Pollution throughout the territory - #318 - Chapter 314 Atypical Insectophobia

“A large number of hollow holes in the brain?”

Xia Ren couldn’t help but asked.

When he heard that the first case was a sudden death from epilepsy at night, he didn’t pay much attention.

It’s okay to hear about two cases. Brain damage is inherently fatal, but in the third case, when the nine-year-old girl suddenly screamed every night in her sleep and was diagnosed with a phobia, he couldn’t help but think about it. It reminds me of Zhao Rou.

This symptom is similar to Zhao Rou’s, and doctors in Jupiter City once consulted Zhao Rou. Although they discussed that the probability of suffering from central sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome is relatively high, Yu Jingjing also said, It’s also possible that she also suffers from phobias.

Due to a poor night’s sleep and phobia, Zhao Rou’s symptoms were extremely similar to those of the nine-year-old girl.

Especially when the final autopsy revealed a large number of hollow-shaped holes in the patient’s brain, which were suspected to be affected by some kind of parasite, it reminded him directly of the long white worm he had seen in Zhao Rou’s eyes in his dream.

“Could it be that after the bugs reproduce, they can break through dreams and come to reality to devour people’s brains?”

Xia Ren felt his scalp numb.

The vice president who introduced the situation looked at Xia Ren, temporarily put down the information in his hand, and asked, “Do you have any questions?”

“No, no, you continue.”

Xia Ren planned to wait until he finished reporting the situation before talking.

Niu Changshou glanced at him and said nothing.

The vice president then continued: “These three cases are about two months apart. Except for the patient in the first case who has a history of hypertension, the remaining two cases have no relevant medical history.”

“Then a month later, the fourth case appeared…”

Listening to the vice president’s narration, everyone gradually understood the development and spread of the disease.

From the first case in December last year, nothing unusual was seen. However, in April this year, similar cases suddenly increased, and all patients were not spared. All died due to various reasons. By September this year, By that time, the cumulative number of cases had increased to 100.

Their main causes of death include cerebral arterial steal syndrome, respiratory failure, acute heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, hepatic encephalopathy, cerebral hemorrhage, multiple system atrophy, minor chorea…

These symptoms are diverse and occur in patients of all ages. They seem to be unrelated, but the patients have one thing in common, which is waking up and gibbering during sleep at night.

However, Dongpu City is so big that the number of people dying from various diseases every day is close to a thousand. These one hundred people did not attract much attention at the time, or in other words, no one connected them at all.

Then after April, things gradually started to go wrong.

In the past, because the similarities between the cases were extremely low, the patients were scattered, and the hospitals where they were treated were basically different, so no one could connect them. But after April, changes began.

The first case with signs of infection was a couple. First, the man was admitted to the hospital because of myocarditis. According to his girlfriend’s description, he often had nightmares in the previous half month, but the content of the dreams was forgotten when he woke up. Two days after the man was hospitalized, His girlfriend also had similar symptoms.

Of course, this didn’t attract much attention at the time. It was just regarded as a coincidence and was not discovered until a few months later.

Since the first suspected case appeared in December last year, as of now, the cumulative number of suspected cases in Dongpu City alone has risen to 800. When the population was counted as usual at the end of October, it was found that Dongpu City has experienced The case fatality rate of the permanent population increased by 13 percentage points compared to before. Going back further, it was found that starting from May this year, the mortality rate began to slowly rise. This finally attracted the attention of Dongpu University of Science and Technology Affiliated Hospital, and they began The investigation began, and the deeper we dug, the more shocked we were at the horrific consequences hidden behind these cases.

“Due to various reasons, the statistics are not accurate. 800 cases is just a very vague number. It may be less or more, and…”

The vice president paused for a moment: “And this does not include the floating population in Dongpu City this year.”

If it can be confirmed that this is a new type of contaminated disease and it is contagious…

Just thinking about it makes me feel cold all over.

The vice president turned on the projector and showed a chart showing the changing trend of cases.

It can be clearly seen that May and September were a turning point, especially in September. The curve that was originally rising slightly suddenly increased a lot after September, and the number of suspected cases increased explosively. In the past month, The number of new additions is several times that of the previous nine months.

The projector screen switched to a fan chart, and the vice president continued: “We can see that the main symptoms of all suspected cases are cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and neurological diseases, and there are also a few mental system diseases and circulatory system diseases. As well as respiratory diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases account for 50% of all cases, neurological diseases account for 30%, and the rest are less than 20%. If this is the case alone, it cannot be seen at all. Is there any connection between them? However, no matter what kind of symptoms a patient shows, there are bound to be two problems…”

The projector screen switched again, and the entire sector was covered in translucent blue, with two symptoms written on it.

“One of them is sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome, and the second is specific phobia.”

The vice president looked solemn and said: “I will temporarily classify them as atypical sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome, or name them according to the most significant characteristics.

——Atypical entomophobia. “

After he finished speaking, he looked at the longevity of the cow and asked for his opinion.

Niu Changshou nodded and agreed with the naming: “Please continue.”

The deputy director continued: “These investigations alone are not enough. To determine whether atypical entomophobia meets the characteristics of an infectious disease, three key points must be met, namely the pathogen, the human body and the environment in which they live.”

“But unfortunately, for the three key points, we can only confirm a human body, the pathogens and the environment in which they are located. We currently only have speculations and do not have conclusive evidence yet.”

The picture on the projector switched again, and the deputy dean’s tone became more serious.

On the screen, an dissected human brain appeared.

“Due to various reasons, we have only dissected the remains of 33 patients out of the 800 suspected cases so far.

No matter what the main symptoms of these patients were during their lifetime, one striking feature was discovered after autopsy.

Their brains have basically lost 5% to 30% of their mass! “

The picture is enlarged, and more details are presented to everyone.