubation period of seven to eleven days.
This is the main reason why smallpox continued to spread, because often you don't even know that you are infected, yet you keep coming into contact with other people.
Moreover, in ancient times, there was no concept of isolation at all.
"Air? Then Your Highness, wouldn't you be..."
Zhuge Xuan's expression immediately changed. Qin Xuan absolutely could not be harmed, otherwise the entire Beining City would be thrown into chaos.
"Although airborne transmission is easy, it is not 100% effective. However, just in case, everyone who has had contact with the monkeys along the way, including you and me, must not leave this yard."
Qin Xuan gave the order.
"Your Highness, how can smallpox be treated?" Zhuge Xuan asked, slightly relieved.
"This is simple in some ways, and difficult in others. You have someone find a few cows that happen to have smallpox, and then have Kaohsiung come over. I'll draw something for him and have him build it as soon as possible."
Since it was smallpox, Qin Xuan naturally knew that cowpox vaccination was the most effective treatment available at the time.
Zhuge Xuan was completely bewildered by his constant switching between bullying and smallpox.
Fortunately, Zhuge Xuan knew what was important and immediately gave instructions to his subordinates as Qin Xuan had requested.
As for Qin Xuan, he brought out a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone and began to draw.
This cowpox treatment involves cutting open the cowpox lesion, squeezing out the pus, and then injecting it into the human skin to treat and prevent the disease.
Because the cowpox virus in cattle is very similar to the smallpox virus, but its virulence is much weaker.
When a person is infected with the cowpox virus, they do not have many reactions, but they do produce a special antibody.
This antibody remains permanently in the body, which is why once a person has been vaccinated against smallpox or has had smallpox, they will not be infected with smallpox again.
Even so, the mortality rate of smallpox was still as high as 20%.
For ordinary people in this era, such a probability would undoubtedly be a disaster.
So at this moment, Qin Xuan is drawing a surgical scalpel, an injection needle, and a mask.
These masks are simple; just use linen instead of gauze and make them according to the mask design. After all, Beining City is currently focusing on developing its industry, so masks are naturally no problem.
However, these scalpels and injection needles are extremely difficult to manufacture.
The former requires an extremely sharp blade, while for the latter, the syringe is simple and can be temporarily replaced with wood, but the syringe itself is the difficult part, since the diameter of a real syringe is extremely fine, which is impossible to achieve with current technology.
Fortunately, there weren't too many requirements for smallpox inoculation. Qin Xuan only drew a rough outline and instructed, "Make the knife as sharp as possible, and as for the syringe, make the diameter as small as possible. The most important thing right now is time."
Zhuge Xuan had reported that the refugees would arrive in Beining City in as little as five days.
Now that it has been confirmed that the plague is smallpox, Qin Xuan will naturally no longer stand idly by.
Moreover, once the smallpox vaccination is completed, a rash will appear in two to three days. As long as the rash appears, it means that the vaccination was successful. That is why Qin Xuan cares so much about the timing.
"My lord, are you okay?"
Outside the courtyard, Zhao Luoying's anxious voice suddenly came.
Qin Xuan hurriedly went out: "I'm fine, please don't come in, otherwise Beining City will be left unmanaged and chaos will break out."
At this moment, Zhao Luoying really wanted to climb over the wall and go in immediately, but after hearing Qin Xuan's words, she obediently held back.
But in her heart, she was filled with worry and anxiety.
Qin Xuan knew her worries, so he spent some time explaining and comforting her. Once Zhao Luoying's emotions had stabilized, everything was ready.
A cow that just happened to have smallpox, a clumsy scalpel, and a rough injection tube that made Qin Xuan want to curse.
Although the tool is ugly, it has all the necessary functions.
Especially the plunger; although the needle was only slightly thinner than a fingertip, the carpenter had at least made a piston-like plunger out of wood to draw out pus.
"Your Highness, shall I do it?"
Looking at these tools, Zhuge Xuan worried about Qin Xuan's safety and made a suggestion.
Qin Xuan smiled and said, "Strategist, isn't it me who's the one wielding a sword to kill the enemy?"
Having said that, without waiting for Zhuge Xuan's reaction, he had already cut open the smallpox with a knife and then used a syringe to extract the pus from inside.
Immediately afterwards, Qin Xuan went to the monkey's side and injected it directly into his arm.
After finishing all this, Qin Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Send someone to watch over the monkey; it should have miraculous effects in two or three days."
"So fast?"
Zhuge Xuan was taken aback, his face filled with worry.
Qin Xuan was too lazy to explain any further, and instead said to Zhao Luoying outside, "Luoying, you must keep a close eye on the mask issue. At the same time, you also need to do some things for me. Otherwise, when those 200,000 refugees arrive, even if we can treat smallpox, we should be prepared in advance."