Chapter 38: Infectious Diseases Together [3] The cowpox method was preventive, but at the same time, it was also a treatment.
No, it would be more accurate to call it the only treatment in existence.
Jenner discovered this phenomenon... because of milkmaids, right?
Smallpox was a terrifying disease in both East and West.
Naturally, it drew immense attention from medical scholars, and Jenner had been able to bring about a revolution through sheer chance.
He had realized that milkmaids who milked dairy cows strangely did not contract smallpox.
That phenomenon must have existed ever since people first began milking cows, but Jenner was the one who paid attention to it.
His method had been rather crude, injecting cow pus into people.
But at the time, there had likely been no other way.
And it happened to be safe and effective. That's why I can use it like this.
Kanghyeok filled the syringe with every last bit of fluid from the cow's sores.
He did briefly worry that medicine might be advancing too quickly, but only for a moment.
The present he was living in now mattered far more than some future in which he did not even know whether he could return.
I should inject the people who came first before anyone else.
There would probably be some resistance, but he could simply gloss it over as a kind of needle treatment.
They were too sick to put up much of a fight anyway.
Creak.
Kanghyeok carefully opened the storeroom door and stepped inside.
Cough, cough.
Ominous coughing sounded from all around.
This was where they had gathered only the most critical patients, so it was even worse.
Whew, that smell.
Waving a hand in front of his face, Kanghyeok approached the first patient.
It seemed the anti-inflammatory medicine had failed to bring the fever down.
His face was burning red.
He looks even worse than before.
The disease must have progressed further in the meantime.
That was only natural, since all he had really done was give him anti-inflammatory medicine.
"Hey. How are you feeling?"
"Ugh... it hurts..."
The patient answered only with difficulty, gasping for breath.
His lips were badly cracked, and red blood was seeping out.
That meant dehydration was already setting in.
"Well, this is a problem."
If possible, Kanghyeok wanted to intubate him immediately and put him on a ventilator.
If he could at least help him breathe properly, that alone would make things better.
Of course there's nothing like that here...
Shaking his head, Kanghyeok handed him the Yanggyeok-san Heo Jun had prepared.
"Here, hold this in your mouth for a bit, then spit it out."
"Yes..."
It did not seem to cause as much pain as expected.
The patient managed to rinse his mouth well enough.
"And drink this."
Kanghyeok handed him the Seonbang Hwalmyeong-eum as well.
Perhaps because it contained precious ingredients such as rhubarb, honeysuckle, and frankincense, it smelled very pleasant.
All he could do was hope its effects matched its fragrance.
"Yes."
"Good, you're drinking it well."
"Huh..."
"Now I'm going to give you a water injection."
"A water injection?"
"Yes. It's good for you, so stay still."
Kanghyeok rummaged through his house-call bag.
Then he pulled out a small IV set.
The IV fluid was only 500 milliliters at most, and he had only one bag of it.
That was nowhere near enough to treat dehydration.
Still, it's better than nothing.
If it really came to that, he could use the water Yeoni and Dolseok had boiled.
But that carried far too much risk of unwanted substances getting in.
Whatever. I'll give him this first.
Shaking his head, Kanghyeok brought the needle toward the patient.
Since it was an IV needle, it was quite large.
"It... it's big?"
"The bigger it is, the better it works. Turn your head away."
"Ah, yes."
Kanghyeok placed the needle tip on the back of the patient's hand and took a quiet breath.
The last time I inserted one of these myself was during internship.
Who would ever tell Professor Kanghyeok to do an IV himself?
By the time someone reached first-year resident level, they were already pushing that kind of work off onto interns.
Whew.
Really, ever since coming to Joseon, he had been doing far too many things he normally never did.
At least the patient had fairly good veins, and that was fortunate.
Pop.
With the sound of skin being pierced, a bead of red blood appeared behind the needle.
That meant it had gone in properly.
"Ugh..."
A groan slipped from the patient's mouth.
