Chapter 159: Epidemic Caused by Tap Water

  Hand over Pengshan's documents to Chen Zhongwen, Wang Xu got up and bid farewell. Chen Zhongwen and Tang Fei saw him off together. Originally, Chen Zhongwen was going to send Wang Xu to the hospital entrance, but after leaving the ward, Tang Fei smiled and stopped him: "Director Chen, you can go back first, I'll see Dr. Wang off."

  Chen Zhongwen smiled and nodded, knowing that Tang Fei had something to say to Wang Xu alone. He gestured to Wang Xu with his hand, promising to settle the passport issue as soon as possible, and watched as Wang Xu and Tang Fei left together.

  After walking out of the ward and into the elevator, Wang Xu smiled and said: "Director Tang, I'm sure you have something to say to me. Whatever it is, just say it, and if I can help in any way, I absolutely won't decline."

  Listening to Wang Xu speaking so nicely, Tang Fei smiled and said: "To be honest, I intentionally invited Dr. Wang to be our hospital's specially invited expert, I don't know if Dr. Wang will agree?"

  "Special guest?" Wang Xu was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly: "It's not that I don't agree, it's just that I'm busy to the point of being overwhelmed, and I don't have time to spare. However, if Dean Tang has something on his mind, as long as I have some free time, I will definitely not shirk my responsibility."

  "Dr. Wang, you've got it wrong. This specially invited expert is actually just a nominal position and not part of the hospital's formal staffing. They don't need to be on duty every day. In fact, Qian Lao and Yun Lao also hold honorary titles as our hospital's specially invited experts. Not only that, but Qian Lao also holds an honorary title at the city central hospital. He's usually very free and easy, only needing to show up when the hospital encounters some tricky cases." Tang Fei explained with a smile.

  "It's easy to say that, thanks to Director Tang's appreciation, I shouldn't be too pretentious either." Wang Xu said with a smile.

  "It's really great, this specially invited expert, although it's a nominal position, but in the hospital, you can enjoy some privileges and have salary subsidies, we won't let you work for nothing." Tang Fei smiled.

  "Director Tang, the salary is not a big deal to me, but although I'm an specially invited expert, I still need to stick to my own principles. I hope Director Tang can understand this." Wang Xu said with a faint smile.

  "I understand, patients who go against your principles, we will absolutely not make things difficult for you." Tang Fei nodded and agreed without hesitation. He naturally knew what Wang Xu's principles were - the three non-treatment principles that Wang Xu held very true.

  Accompanying Wang Xu all the way to the hospital entrance, watching Wang Xu's car leave, Tang Fei shook his head and turned back to the hospital. He was deeply moved in his heart. At such a young age, Wang Xu's medical skills were already so impressive, with unlimited prospects. Inviting someone like him as a special guest expert for the hospital would be a great thing for the hospital.

  Wang Xu arrived in Zhongjiang, and it's been three months now. In these three months, Wang Xu's reputation has almost spread throughout the upper society of Zhongjiang, and near the clinic, he is known to everyone. Tang Fei can predict that one or two years later, when Wang Xu's reputation echoes across the country, their hospital will also benefit from his fame.

  Wang Xu did not expect Tang Fei's vision to be so far-sighted, and he agreed to let Tang Fei take on the role of special expert as a way of training him. After all, Fusheng Hall was just a small clinic, and the chances of encountering serious illnesses were low. If he wanted to improve his medical skills, it would be better for him to do so in a large hospital. However, Wang Xu himself could not stand being restricted, and Tang Fei's proposal had given him an opportunity.

  After returning to the clinic, there were many patients in the clinic. Zhao Kai and Peng Shan were both busy, and Wang Xu also started helping after entering.

  For some reason, there were a lot of people getting sick today. Wang Xu came back for just a short while, and Zhao Kai and Peng Shan treated quite a few patients, but even more people kept coming in through the door, and the clinic was always packed to capacity.

  Since he started training Zhao Kai, Wang Xu basically rarely took the initiative to do it himself. This time, he just helped to grab the medicine. Seeing this situation, he was suddenly very puzzled. Listening to the conversation of the patients below, they seemed to be from several nearby communities.

  The crowd of so many people getting sick in the nearby residential area suddenly made Wang Xu vigilant, and he asked Zhao Kai while holding the medicine: "Is there anything special about today's patients?"

  "It's very strange, most of them have fever and dizziness, the symptoms are almost the same, I and Dr. Peng guessed that it might be a flu epidemic." Zhao Kai said while prescribing medicine.

  "Influenza!" Wang Xu was taken aback, feeling that it wasn't so simple. He hastily grabbed a package of medicine and had Zhao Kai get up. He personally sat down to diagnose the patients in the back.

