Dark-Haired British Doctor Chapter 182

Episode 182: The Great Disaster [4]

A week.

No, ten days.

Our struggles were to continue for a while longer, as my expectations were slightly off.

Of course, is this situation over now?

That wasn't it.

It had only reached a lull.

Patients were still occurring slowly.

‘This isn’t something… It’s not like someone did it well.’

If this were the Republic of Korea in the 21st century, this would not have happened in the first place.

There is a septic tank and everything is purified and disinfected, so how could something like this happen?

No, before that, water and sewerage were completely separated.

And yet this happened?

That would have been okay though.

Because they would have immediately conducted an epidemiological investigation and taken quarantine measures.

But this place didn't have the administrative power to do that, and they didn't know why it had to be that way.

The reason it's like this now is because everyone who was going to get caught got caught.

Since these are not proper statistics, they are likely to be greatly underreported, but in any case, the number of patients who visited hospitals in Paris with diarrhea over the past three weeks or so was around 20,000.

'You said the population here was 600,000?'

5% of the population was affected.

Cholera is not a respiratory infection, but a waterborne infection… … .

An even more accurate route of infection is actually 'fecal to oral'.

Considering that a disease with this path is not likely to spread extremely quickly, the number of cases is truly staggering.

"Whew."

“I thought I was going to lose, really.”

Anyway, we were completely exhausted from having to see that huge number of patients during that period.

Even the sturdy Dr. Liston collapsed after a drink.

Oh, looking closely, it's not alcohol, but opium tincture.

Even though that size could easily hold a bottle, considering his current condition, it would be normal for him to collapse.

“Whoa… … .”

me?

What difference does it make if it's me?

I don't think I'll fall behind… … .

The only fortunate thing, no, the thing that gave me strength was that all of our group survived during this incident.

Many other doctors died because they didn't wash their hands, didn't wear masks, or got infected after getting splashed a little and thinking it would be okay.

We did our best to treat it properly, to replenish the fluids it was losing, but it still happened.

It became even more difficult towards the end because it wasn't easy.

Filtering and distilling water is… … not an ordinary task.

Patients who arrived later sometimes had to be given alcohol instead of water.

'He was already dehydrated, so I gave him alcohol… … He's going to die even more.'

The idea that water could be used to break down alcohol was something that was simply inexplicable to people in the 19th century.

Besides, since there was no other way, I even gave it to him with a low alcohol content when the water was dry.

Shit… … .

“Is London okay?”

Even though the work was finished and we were going back soon, the atmosphere didn't become festive.

There were still many people dying and I was just too tired.

So we were each leaning against the wall and drinking whatever we wanted.

Blundell was like that too, I don't know if it was because he was drunk or because he was genuinely worried, but either way his face was red.

“London?”

It was a sudden remark, but since I was absent-minded, I gave a response.

“Yeah. This time I… … what should I say? Yeah. Hygiene? I learned that hygiene is really important… … .”

"yes yes."

hygiene.

haha.

Hahahahahaha!

I never thought the word hygiene would come out of these gentlemen's mouths.

I just ended up laughing out loud.

Of course, in this situation, if I laughed outwardly, it would have felt too ridiculous, so I just laughed inwardly.

“What about our London? Paris is a mess, but the Thames water… … Oh my… … Shit… … .”

Meanwhile, Blundell cursed quietly.

It was worth it.

The Thames River is so beautiful that you can't help but curse when you look at it.

First of all, not a single salmon has been caught this year.

of course…….

The very idea of trying to catch something from that water was shocking to me, but at the time, since there was no concept of any harmful substances remaining in the body of any living creature, it was entirely possible.

Anyway, Blundell continued to curse for a while before continuing.

“There’s no guarantee that it won’t turn around, right? It’s just that I was lucky and didn’t get caught. The water in London is dirty all year round… … When I think about the miasma that might be in it, I wake up with a start.”

“Didn’t you wake up because you had to take a dump?”

“No… … If you drank the opium tincture, just sleep soundly.”

“You said you were tired, but you drank cognac and fell asleep and got sick… … I kept that a secret from Pyeong-i and had a hard time cleaning it up… … .”

“This crazy guy. Why is he closing his eyes and acting drunk? No, no! No! I’m sh**ting myself! I didn’t even have cholera!”

“So… … Pierre, you didn’t steal a pair of trousers?”

No matter what Blundell said, Liston, drunk on opium and wine, was laughing and talking.

If he had used violence at the same time, the number of deaths in Paris today could have increased, but fortunately, Liston had few injections.

Even now, I just closed my eyes, wrapped myself in a blanket, and chattered.

It must be a dazzling sight for Malin Blundell… … .

“Oh, everyone is here.”

Then Pierre came inside.

As he was the first person to be treated for diarrhea, he was noticeably emaciated.

