I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel

Dispatch of the Plague Doctor (2)

Preventing people from gathering, it’s a very modern idea. But bacterial dysentery is not a disease that spreads through meeting people. Of course, there’s nothing good about gathering in large numbers.

The lord of Lapis looked at me. The eyes of the people gathered in the room also turned towards me.

“What do you think, Professor?”

It’s simple.

“As I mentioned on the way here, infectious dysentery is usually caused by bacteria living in water. The methods you mentioned are not meaningless, but they won’t change the situation.”

“Do you have any evidence?”

Evidence…

We could try to culture cholera bacteria from well water or patient fluids, but it would probably fail. If that’s impossible…

We use Snow’s method.

“Check the geographical distribution of households where patients have occurred. The epidemic is surely spreading around a contaminated well.”

Baron Lapis looked at the officials.

“Is that so?”

“I don’t know. We’ll check.”

A few clerks stood up, and the eyes of the people in the meeting room turned back to me.

“Let’s say that’s the evidence. What solution do you propose, Professor Asterix?”

“First, identifying the contaminated water source should be the top priority.”

I thought for a moment.

“There are several methods we can use. We can improve the water quality of the well using activated charcoal, or we can install sand filters.”

“Go on.”

“What can we do right now?”

Immediately. I looked at the lord of Lapis.

“By any chance, how much alcohol is there in the capital?”

It was during the Age of Exploration.

When embarking on long voyages, one must carry drinking water. Seawater is not drinkable.

Large sailing ships carried hundreds of people, requiring an enormous amount of water. In the harsh conditions of the voyage, fresh water often became contaminated.

The Royal Navy of the British Empire solved this problem in a simple way. They mixed rum into the drinking water. Even with just 1-2% alcohol, bacterial growth could be mostly inhibited.

“So, you want to pour alcohol into the well?”

“Yes.”

“Will that solve the problem?”

“Yes.”

The lord of Lapis let out a deep sigh.

“The government can distribute safe water. Or we could simply make a 3% alcohol solution and distribute that.”

“Is there no other way? This sounds a bit crazy. What do others think?”

Hedwig pondered for a moment before speaking.

“This is the first time I’ve heard of this method. I’ve never heard that drinking alcohol cures diseases. While it’s possible that water is the cause of the plague, it’s not the majority opinion in academia.”

“Miss Hedwig, are you opposed to this?”

“I’m not opposed, but this is the first time I’ve heard of it. It could be true.”

The baron of Lapis looked anxious. His hands couldn’t stay still, and he was fidgeting with his black hair as if he were nervous.

“Alright, I understand. We’ll consider it. Now, please explain the other methods besides using alcohol.”

“Yes.”

A sand purifier.

“It’s a method of purifying water with sand.”

“Yes.”

“It’s simple. When water passes through fine sand, the impurities in the water are filtered out. With just activated charcoal, sand, and a bucket, you can make it without much difficulty.”

“Could you explain how to make it?”

It’s exactly as I said.

“Wrap the sand and activated charcoal in a clean cloth and put it in a bucket. You do need to make a hole in the bottom of the bucket, though.”

“That seems feasible.”

I nodded.

“But, everything you mentioned is preventive, isn’t it? Even if we believe everything Professor Asterix says. Is there no treatment for those who are already sick?”

I pondered a bit. We could try distributing antibiotics to as many people as possible, but it would hardly be effective.

The number of patients is beyond what can be managed that way, and the cause of death in cholera patients is dehydration, without exception.

I don’t have a groundbreaking treatment.

“The cause of death in dysentery patients is mostly dehydration. Securing clean and safe drinking water is of utmost importance.”

“Is that so?”

Hedwig nodded this time.

“Then, let’s do as the professor said. Watch the patients at the relief center, and we’ll do our best as you suggested.”

It’s a shame to let it go like this. If we implement the policy more aggressively, we could see much greater effects. Tangible results-

The incubation period for cholera and other dysenteric diseases is usually a day or two.

