The lab was slow to deliver the result, for it was a new type of pathogenic bacteria that had never been recorded. As it turned out, it was not a virus-it was a pathogenic bacterium.
The result stunned Madilyn and Roxanne. Nevertheless, Roxanne managed to recollect herself swiftly. There were many things they had to work on instantly, so they had no time to waste.
The first thing they had to do was to lock down the entire building where the emergency room was before contacting all of the people who had entered that building that day to tell them to stay in the building.
Secondly, they had to contact the Centers for Disease Control to convey the gravity of the situation. Thirdly, all of the emergency room staff members had to be sent to different rooms for standby so that they could find out whether or not they had been infected by the bacteria.
“What’s next is that the lab personnel will do their best to find out more details of this bacterium while all infected doctors and nurses will be given antibiotics. If any of their symptoms abruptly worsen to the point their lives are in danger, please come to me right away so I can perform acupuncture on them,” Roxanne uttered, her expression somber.
Madilyn nodded and immediately informed the management-level employees of the hospital about Roxanne’s arrangements. It was a race against time. Frankly, incidents like these often happened in local hospitals.
As the director of the hospital, Madilyn, naturally, knew the standard operating procedure like the back of her hand. “It looks like my acupuncture can stabilize the condition for now,” Roxanne said to Lucian, seemingly consoling him.
For a moment, Lucian was thrown into a daze. He suddenly realized he often underestimated her capabilities. Her small frame was a shell for the immense power she had. “So do you need medicine now? Do you feel unwell?” Lucian worriedly asked.
“I’m fine. I don’t need medicine for now. It’s unlikely that a new kind of pathogenic bacteria like this can cause serious symptoms so quickly. For now, my symptoms are just like a cold. Also, medicine won’t be good for the baby.” Roxanne relaxed her tense expression and stood up to hold her husband’s hand.
Lucian nodded, trusting Roxanne’s judgment. Right then, he, too, felt an itch in his throat. His heart lurched. Is this pathogenic bacteria so contagious? I didn’t even come into contact with the patient; only my wife and Madilyn.
Nevertheless, Lucian tamped down the urge to cough and quickly drank some water to soothe his throat. He didn’t want Roxanne to be worried. Time ticked away. Soon, Madilyn rushed back to the office to inform Roxanne about the current situation.
As it turned out, the patient they administered emergency treatment on earlier had a large amount of the same pathogenic bacteria in his blood. That was what caused the failure of multiple organs.
Nonetheless, his condition had stabilized because of Roxanne’s acupuncture and the full- body blood transfusion.
“So far, none of the ready-made antibiotics are working. Almost all of the doctors and nurses in the emergency room had been infected, but their symptoms are mild. However, we’ll need to speed up the development of a drug targeting this bacterium if we want to stop it from spreading,” Madilyn said to Roxanne.
However, Roxanne furrowed her brows.. “Madilyn, where did this patient come from? There aren’t any records of this pathogenic bacteria in the country. Let’s try posting this case to the international forums to see if anyone can recognize it. Perhaps this has appeared before; just not in our country.”
Before Madilyn could register Roxanne’s words, Lucian figured out what conclusion his wife had come to.
The expression on his face turned grimmer as he added, “What Roxanne meant is that we need to look into that patient’s details. Maybe this isn’t an accident. Maybe this is planned.”