Anyone who had ever had an injection in the back of the hand would know.
It hurt terribly.
Deliberately keeping a calm expression, Kanghyeok connected the IV.
"There. One is done. Now just one more shot. Keep your head turned away."
"Yes..."
Now it was time for the real injection.
Kanghyeok injected the pus taken from the cow into the patient's upper arm.
"Ugh. What... is this?"
"Mm."
Since he had not merely pierced him but actually injected something, of course it would feel different.
It was a little awkward, but answering was not difficult.
Kanghyeok was eloquent by nature, and a master of making things up on the spot.
"It's a medicinal needle."
"Ah."
It was a perfunctory answer, but the patient accepted it anyway.
There was little point in objecting here.
"All right, next..."
Kanghyeok looked around the storeroom.
This was the room for only the patients in serious condition, and even so, there were quite a few of them.
At least it's fortunate I have enough syringes.
It would have been impossible to inject even the relatively mild cases.
But by morning, everything would refresh again, would it not?
For now, he had to deal with the urgent patients first.
"First rinse your mouth with this, drink this, take this, and get this shot."
Kanghyeok went through them one by one, using Yanggyeok-san, Seonbang Hwalmyeong-eum, anti-inflammatory medicine, antibiotics, and the cow's pus.
Soon every patient in the storeroom had passed through his hands, and before long, they had all fallen asleep.
Ugh, at this rate I'm the one who'll die.
Even during his years as a professor, it was not as though he had never stayed up all night operating. That was the fate of a surgeon.
But it had been a very long time since he had handled everything alone like this.
Seriously, I'm not even an intern. What is this?
Grumbling to himself, Kanghyeok came out of the storeroom.
Heo Jun was sitting on the wooden floor hall, though it was hard to tell whether he was meditating or asleep.
Yeoni and Yeoju had fallen asleep leaning against each other.
The only one still properly awake was Dolseok.
"Young Master, you're out."
"Yes. Why aren't you asleep?"
"The people in there keep asking to be let out."
Come to think of it, Dolseok had been pressing one thick arm firmly against the door.
Voices of protest were coming from inside.
"What? Why?"
"They want to go to the privy, they want to go home, things like that. A wide variety."
"Mm."
Kanghyeok looked toward the room.
It was not a large room, but there were well over ten people crammed inside.
It would have been stranger if they were not uncomfortable.
Still, there's no helping it.
Nothing would truly be resolved until the Busa sent soldiers.
They would have to requisition nearby houses and divide the patients among them.
"I'll go see to it for now."
"Will you be all right? You've practically been up the whole night."
"I'm used to it. You should get some sleep."
"How can I sleep while my master is still awake?"
Kanghyeok stroked Dolseok's head as he joked, then passed him and headed for the room.
If he at least acted as though he were doing something, it would probably calm them down.
"Is staying inside really that hard for you to obey?"
He said it as he flung the door open.
The people inside, packed so tightly there was hardly room to stand, all looked at Kanghyeok.
Their faces were full of dissatisfaction, but none of them dared voice it.
In such a small village, they would hardly ever have seen a proper yangban.
They could not treat a genuine nobleman like Kanghyeok carelessly.
Feeling the discomfort hanging in the silence, Kanghyeok spoke again.
"If you people go wandering around, the village becomes that much more dangerous, and so do your families."
"...."
The room remained quiet.
They could not understand it so readily.
They were only obeying because they were afraid of Kanghyeok, or more accurately, of his status.
Since he had not expected an answer, Kanghyeok continued.
"For now, I'll treat you in here, so come forward one by one."
At the word treat, they began stepping forward one after another.
Whatever else people said, Kanghyeok was a famous master physician.
Dissatisfaction was one thing, treatment another.
That seemed to be how they saw it.
"The mouth... is manageable. The pustules are starting to come up. Here, take this."
"You've got a lot of blisters? You can't possibly eat like this. Rinse your mouth with this, and take this."