We’ll see if the measures we’ve taken are effective by the day after tomorrow. Come to think of it, wouldn’t this be convincing…?

“Baron Lapis, sir.”

“Go ahead.”

“The incubation period for epidemic dysentery is usually around a day. If we try to solve the problem today or tomorrow at the latest, we should see the effects of the measures within a day or two.”

“A day or two, you say.”

Baron Lapis looked at Hedwig again.

“Is that true?”

“The professor would know better.”

“……”

Another sigh.

“Alright. Until tomorrow. Let’s do everything we can as Professor Asterix suggested. After all, no one else has come up with any other measures.”

“I’ll do my best.”

There are about twenty wells around Lapis Castle. We don’t know how many of them are contaminated.

The most urgent thing is to clean the wells.

But that’s not a job that can be done in a day or two. We have to do what we can for now.

Lapis assigned a few soldiers to us. We moved into the city by carriage.

“The goal is this: pour vodka into all 20 wells in the city, clean around the wells, and disinfect the ropes and buckets of the wells.”

“Yes, sir.”

The available supplies were similar.

Twenty barrels of vodka concentrate prepared for us, and twenty other barrels of liquor. It was a bit of a waste to mix the liquor to make disinfectant, but given the situation, there was no other choice.

“But, will this much alcohol be enough?”

“Probably.”

I don’t know the exact capacity of this barrel, but it should be around 60 liters. One barrel should be able to purify about 2000 liters of water without any issues.

More importantly, ethanol is lighter than water.

Unless mixed separately, the pure vodka will float on the water. The problem might be that the alcohol concentration is too high.

We’ll only know once we try.

We arrived at the first well shortly after. The carriage stopped quickly. There were quite a few people gathered here as well.

“Judging by the number of people, there must be many patients around here…”

“Probably.”

Let’s get to work.

The goal was simple.

“Everyone, please step back a little! We’re here to clean the well!”

The people quickly stepped back.

Well, the plague doctor outfits do look a bit intimidating. We wiped the well’s bucket and rope with cloth soaked in alcohol.

Now, the moment of truth.

We poured a whole barrel of pure vodka into the well. The smell of alcohol wafted up as the vodka mixed with the water.

“Is it done?”

Istina drew a bucket of water from the well. It looked just like regular water.

“Shall we taste it?”

“Do you think we should? Just smell it.”

“Hmm. It smells a bit like alcohol.”

Then that’s a relief.

There are twenty wells.

We finished our work and returned to the ward. We managed to secure a significant amount of pure vodka here as well. We can’t rule out the possibility of getting sick inside the ward, which is essentially a relief center.

In particular, we must protect the medical staff working on the front lines. They come into contact with the most pathogens. Still, I think this should be enough.

“We need to disinfect every reachable place in the ward with vodka. There’s a possibility that bacteria are being transmitted inside the ward. The water we give to the patients should also be mixed with alcohol.”

“Hmm.”

There was an overwhelming shortage of clean water. Hedwig nodded.

“That seems right. Let’s do that.”

Few things are as unfair as disease. Many illnesses are closely related to the socio-cultural environment in which the patient, or potential patient, lives.

Cholera is the most representative example of this fact. Where would you usually find contaminated wells? In areas where poor people live.

Where is the most densely populated area? Naturally, it’s where poor people live. Realistically speaking, it’s also the environment with the lowest level of common sense or hygiene among the patients.

When cholera appears in creative works, it often ends with something like, ‘Just boil the water and drink it.’ But reality is completely different.

It’s dangerous to take disease so lightly.

“Istina. Any dead patients?”

“None on our side. There are some in other wards, but the problem is… the patients are piling up. It seems the disease is still spreading.”

“Alright. Good job.”

“I’m exhausted.”

Today has been exceptionally busy.

After watching over the ward, I cleaned the well and came back to the ward. Judging by the number and condition of the patients, I might not be able to sleep tonight.

“There’s no one here but dying people, Istina. But it’s better than lying in bed.”