Doctor Goes Back to Joseon

Chapter 163: Chapter 36

Smallpox.

Infectious disease that has been eradicated once and for all in modern times.

But all the doctors had to learn about it because of its terrible past records.

“How miserable this guy’s condition is...”

It was the first time Kanghyok met a patient with smallpox.

Right before his eyes was the patient that he only saw in a textbook.

Even Joon Huh murmured with an empty face, “Smallpox... at this hot summer...”

From the ancient times, this infectious disease was like a natural disaster, something beyond human control.

‘What should I do?’

Kanghyok could not figure out how to treat the patient.

“Dolsok, Makbong. Step back.”

“What?”

“He’s dangerous. Move back.”

“Oh, yes.”

Kanghyok stopped them from coming close to the patient.

The most important thing in dealing with an infectious disease was to stop the contamination first.

‘I’m okay as I’m immunized already.’

The scary epidemic like smallpox was, of course, the first kind of legal epidemic. It had not been discovered until 1979, and the general public had not been vaccinated.

Health professionals like Kanghyok could be vaccinated. If any of them became afflicted with smallpox, they could be dangerous to so many people.

‘It was good that I listened to my friend with the department of infectious disease.’

When he recalled that he would not want injections of vaccines because it could leave pits on his arm, he just felt dizzy.

Kanghyok approached the patient, touching the pit mark on his left arm.

The patient looked really bad. Yellow pus filled with pustules and blisters covered his whole face.

‘I have to put him in a separate place first.’

Anybody could be infected with smallpox without direct touch. Even when they were only in the same room with the patient, they could be infected.

It was necessary to separate the patient as well as the man who carried him here.

Probably, they had already been infected for a long time.

“Follow me first.”

“Yes, sir.”

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Kanghyok took the two men to a room used as a warehouse.

“Wait inside.”

“When are you going to treat me?”

“Just wait.”

“Yes, yes.”

The patient and his protector readily followed his instructions.

Watching Kanghyuk quitely, Joon Huh hurriedly came to him.

“Dr. Paek, he’s a smallpox patient. What should we do?”

“Well, I have no idea.”

In fact, Kanghyok could easily treat him if the patient was injured somewhere in his body. But this was not that kind of disease.

‘He looked like a farmer, given his attire.’

If he worked with many other fellows in the rice fields, the population within the whole village could perish with the infection.

And if his infection spread to the whole region of Suwon, it would be the start of a disaster.

With a gloomy look, Kanghyok looked at the warehouse-like room.

He recalled the chapter on the history of medical science that he learned in college.

‘Death rate of smallpox patients is about 30%. If it is a hemorrhagic-type smallpox, it’s 100%...’

It was one of the worst infectious diseases until Edward Jenner discovered vaccination.

‘How fortunate smallpox has been completely eliminated...!”

He was lost in thought while thinking of how to treat the patient before his eyes.

“Dr. Paek, what are you thinking so hard about?” asked Joon.

Kanghyok was absent-minded for the moment, racking his brains for it.

When he came to his senses, Yoni and Yoju were in the room.

“Well, I think I could find some treatment methods.”

“Really? Treating smallpox?” Joon looked at him with sparkling eyes.

“Let me give it a little more thought.”

“Sure, please.” Joon closed his lips again.

Stroking his lower chin, Kanghyok desperately recalled what he learned in medical college.

‘There is nothing special about cowpox, but they introduced something like ‘human pox’ in our country, right?’

And he remembered that it was Yangyong Chung who introduced that method to Joseon.

‘But that’s too dangerous.’

The best method at the moment was trying cowpox. The problem was how to obtain a cow afflicted with smallpox.

“Oh, I got it!”

Suddenly, a scene that he watched when entering this village flashed into his mind.

The cow with sore oozes. The cow with scrubs all over its body.

“Oh, did you find out any method?” asked Joon at Kanghyok’s sudden reaction.

“Cow! Cow!”

“What?”

Dolsok asked back as if he could not figure out anything.

“I mean that cow! The cow we saw first when we came here!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about...”

Even Yoni was scratching her head.

Kanghyok gave up explaining and took out gloves and masks from the bag.

“Put on the mask and gloves first. Dr. Joon, you should wear them, too.”

“Why?”

“You will be infected if you touch the patient or breathe in the patient’s breathing.”

“Oh, I see. Will do as instructed.”

Wearing a mask and a pair of gloves, Yoju also asked, “Am I wearing them alright?”

“Sure, that looks good.”

“I feel a bit stuffy.”

“You have to endure it. Otherwise, you will be infected. You know what smallpox is, right?”

“Of course...”

“Good. Let me find out whether other village people had contact with the patient. So, you guys stay put here.”

“Oh, yes, master.”

At Kanghyok’s authoritative attitude, Yoju just nodded her head.

Instead, it was Yoni who dared to ask with a concerned look, “By the way, are you okay, master?”

“Me? I’m okay.”

“Why?” asked Dolsok abruptly.

“Because I’m immunized already.”

“Immunized? You’re using that strange term again...”

“Shut up! Let me tell you later.”

“Yes, master.”

Leaving them alone in the room, Kanghyok went into the warehouse room where the patient and his protector were staying at.

As he had no treatment since he came in, his condition was still the same.

Rather, his condition was worse now, given that he was gasping for breath.

With a gloomy look, he put the stethoscope on his chest.

“Take a deep breath.”

“Whoo, whoo.”

Whenever the patient breathed in and out, Kanghyok could hear a rough sound in his lung.

‘Pretty bad.’

It was not caused by any phlegm, but by a damaged pulmonary alveoli.

‘Pneumonia?’

It was one of the common complications related to smallpox.

Kanghyok asked the patient, “Who did you meet for the past several days?”

“For the past several days...”

“Yes, did you meet anyone?”

“Well...”

He was now suffering from high fever and difficulty with breathing.

“I was at home because I was sick. Those I saw were this friend of mine and his wife.”

He narrated the names of those he met.

“Did you notice if any of them showed similar symptoms?”

“Really? In fact, I felt some high fever starting yesterday,” said his protector, touching his forehead.

Kanghyok checked his temperature, which was 38 °C.

That meant he, too, was inflected for a long time.

“Where is your house?”

“It’s a bit far from here. Can I show you around?”

“No, no, both of you should stay here.”

Kanghyok could not allow these two men with smallpox to move around.

“Are you going to leave him alone like this?” asked the protector.

“Let me give him some pills. He’ll get better.”

Kanghyok gave him anti-inflammatory drugs.

As the patient had bubbles inside the throat, he found it hard to swallow the pills.

Kanghyok got out of the warehouse quickly and went to Joon Huh.

“Dr. Huh, please make some yanggyoksan now. I need to use it for the patient.”

“Yanggyoksan for the smallpox patient?”

“Yes. He needs to eat something, but his mouth is all covered in blisters now.”

“Ah, that makes sense. What else can I help you with?”

Just like the best medicinal herb doctor, Joon Huh instantly figured out Kanghyok’s intention.

“Though I gave him the medicine that would drop his temperature, that’s not enough. Please make some medicine that could be used to cure his pus.”

“Got it.”

“Never enter the warehouse. Let me go out to the village to check if there is any other patient.”

“Are you going alone?”

“Yes, for now. I’m the only one with immunization.”

Kanghyok said something that Joon Huh could not understand before going out.

‘I should sequester all of those with the suspicious symptoms of smallpox first and then find a cow...’