Episode 93: Antibiotics [1]
“Hmm…”
“Amazing.”
Three days had already passed since the prisoners were brought in. Meanwhile, all they had to do was chew and swallow one piece of stale bread. That was intentional. I designed it that way.
If it were a different infectious disease, the treatment approach would have to be different… But for syphilis, this is enough for now. Or we can simply observe.
If it were literally another infectious disease caused by a different bacterium, this kind of follow-up could be very dangerous. Even if the medication worked well, the time needed to reach a therapeutic dose would be very short… Would all the bacteria be killed during that time? That would be a difficult challenge, except for bacteria highly susceptible to penicillin.
Because it’s slow…
However, syphilis was a disease humanity had lived with for a very long time, so mankind had adapted to it somewhat. It was said to be a disease designed to lower fatality, allowing the host to survive longer while remaining infectious. Thanks to that, even if some bacteria remained due to insufficient treatment, there was no need to rush. If the patient died, it was usually from another cause, not syphilis.
“It got better.”
“Hmm… All that remains is a scar.”
While I was having such advanced medical thoughts, we nineteenth-century doctors were amazed. It was worth being amazed. Wasn’t syphilis considered incurable? Yet it improved after they ate some stale bread, or at least showed tremendous progress.
“Pyeong-ah… What exactly did you…?”
“How did you do it?”
Joseph and Alfred reacted that way, and they were not the only ones.
“I thought you were a genius… but this is really…”
“It’s enormous. Calling you a genius isn’t enough!”
Liston and Blundell raised their hands in awe. Liston gave me a thumbs-up and laughed loudly. The good news was that no one here mentioned witches. Well, how many times had I shown myself to be faithful so far?
“You… That’s amazing… You must have received a great deal of grace from the Lord.”
Even Killian said that, which said it all. Whoops. Yes, I had been blessed many times. Otherwise, how could I have been reborn? If I were a bit greedier, it would have been nicer if I had been reborn in the 1950s… Still, even in the nineteenth century, there was plenty to enjoy.
“Come on, don’t be too pleased. There’s one person who wasn’t treated. You need to take a good look at him.”
Of course, I could not keep laughing. Although it was only one person, there was one who had not been treated.
No… Saying he wasn’t treated is a bit harsh…
I would have felt better if I had stopped there. This person seemed to have a fungal infection. Mold, in other words, fungi.
A fungal infection…
Several terrible examples unfolded before my eyes. Fungi usually did not cause infections, but once they did, they were nearly impossible to cure. Even if antifungal drugs existed, the infected area might have to be removed surgically. So in a situation without antifungals, nothing could be done. Did I expect this to happen? No, I did not.
Old syphilis patients… Among them, it’s unrealistic to expect prisoners to have normal immunity.
I shook my head and looked at the patient. His fever was rising sharply. Black spots appeared on his tongue and palate. They were not just spots, but clear signs of fungal infection.
I can’t fix this… I can’t help it.
If it were me, I would be overwhelmed with guilt. No, I was not saying I did not feel guilty now. But it was not as strong as before. I had done this knowing there was nothing I could do. Still, staying calm was not easy, so I deliberately looked away. This patient was near the others who had responded positively to my stale bread.
“Why is he like this? It’s different from syphilis.”
“Exactly. Hmm. What is this?”
Regardless of me, Liston and Blundell began discussing the same patient. Fungal infections were not uncommon in this era. Actually, they were quite common. Life expectancy was not as long as in the twenty-first century, but diabetes existed. Long-term diabetes led to immune deficiency, and unclean environments increased all infections.
You’re acting like this is your first time seeing it.
However, the two looked as if they had just discovered an unknown disease. They were partly right. It was rare to discover a patient this early in a fungal infection. Diabetes had been known as a strange disease since ancient times, but there was nothing to do until insulin was developed. So there was no treatment or hospitalization, and most fungal infections were discovered only when patients were already dead or in critical condition.
“For now, I suppose we have no choice but to wait and see.”
“Even with him burning up from fever?”
“I don’t know if we can give him willow bark water… because he’s unconscious.”
“Well, that’s true too. Why is he like this?”
I licked my lips at Liston’s question. But all I could do was sigh. I wondered if it was right to tell him it was because of the mold or the rotten bread I had fed the patient.
That’s the exact truth. But… if this drug’s introduction is delayed…
Right now, it was being used on people likely to have abnormal immune systems, patients whose disease had progressed too far, so side effects were likely. If it were used earlier, there would be fewer side effects, and the damage caused by syphilis could be dramatically reduced or eliminated.
