Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 41: Tick Bite
Wang the Third was rushed to the emergency room.
The ER doctors quickly took over, measuring Wang the Third’s blood pressure and heart rate and hooking him up to an ECG monitor.
"Blood pressure 90 over 60, heart rate 120!" a nurse reported urgently.
"Start an IV and keep him on the monitor!" The ER doctor quickly checked Wang the Third’s pupils. "What’s his O2 sat?"
"Oxygen saturation is 92%, a bit low!"
Miaoli stood to the side, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
In all her years of practice, she had rarely seen a patient with a cold suddenly collapse.
Unless...
"Test for the influenza antigen!" she said suddenly. "I suspect it’s an infection from a special viral strain!"
The ER doctor nodded and immediately had a nurse take a sample for testing.
The numbers on the monitor fluctuated continuously as Wang the Third’s complexion grew steadily worse.
During a more thorough examination, the ER doctor discovered an inconspicuous red dot on his ankle. The surrounding skin was slightly darkened, and there was a tiny bite mark in the center. This, combined with his symptoms, was all consistent with a tick bite.
"Tick poisoning!" The ER doctor was instantly on alert. "Quick, check his liver and kidney function, and run a cardiac enzyme panel!"
Tick poisoning, also known as a tick-borne disease, is a serious illness transmitted to humans through the bite of a tick carrying pathogens (such as viruses, bacteria, rickettsia, etc.).
Common symptoms include: a persistent high fever, over 39°C, that responds poorly to standard fever reducers; a reduced platelet count, leading to a tendency to bleed; and multi-organ damage, with abnormal liver, kidney, and heart function. Reaching this stage is extremely serious.
The most severe symptoms involve the nervous system: dizziness, confusion, and falling into a coma from which the patient may never awaken.
Without timely treatment, the mortality rate can be as high as 10-30%, with the elderly and immunocompromised at even greater risk.
Globally, over a thousand people die from tick bite poisoning each year.
This is because ticks carry far too many types of viruses.
More than the flu virus, and more potent.
With current medical technology, there is no specific cure.
There are only antiviral treatments, and doctors can only hope the patient’s own immune system can fight it off.
Once tick poisoning was confirmed, the ER doctor quickly implemented the appropriate treatment plan.
Intravenous doxycycline was administered as an antibiotic treatment to cover potential pathogens carried by the tick, such as rickettsia and spirochetes.
This was followed by a high-dose pulse of glucocorticoids to suppress the excessive immune response.
Additionally, hepatoprotective drugs were infused, and his urine output and kidney function were closely monitored.
At the same time, his water and electrolyte balance was maintained to prevent shock.
After a flurry of activity, Wang the Third’s condition was preliminarily stabilized, but he had not yet woken from his coma.
A nurse transferred him from the ER to the ICU.
Using the information Wang the Third had on file, they called his son and concisely explained the situation.
"What?! Tick poisoning?" The voice on the other end of the line was clearly panicked. "Is it serious? Can he be cured?"
"We’ve already begun treatment measures," a doctor said, taking the phone, his tone calm but grave. "But the condition of a tick poisoning patient can change rapidly. If it leads to multi-organ failure, the situation will become extremely dangerous. You need to get here as soon as possible to be with him."
"Okay, okay, we’re on our way."
Wang the Third’s wife and son quickly arrived at the Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Seeing the comatose Wang the Third, the two of them were overcome with anxiety.
"Doctor, can my dad be cured?"
Wang the Third’s son, Wang Youhe, furrowed his brow deeply.
The director of internal medicine, Guo Yu, shook his head. "I can’t make any promises. All I can say is that we will do our best."
Miaoli was also listening nearby.
Most people who get bitten by a tick don’t have any major problems. At worst, the skin gets red and swollen, and it goes away in a few days.
But some people can’t fight off the virus, and their condition takes a sudden nosedive.
She wasn’t optimistic about Wang the Third’s chances.
"Then... can we transfer him? To the City People’s Hospital!" Wang Youhe wanted to get treatment at a bigger hospital.
"You can transfer him, but the patient is currently receiving emergency treatment. Transferring him rashly would be extremely dangerous. If he wakes up tomorrow, a transfer would be possible. However, tick-borne disease is an infectious disease, and the City People’s Hospital’s treatment plan would be identical to ours," Guo Yu advised.
Wang Youhe discussed it with his mother for a moment, and they still decided to transfer him.
The Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine just looked too simple and too small.
Even if they went to the City People’s Hospital and his condition didn’t improve, 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
they would have a clear conscience.
At least they would know they did everything they could.
...
"The follow-up CBC results are in. His platelets are still dropping!" a nurse said, handing over the new report.
"Prepare a platelet transfusion and continue close monitoring!"
Guo Yu ordered.
"Director, let me take the night shift tonight," Miaoli offered.
Guo Yu thought for a moment. "The patient is in critical condition. Let’s split it. You take the first half of the night, and I’ll take the second."
"Okay."
Miaoli returned to the ward office and looked up information on tick-borne diseases.
She couldn’t find any new leads.
She sent a message to her old classmates’ group chat: "Sigh, my department got a patient today who was bitten by a tick. He’s already in the ICU."
Hu Qiming: "Whoa, that serious?"
Li Baojie: "Has he gone into organ failure?"
Miaoli: "Not yet, but his platelets are still dropping, and he’s in a coma. If this continues tomorrow, he’ll probably go into multi-organ failure."
Jiang Peng: "What terrible luck."
Hu Qiming: "Yeah, most people are fine after a tick bite."
Miaoli: "The family is demanding a transfer tomorrow."
Hu Qiming: "What? They’re not transferring him to our City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, are they? We don’t have a way to treat it either."
Miaoli: "(eye-roll emoji) You’re overthinking it. They’re demanding a transfer to the City People’s Hospital."
Hu Qiming: "You scared me for a second. If he came to our hospital, our performance evaluation would take another hit. Anyway, even though the City People’s First Hospital is a Grade A Tertiary hospital, they don’t have any special advantage in treating tick-borne diseases."
Miaoli: "Our director told the family that, but they wouldn’t listen."
Jiang Peng: "That’s a normal reaction. In terms of reputation and perceived skill level, most people have more faith in the City People’s First Hospital."
...
That evening, Li Xu was practicing his massage techniques on a model.
He was already quite proficient.
All he lacked was practical experience.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have any patients to work on.
He heard his phone buzzing incessantly.
He saw the messages in the group chat.
’A tick bite...’
Once the virus from such a disease enters the body, it’s incredibly difficult to treat.
Even traditional Chinese medicine had no specific cure.
Treatment was limited to relying on the patient’s own immune system and supportive IV fluids.
Li Xu had no solution either.
He closed the app, practiced for another half hour, then washed up and went to bed.
「Early the next morning.」
He skillfully called up his system panel.
[Today’s Intelligence: A new dawn has arrived for the treatment of a fatal infectious disease spread by ticks—Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS). A team from the Jinmen University School of Life Sciences has published a breakthrough research paper in the internationally renowned journal, *Dragon Country Virology*. The study reveals that the "Clearing Qi and Stabilizing Blood Formula," composed of five Chinese medicinal herbs including Honeysuckle, can effectively inhibit viral replication through a unique molecular mechanism, offering a traditional Chinese medicine solution for this globally significant infectious disease.]
