Chapter 422 Phase II Clinical Trials of Bacteriophages

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, General Hospital of Military Region.

The corridor was filled with suppressed sobs. Several parents slumped to the floor, their eyes blankly fixed on the tightly closed door. That was the boundary between life and death.

Su Yue changed into a sterile gown, put on a mask, and held three informed consent forms in her hand.

"Chen Xinyue, are you ready?"

Chen Xinyue followed behind her, pushing a treatment cart full of equipment, her hands trembling slightly: "Sister... this is our last chance. What if we lose..."

"If you lose, you'll have to start over." Su Yue handed the consent form to Chen Xinyue. "But before that, don't think about losing. Go and call these parents over."

Five minutes later, three pairs of parents stood in front of Su Yue.

Some of them were wearing military uniforms, while others wore patched overalls, but the expressions on their faces were the same—despair.

“This is a clinical trial.” Su Yue didn’t hide anything, laying the risks bare. “This drug hasn’t been officially launched yet, and there may be fever, allergies, or even more serious side effects. If you sign, we will do our best. If you don’t sign, we won’t force you.”

The man in overalls knelt down with a thud.

"Doctor! Please! As long as you can save my child, I'll accept any kind of experimental drug, even poison! My family has only one son in three generations!" The man kowtowed repeatedly, and blood quickly appeared on the cement floor.

Su Yue reached out and pulled him up, her strength was astonishing.

"Stand up straight." She shoved the pen into the man's hand. "I'm a doctor, not a god. But I will treat your child as my own and save him. Sign."

The pen tip glides across the paper, the crooked name looking as if it were written in blood.

There are three children in total.

The oldest was seven years old, with extensive burns and secondary infections; the youngest was only two years old, with severe pneumonia, his lungs were almost white; and there was also a three-year-old child with pneumococcal infection named Huzi.

Su Yue entered the intensive care unit.

The air inside was so cold it sent shivers down your spine. The monitor emitted a monotonous ticking sound, like a countdown to death.

"Prepare the medication." Su Yue stood in front of Hu Zi's bed.

The little guy was so thin he was just skin and bones, and his chest trembled violently with the rise and fall of the ventilator.

Chen Xinyue picked up the syringe and drew up the pale yellow bacteriophage stock solution.

The needle pierced the IV tube, and drop by drop, the liquid mixed with the blood and flowed into that small body.

"Time recorded: 2:30 PM." Su Yue stared at the numbers on the monitor. "Closely monitor changes in body temperature and heart rate."

Time passed second by second.

For the first two hours, everything was calm.

In the third hour, the alarm suddenly went off.

"Drip—drip—drip—"

Tiger's heart rate instantly soared to 160, and his body temperature skyrocketed to 39.5 degrees Celsius. His small body convulsed violently on the bed, and his lips turned purple.

"It's a bacterial lysis reaction!" Chen Xinyue's face turned pale with fright. "The endotoxin is being released too quickly! Sister, should we stop the medication?"

"Keep going!" Su Yue stared intently at the screen, her hand pressed against Hu Zi's carotid artery. "This is the bacteriophage killing bacteria! Stopping now will mean all our efforts are wasted! Increase the fluid intake, give dexamethasone, and use physical cooling methods!"

She grabbed an ice pack and applied it to the child's forehead and armpits without hesitation.

"Hang in there!" Su Yue whispered in Hu Zi's ear, "You're a man! What's a little fever! Just get through this!"

The entire intensive care unit was in complete chaos.

Doctors and nurses were running in and out, changing ice packs one after another. Su Yue's back was already soaked with sweat, which streamed down her brow bone and into her eyes, stinging painfully. She didn't even dare to wipe it away.

The battle lasted all night.

It wasn't until the next morning, when the first rays of sunlight shone through the gap in the curtains, that the sun began to shine through.

The wildly fluctuating curve on the monitor finally began to flatten. The heart rate dropped to 110, and the body temperature returned to 37.8 degrees Celsius.

Tiger's tightly closed eyelids twitched, his eyelashes trembled, and he let out a weak whimper: "Mom... hungry..."

That sound was more beautiful than heavenly music.

Chen Xinyue's legs went weak, and she sat down on the ground, hugging her knees and crying.

Su Yue let out a long breath, feeling as if all the bones in her body were about to fall apart. She walked to the window and drew back the curtains.

Downstairs, the parents who had been kneeling all night were supporting each other, looking up at the window.

Su Yue gave them a thumbs up.

The man froze for a moment, then covered his face, squatted down, and burst into tears.

Over the next three days, good news kept pouring in.

The burn wounds of the child have begun to scab over, and the amount of pus has significantly decreased; the child with severe pneumonia is also able to breathe on his own and has been taken off the ventilator.

"Hunter-9" made a name for itself in the pediatrics department.

Although Su Yue tried her best to control the information, there are no secrets in this world.

First came a short article in the provincial newspaper titled "Military Hospital Overcomes Problem of Drug-Resistant Bacteria in Children," followed by a brief news report on the radio. Within days, many reporters were seen peeking around the hospital entrance.

There were even a few blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners carrying cameras and wandering around, who were questioned several times by the security guards as if they were spies.

In the office.

Su Yue threw a thick stack of newspapers into the trash can.

"Are these reporters dogs? Their noses are so sensitive." She rubbed her temples. "Phase II clinical trials have only just begun, and the sample size is still insufficient. This hype and praise at this time is not a good thing."

"What's there to be afraid of?" Chen Xinyue came in carrying two lunch boxes, her face beaming with excitement. "The whole province is saying you're a reincarnation of Hua Tuo (a legendary Chinese physician). The dean just said that our lab is going to be upgraded to a provincial key laboratory, and the funding will be doubled!"

"The higher you're lifted, the harder you fall." Su Yue opened her lunchbox and picked up a piece of braised pork. "Science allows no room for exaggeration. These children have been saved, but the sample size is too small. Once the scale is expanded, there will definitely be individual differences. What if something unexpected happens..."

She didn't continue.

In an era where creating and destroying gods are equally easy, every step must be taken with extreme caution.

"Oh, right," Chen Xinyue said, taking a bite of rice, "I heard someone from the capital came?"

“Hmm.” Su Yue paused for a moment. “They arrived yesterday. They said it was a supervisory team sent by the Academy of Sciences to conduct an on-site inspection of the bacteriophage project.”

Who will lead the team?

"Who else could it be?" Su Yue sneered, piercing the braised pork with her chopsticks. "Our old acquaintance, Li Wen's uncle who works in administration, Vice Dean Li."

This is the world of martial arts.

You've just paved the way, and someone's already trying to reap the rewards.

Su Yue stuffed the meat into her mouth and chewed it with a crunching sound.

"Let him come. Perfect, I want to show him what real strength is."

At this moment, at the hospital entrance.

A black Hongqi sedan slowly came to a stop.

The car door opened, and a middle-aged man wearing a Zhongshan suit stepped out.

He adjusted his glasses, looked up at the slightly dilapidated outpatient building, and wore a meaningful smile.

"Is this where the legendary divine healer stays?" The man flicked the dust off his sleeves. "The temple isn't big, but the demonic wind is quite strong."

The secretary following beside him quickly handed over a briefcase: "Dean, shall we go see Commander Zheng first, or go directly to the laboratory?"

The man waved his hand.

"No rush. Let's go check out that farm first. I heard that girl can not only cure diseases, but also farm? I want to see what she's really up to."