However, he was holding on with a single-minded determination to protect his hometown, Paris, and today, he was still wandering around without resting.

“Ugh, ugh.”

Blundell turned to face Liston, his mouth gagged with his own amazing strength.

“Nothing else… … We have a meeting scheduled with Montpellier this evening. Here, as Dr. Fillon requested, we have properly recorded the number of hospitalized patients and the number of deaths.”

Pierre prepared the statistical data.

It wasn't really surprising information.

It's obvious that hospitals should be creating this information on a regular basis, but they didn't create it because they thought too many people were dying.

Anyway, thanks to you, we made something simple.

It's obvious that they didn't make it to Montpellier…

“And as Dr. Piyong said, I inquired at the cemetery and brought back some rough information. However, this may not be accurate… … .”

“You buried several at once?”

“Oh, how did you know?”

How would you know?

Isn't it true that coffins aren't that easy to make?

But countless people were dying.

If we lived in an era where mass production was possible, then maybe that would be different, but since that’s not the case…

And judging by the way it was being transported on a horse-drawn carriage, it was obvious that that was the case.

But how can you do that when you're human?

-Isn't it right to view the corpses of the poor as being equal to the corpses of animals?

I'm acting as an advisor to Dr. Liston and the London Metropolitan Police.

Because times are what they are, it seems like torture will sound like torture, but it doesn't.

They say they are helping… … .

Anyway, I heard what the people handling the bodies were saying.

I don't know who said that, but I thought he would get slapped, but surprisingly, the chief nodded as if he agreed with that.

At that time, I thought it was London, a hateful country, but when I came here and saw, it wasn't like that.

It's just the spirit of the times.

“Well, I guess so.”

“Yes, there were so many dead. They say they didn’t even have time to ask for names. Anyway, there are a few hours left, so rest and I’ll contact you again.”

"thank you."

“No, thank you, Dr. Piyong.”

I thought he was teasing me by saying "Piyong, Piyong", but judging by the way he bowed his head while showing his forehead, it seemed like that wasn't the case.

Anyway, we rested for a bit as Pierre had suggested and then got into the carriage to meet the guys from the University of Montpellier.

The streets were surprisingly deserted.

The beggars who cried out for money, the orphans who tried to steal money from the beggars and got beaten, and the beggars who stole from younger orphans and begged for money by claiming they had children – they were all gone.

'Those people must have died first… … .'

It is not for nothing that they say that the corpses of the poor are like the corpses of animals.

These people, represented by the urban poor, do not die only when a disaster like cholera strikes.

It was an era where death was close by, but at least for these people, it was safe to say that it was always right by their side.

In fact, in London, even if the bodies of the poor were the result of murder, they were usually gathered together and buried together.

“It’s nice that the streets are quiet.”

Unlike me, the coachman, who had been in a safe place thanks to us and who had only boiled water for us in return, seemed to like the distance.

Actually, it was much better for running.

The flowing river water has become a little cleaner than before.

It was natural in a way that the amount of sewage would have decreased.

I couldn't help but think that all of this was the result of massive death, so instead of responding, I just looked around the quiet Parisian streets with a gloomy face.

Right away.

The groom didn't seem to want anything in return, so he just ran.

The place we arrived at was a police station.

People from the hospital were meeting, so why did you choose the police station?

I did that because it was obvious that something big would happen if I didn't.

For people in this period, debate was focused on persuading the other party, and there were no particular restrictions on the means used.

You can use physical force, that's what I'm saying… … .

Naturally, it was they who suggested we meet at the police station.

It was natural, since there were sword masters and Qing gangsters here.

"now……."

As we entered, the police guided us to the right.

On the left stood Corai, the grandee of Montpellier.

The more I think about it, the more amazed I become, thinking that it is because he was a master of Hippocratism.

I get angry just thinking about what kind of nonsense he's going to say.

'What… … It's okay.'

We have Liston.

Liston, who had just slept for a few hours and was feeling refreshed.

I am confident that I can persuade people even when logic is against me, and even logic is on our side.

“First, let me tell you about the information submitted by the Royal Academy of Surgeons… … I would like to point out that I maintain a neutral stance towards both sides.”

The person who actually stepped in to mediate was not the police, but someone else, and it was a good thing.

'This is Sir François Pierre Guillaume Guizot. He is a successful politician.'

The groom informed me that someone was doing it.

Both sides remained quiet, as his status was quite high.

But that only lasted for a moment.

“According to reports from the Royal Academy of Surgeons and others who have practiced similar treatments, the mortality rate is about 10%. In contrast… … Montpellier shows that over 60% of patients died. Do you have any objections?”

Before François could finish speaking, Korai stepped forward.

“This is a manipulation! You have cholera and the rate is 10%? You have to make sense!”