Tian Cai looked at Feng's daughter-in-law and Gao Huijuan and clarified, "Huaihua is indeed not pregnant. She has a disease."

"What kind of disease can make a person's belly as big as if she is pregnant? And you said it's not a tumor." Feng's daughter-in-law still didn't quite believe it. She always felt that Tian Cai was just talking nonsense to their family.

Glancing at the tense Huaihua mother and daughter, Tian Cai said, "There are parasites in your stomach. If there are too many worms and they can't get out, your stomach will become swollen. Come back with me later and I'll get some anthelmintic medicine. Take it for a while and they'll all be expelled."

"Oh, that's just like Luo Fuying's son. He has to be discharged quickly. If he can't be discharged, he has to go to the hospital for surgery to take it out!" Gao Huijuan had heard from Aunt Du before that her sister-in-law's son Bingbing was the one who was diagnosed with stomach worms by Tian Cai, and was later cured at the county health center.

The mother and daughter breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. It was okay if there were worms in the stomach. They would definitely be able to defecate them after taking the medicine. As long as she was not pregnant, it would be fine.

"Then I will bring Huaihua to your place to get medicine later. Doctor Tian, ​​can we go now?" Huaihua's mother looked at Tian Cai with eagerness.

"Okay, when everyone leaves, come find me. I'll be here all day."

Gao Huijuan went out first and told Huaihua that her stomach was bloated like she was pregnant because there were too many worms in it. After she told the people about it, they realized that if the worms in the stomach were not removed, the belly would become big. Then they asked about Tian Cai's anthelmintic medicine.

"I'll prepare some later. Come and get some when you have time. Eat some, whether you have worms or not. Boil the water you use on a daily basis before drinking it. Boil the things you catch from the river for a while to make sure they are cooked before eating them!" Tian Cai also promoted the necessity of deworming to strengthen the villagers' awareness of health and safety.

"Of course. Let's go to Doctor Tian to get some medicine. If your belly gets big for no reason, you'll be furious!" Liu Jinfa's wife said jokingly.

"That's right. It's okay for us married wives, but it's really terrible for a young girl with a big belly. Didn't you see that Zhao Dagen wanted to beat Huaihua to death? Oh, I dare not be careless!" When Dongzi's mother said this, Zhao Dagen was so embarrassed that he wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into.

He had just believed that Huaihua was not pregnant, but when he thought of the hurtful words he had said before, he felt ashamed and quickly hid in the house.

Zhang Defa also breathed a sigh of relief. If there really was a scandal of pregnancy before marriage in the village, it would affect the image of the entire brigade, and he would not be able to face the meeting at the commune in the future.

Tian Cai didn't feel relieved. She told Huaihua and her daughter to come over when they were free, then turned around and caught up with Zhang Defa. She whispered a few words to him and left.

When Zhang Defa heard this, his heart skipped a beat.

When Tian Cai got home, she started looking for medical books. She remembered that there was an article in the medical book left by Cai Ping about big belly disease, which was very similar to today's symptoms. It also recorded several prescriptions and prevention and treatment methods.

Tian Cai just said in front of the villagers that she had parasites in her stomach, but she didn't say what kind of worms were in her stomach. From the beginning, she suspected that it was not roundworms, but schistosomiasis!

It is just very strange that L Province is located in the north, which should not meet the growth conditions of schistosomiasis. Since the discovery of this disease, very few people in the north have been infected with schistosomiasis.

The life history of schistosomes is relatively complex. Adult worms parasitize in the mesenteric vein blood of mammals. Humans and these animals become hosts of the adult worms. The eggs are excreted in the host's feces. If the feces enter the water, the eggs will hatch into miracidia in the water, and the miracidia will drill into the snail's body to parasitize.

But the strange thing is that snails generally don’t appear in the north! So, how did the Sophora japonica get infected with schistosomiasis?

A miracidium can develop and reproduce into tens of thousands of cercariae in the snail's body. After leaving the snail, the cercariae move under the water surface. When they come into contact with the skin of humans or mammals, they take the opportunity to drill into the body and enter the blood, causing humans or animals to be infected with schistosomiasis.

The water they have stayed in is also called epidemic water, which is highly contagious!

From the time the cercariae penetrate the human body and cause infection, to the time the schistosomes parasitize in the body, the infected person will experience symptoms and consequences at different stages.

Its symptoms can be divided into acute schistosomiasis and chronic schistosomiasis, and the symptoms are also different. According to her observation of the locust flowers just now, this girl should have chronic schistosomiasis.

After acute schistosomiasis is caused by infection with a large number of cercariae once or in a short period of time, the patient will begin to develop the disease after a period of incubation period, which is generally manifested by fever, cough, upper abdominal pain, and bloody stools during diarrhea.

If patients in the acute phase are not treated, the disease will turn into a chronic disease. The main symptoms are abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea of ​​varying degrees of severity, long-term mucus and blood in the stool, and obvious enlargement of the liver and spleen.

Schistosomiasis had been a problem that had been conquered at that time, but the disease was widely known in the south and the Yangtze River basin. Not many people in the north knew about it because there were relatively few infections. However, Tian Cai remembered that the large-scale killing of snails in many places must have been reported in the newspapers, which meant that snails were rarely seen in the north and not much attention was paid to it.

Traditional Chinese medicine has many prescriptions for treating schistosomiasis. Considering Sophora japonica's condition, Tian Cai decided to give her Xiaoyao Powder. The main ingredients are Bupleurum chinense, White Peony Root, Atractylodes Macrocephala, Poria Cocos, Magnolia officinalis, Codonopsis pilosula, Phaseolus lentisk, Citrus aurantium, Corydalis yanhusuo, and Licorice. This prescription has the effect of soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen, and is mainly used to treat chronic schistosomiasis.

But treating the disease is secondary; what's more important is! Now that the village has had its first case of schistosomiasis, everyone needs to strengthen their prevention efforts. She just used this incident to spread the word, inviting everyone to come get pills and drink boiled water. Next, Tian Cai will need to get some disinfectants and insecticides to treat Zhao Dagen's toilet. Fortunately, the villagers don't let feces flow directly into the river.

But we can't be completely sure, after all, there are people cleaning toilets downstream.

Tian Cai didn't even have time to eat. She first prepared all the pills she would need. She had to examine several people in the Zhao family and then prescribe medicine based on their conditions.

However, there are only a few prescriptions suitable for schistosomiasis, so she could just prepare them all.

After noon, Zhang Defa came. He didn't dare to come at first, for fear that the villagers would suspect something. He waited until he went home for lunch before pretending to come over for something. Not long after, Huaihua's mother also came with Huaihua.

Since there were no outsiders around, Tian Cai told them about Huaihua's situation, and explained the symptoms and transmission methods of schistosomiasis. Then he looked at Huaihua and said, "Huaihua, think carefully. Have you encountered any of the situations I mentioned in the past few months? We should try to find waters with worms first, otherwise more and more people will be infected."