Ha…
I sighed deeply and shook my head.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you don’t. How could you know everything?”
“Yes.”
“Anyway, we should report this to academia. It turns out the mold growing on bread left in the study on the second floor of Alfred’s house is effective against syphilis. Who could have imagined such a thing?”
“That… yes.”
“Anyway, if we can mass-produce the same type of mold, London will no longer fear syphilis.”
Taking that as a cue, Liston planned to report it to the academic community. In fact, he was a surgeon and not involved in syphilis treatment, but that probably did not matter. The world was not specialized enough for departments to be that meaningful yet. If Liston said he wanted to see obstetrics and gynecology patients starting tomorrow, I could make it happen. Whether patients would actually come was another question…
“Send the report through Jémel. If you want to submit it to an academic journal, it’s better to notify us first.”
“Jémel… But will that person agree? He’s completely addicted to simultaneous mercury and mercury chloride therapy.”
“We proved it wrong, didn’t we? I’m saying that wasn’t the cause.”
“Yes. Won’t he be upset?”
“Hahaha! Who cares!”
Liston laughed at my words. It was not nonsense. Wouldn’t anyone feel bad if someone told them they were wrong directly to their face? Even worse if that person asked others to hear it too. But it was okay.
The clever Liston headed to Jémel. Normally, Jémel would be in the lab around this time, but he was distracted, intoxicated with a sense of omnipotence. Actually, that was possible. What if he thought he had cured syphilis, a disease no one in history had ever cured?
“Aaaaaaa!”
“S-Save me!”
Anyway, we headed not to the laboratory, but to the torture room, or rather, the mercury treatment room. I did not know why mercury and treatment were connected…
“Uh, uuh…”
“Aaaaaaa!”
Inside, screams, moans, and pouring sounds continued.
“I guess he can’t hear us.”
“What? It’s locked.”
It seemed to have been locked away because it was too terrible to show anyone. When I tried to open the door, it rattled. I looked at Liston, who did not call a locksmith. He grabbed the doorknob himself.
Crack.
The door opened with the sound of something breaking.
“Is it open?”
“Ah.”
Normally, this would be called breaking it.
“What? Huh? You…?”
Before he could finish, Liston strode inside. Inside were signs of various tortures: people with red, bloodshot eyes, vomiting, diarrhea, and the mess they left behind…
“No way.”
Liston carefully walked among them and reached Jémel. As always, he looked intimidating, towering over the others.
“Why… why are you here?”
Jémel may have exaggerated his facial expressions, but the smell naturally made him uncomfortable, and even he stuttered. Maybe I would have done the same. Because Jémel was a truly frightening person.
“Why? For now, let’s stop this nonsense. You don’t really believe vomiting and diarrhea will kill syphilis, do you?”
“No… Why all of a sudden? Didn’t you think it was plausible yesterday?”
“Does that sound plausible? I said it made no sense.”
“No…”
“Why? Do you think differently?”
“No, no. I think so too.”
Liston showed that he could control not only his own thoughts but also influence others.
“Anyway, we tried the experiment, and it doesn’t make sense.”
“No… What? Look. I’m not alone.”
Jémel looked at his assistants and patients. The assistants looked puzzled, but the patients glared at Jémel with murderous eyes. They had not been arrested for wrongdoing. They had been taken because they were sick.
“Does that matter?”
“Uh, no.”
But the moment Liston thrust his fist forward, everything else faded, and only his fist remained in view.
“Listen. Look at this.”
“This… Isn’t it stale bread?”
“Don’t be impressed. Look.”
“Ah, okay.”
And so an in-depth discussion began.
Translator’s Notes
Therapeutic dose — The amount of a drug needed in the body to produce the intended medical effect.
Penicillin — An antibiotic later discovered to be highly effective against syphilis.
Fungal infection — An infection caused by fungi. These can be difficult to treat, especially in people with weak immune systems.
Antifungal drugs — Medicines used to treat fungal infections. These did not exist in effective modern form during the nineteenth century.
Diabetes — A metabolic disease involving abnormal blood sugar levels. Untreated long-term diabetes can weaken immunity and increase infection risk.
Insulin — A hormone used to treat diabetes. It was not discovered and used medically until the twentieth century.
Willow bark — A traditional pain and fever remedy containing salicin, a compound related to aspirin.
Mercury chloride — A toxic mercury compound historically used as a disinfectant and, wrongly, as a treatment for syphilis.