Compared to the patients in the storeroom, their condition was much better.
So the consultations did not take very long.
Fortunately, the medicine Heo Jun had decocted was not yet running short.
Though by tomorrow, it certainly would.
"All right, now sleep."
"Yes, my lord..."
Kanghyeok left as abruptly as he had entered.
If he kept talking with them, someone might start insisting on going outside.
"Hoo."
Though it was summer, the air before dawn was refreshingly cool.
As he took a deep breath, Dolseok came hurrying over.
Judging by the constant yawns, he was clearly sleepy after all.
"I told you to sleep, so why are you still waiting here?"
"You ought to get some sleep too, Young Master. I should guard this room."
Dolseok pointed to the room Kanghyeok had just come out of.
Judging by the murmuring inside, they seemed to be thinking about sneaking out.
"Honestly... maybe I should have sent Yeoni instead."
"To the Busa?"
"Yes. If she'd gone with Makbong, it probably would've worked better."
"That hurts, Young Master."
At the sudden female voice, Kanghyeok turned his head.
It seemed she had woken up from their conversation, because Yeoni was standing there.
"You heard that?"
"Yes, I heard."
In the moonlight, her face looked especially delicate tonight.
Especially those lips pushed out in a sulk.
"No, well..."
"You do know I'm better at martial arts, don't you?"
She really did seem angry.
Men could never truly be used to handling an angry woman.
Though it was better than dealing with a crying one.
With a flustered look, Kanghyeok scratched the back of his head.
Dolseok found the sight amusing and started snickering.
"I know, I know."
"Then why do you think I'm inferior to Makbong?"
"Well..."
Kanghyeok tilted his head for a moment, then widened his eyes.
"Right, you're much faster. He'd probably be back by now if you'd gone."
"Don't try to smooth it over."
"Oh? You want me to hit you?"
"It's not as though you couldn't."
"No matter what, I'm still a yangban. Hey, Dolseok, what are you doing?"
Normally, this was the fellow who would have gone, "Hey now!" and rushed in at once.
Now he was just standing back with his hands behind him, watching.
Looking closer, he was even whistling.
"I lose to Yeoni too."
"Wow, look at this brat."
Kanghyeok found Dolseok irritating, but he could not move carelessly.
Because Yeoni was stepping left and right.
That very same terrifying step that now made him instantly think euke, aeke the moment he saw it.
Surely she would not really hit him, but if she did, it would hurt quite a lot.
Creak.
Just then the door opened slightly, and someone suddenly dashed out.
"Oh, hey, one's coming out, stop him! Stop him!"
At Kanghyeok's shout, Yeoni flew like a hawk.
The stepping she had done in advance must have paid off, because she was lightning fast.
The man who had burst out was on the ground in an instant.
Yeoni's flying kick had hit him hard at the waist.
In the meantime, Dolseok and Kanghyeok shut the door again.
"Ugh..."
The man on the ground let out a groan of pain.
Looking closely, he was the same guardian who had come with the first patient.
By now, though, he had long since become a patient suffering from the same illness himself.
"I told you to stay inside, so why come out looking to get beaten?"
Clicking his tongue, Kanghyeok walked over.
The man replied with a miserable face.
"I told you several times I wanted to go to the privy. Is even that not allowed?"
Since there was already a chamber pot inside, he probably meant the other kind.
Absolutely not. That would mean telling him to dump a bundle of viruses outside.
"No."
"Why not—ugh."
"Oh. Hey, hey!"
Perhaps because he had been kicked in the waist, all the strength seemed to drain out of him.
The man's face suddenly relaxed, and he went limp.
Instead, a dreadful smell began filling the yard.
Damn it.
Yeoni and Dolseok could not have developed full immunity yet.
Do I have to clean this up myself?
There was no other choice.
In a voice full of resentment, Kanghyeok muttered,
"Makbong, you bastard... run faster, faster."
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