When Huaihua heard this, she immediately felt nervous. She couldn't help but lower her head and bite her fingernails. This was her habit. She wanted to bite her nails when she was nervous.
Tian Cai was afraid of scaring her, so he patted her shoulder and said soothingly, "Don't worry, take your time to think about whether you've ever been near any other body of water besides our village river, such as a meadow by the water, or whether you've eaten snails that are different from the ones you're used to."
"Snail, water, snail" Huaihua tried hard to recall.
After all, he was a country kid and had to run around a lot every day. When he was thirsty in the wild, he would just scoop up clear water and drink it without worrying about whether there were insect eggs in the water.
However, Zhang Defa knew about schistosomiasis. When he was still in the army, some of his comrades participated in water training in Province F. Nearly 30,000 people in the team soon developed symptoms of fever and diarrhea. Later they learned that they were infected with schistosomiasis.
This thing was introduced from Japan and is called the "Plague God" by people.
So when he heard Tian Cai say that Huaihua's big belly was due to ascites caused by schistosomiasis, his heart skipped a beat.
The atmosphere between them was serious when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
The door creaked open. When he looked up, he saw a stick leaning on the ground coming in first, followed by a foot wrapped only in gauze. Tian Cai guessed who it was.
As soon as Qin Ling entered the yard, he saw the four people inside looking at him. He said in a calm voice with an expressionless face, "Change the dressing."
"Sit here." Tian Cai pointed to a stool on the side, then went back to the house to get the medicine box.
Tian Cai did not use alcohol to disinfect him this time. After all, he didn't give him much. Most of the time, he used boiling water to disinfect him.
She wiped the medicine off the wound on Qin Ling's leg. There was some dried blood mixed on the wound. It seemed that he had exerted too much force in the past two days. She looked up and saw that this person was staring at her through his hair. After their eyes met, he looked away as if nothing had happened.
"I'll say it again. Don't exert any force on your injured leg and don't let it get wet. Even though the bones are fine, you can't take it lightly." Tian Cai instructed. Patients who don't follow doctor's orders are really infuriating.
Zhang Defa leaned over to take a look and said unhappily, "If you don't obey me next time, I'll have Doctor Tian wash you with salt water."
Qin Ling: "...I understand."
After everyone left, Tian Cai and Zhang Defa continued to discuss the prevention and control of schistosomiasis.
She would first check on the villagers to see if anyone had symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, headache, or liver enlargement. After ruling out other causes, she would then consider schistosomiasis.
Tian Cai felt that this matter should be reported to the brigade or even the commune. Schistosomiasis had appeared in Kaoshan Village, and perhaps it had appeared in other places as well. Early detection and treatment were needed to prevent it from spreading to a wider area.
Zhang Defa also thought so, but he had to discuss it with Li Tiegang before making a decision. Moreover, this matter also depends on how many sick people Tian Cai can identify. It is impossible that it is only Huaihua.
Huaihua walked home with her mother's arm around her. It was quiet all around. She couldn't help but whisper, "Mom, Doctor Tian is such a good man!"
Huaihua's mother looked at her daughter lovingly and patted her hand gently. "You saw what happened today. So many people are neighbors who have lived together for many years, and they want to kill people. But Doctor Tian has no outsiders. So we should know how to be grateful. Tell your sisters that if you see Doctor Tian's family and can help in any way, go and lend a hand. It's not easy for a girl like her to live on her own."
"Yes, mother, I remember it!" Huaihua couldn't help but tremble when she thought of the looks in those people's eyes.
After leaving Tian Cai, Zhang Defa borrowed a bicycle from Uncle Luo and went to Qingshan Village.
After he caught up with Li Tiegang at the brigade headquarters, he explained the whole story to Li Tiegang.
Both of them are brigade cadres, so it is impossible for them not to know the importance of schistosomiasis.
Li Tiegang pondered for a moment before finally deciding, "First, investigate everyone in Kaoshan Village and Qingshan Village to find any other infected people, and then report to the commune."
For more than ten days after that, Tian Cai was busy with the schistosomiasis issue. A total of nine cases were screened out in the entire brigade. The matter was then reported to the commune, and commune-wide screening began. Tian Cai was very busy during that period.
The Beishan Brigade where Tian Cai was located was under the jurisdiction of the Qianjin Commune. There were four production teams like the Beishan Brigade under the commune, with a total population of about 2,300 people.
At first, the commune leaders were reluctant to go through such a tedious process of screening and treatment, but Zhang Defa and Li Tiegang had witnessed the horror of schistosomiasis with their own eyes. They asked their old comrades to mail them several newspapers from H Province. One of the newspapers had three reports on schistosomiasis. They just didn't know how this disease, which was very rampant in southern cities, came from the north.
After the leaders realized the seriousness of the matter, a formal investigation began. It happened to be the slack season for farming, otherwise how could production be guaranteed when the lives of the team members were threatened?
After screening several brigades, there were also a few cases in Fangshan Brigade. One of them was also a young girl who had just hanged herself last month.
The situation was similar to Huaihua's, but the girl was already engaged. She became pregnant before the wedding and the man's family broke off the engagement on the grounds of indecent behavior. She suffered from all kinds of gossip in the village and was so depressed that she hanged herself. Now we know that she might have been infected with schistosomiasis.
When Tian Cai and his team arrived at the Fangshan Brigade, the girl's mother pulled Tian Cai aside to question her. After confirming that her daughter's previous symptoms were exactly the same as the current worm disease, she had passed out at the time. After Tian Cai pinched her Ren Zhong point to revive her, she became dazed and kept mumbling, "Why didn't you come earlier? Why didn't you come earlier?"
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