  After seeing three patients in a row, Wang Xu's eyebrows furrowed. Judging from the symptoms, most of these sick patients had warm and feverish symptoms, which could be described as summer plague or even epidemic influenza. With so many people falling ill at the same time with similar symptoms, it couldn't be taken lightly.

  "Auntie, when did this situation start?" Since he had doubts in his heart, Wang Xu naturally wanted to clarify and asked when the fourth patient came.

  "This morning around 5 or 6 o'clock, I started to feel dry mouth and tongue. My body temperature was over 38 degrees. I felt a bit better after eating breakfast, but it got worse again after the meal." The patient is an old lady in her sixties, who said this while pulling over a child of ** years old behind her: "It's just my grandson and me at home, didn't expect both of us to fall ill."

  Wang Xu heard this and pulled the child over to take a closer look. The symptoms were almost identical to those of the old lady, including fever and dizziness, which belonged to warm-heat syndrome.

  After a moment of contemplation, Wang Xu stood up and loudly asked the patients in the clinic: "Those who feel feverish and dizzy, please raise your hands so I can take a look."

  These people are mostly from several nearby communities, and many of them know Wang Xu and trust him very much. Upon hearing this, the patients who had fever and dizziness raised their hands one after another. There were more than 20 patients on the scene, with only two not having a fever.

  "What's the situation with everyone?" Wang Xu asked: "Let's go one by one, I'll understand the situation."

  "Something wrong, Doctor Wang?" a woman in her forties asked as she stood up.

  "What about others?" Wang Xu asked further.

  Others also expressed their views, mostly starting from last night, either at 11 or 12 o'clock in the evening, or after midnight, or at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning.

  After listening to everyone's account, Wang Xu can be sure that this is absolutely not a simple flu. The flu is highly contagious, but it's impossible for all the residents of several neighborhoods to start having fevers at the same time, just after last night.

  "Ma'am, think for a moment, was there anything unusual happening at home before last night?" Wang Xu asked the old lady in front of him with furrowed eyebrows.

  "Abnormal!" The old man recalled and said doubtfully, "No, it was just after 3 pm when the water stopped for more than two hours, nothing else unusual."

  "No water!" As soon as Wang Xu heard the old man say this, he immediately understood that this time's situation was probably caused by the recent water stoppage, which meant that there was a problem with the drinking water in several nearby neighborhoods.

  "Hey auntie, are your several neighborhoods using the same tap water?" Wang Xu asked, calming down his emotions.

  "Not bad, a large area nearby, except for the storefronts near the street that were connected to running water later, we residents all use the same tap water." The old lady nodded.

  "Yesterday's water suspension, did the tap water company say what was the reason?" Wang Xu asked again.

  "A notice was posted saying that a pipeline was damaged." A middle-aged man who was closer to the old lady said, and then looked at Wang Xu with suspicion and asked: "Dr. Wang, do you suspect that our illness this time is related to that tap water?"

  "Not bad." Wang Xu nodded and said: "Everyone's illness is not very serious, but they all came together, and basically they all started after last night. It's absolutely not a flu, so I asked about the reason. If we can't figure out the cause, even if I cure you, you will still get sick later, and may lead to some more serious diseases."

  Wang Xu and the middle-aged man's voice was not loud, but many people in the clinic heard it clearly, and suddenly there were discussions everywhere. Some of the irritable ones immediately stood up: "Doctor Wang, is what you said true? If so, we must get justice back. It's okay for adults, but there are still children at home."

  "That's right, we must get justice." Someone echoed, the clinic was in an uproar, and outside, more people came one after another. After hearing about it, they all expressed that they must get justice.

  "Everyone, please be quiet." Wang Xu hastily shouted: "This matter is just my speculation and needs to be confirmed. Which friend is willing to take me home to take a look? If it's really a problem with the water source, I encourage everyone to go to the tap water company together to ask questions."

  "Doctor Wang, I'll take you there," said the middle-aged man beside the old lady. The others also chimed in, willing to take Wang Xu to have a look.

  Wang Xu calmed down the excited crowd, letting others wait at the clinic first. Zhao Kai and Peng Shan helped take care of them, while he went to the middle-aged man's home with him.

  On the way forward, many people in the community recognized Wang Xu and greeted him warmly. Some even said they suddenly had a fever and were going to go to the clinic to take a look.

  Wang Xu and the others nodded with a smile, telling them to wait for a while, and walked inside with the middle-aged man. As they walked, the middle-aged man introduced: "Doctor Wang, there are three residential areas nearby, with a total of tens of thousands of people, all using the same tap water. If it's a problem with the water source, this matter is serious."

  Wang Xu nodded slightly, his whole body silent. This was also what he worried about the most. He couldn't predict whether everyone just had a mild fever or if there were other situations, which would make things even more complicated.

  Entering the middle-aged man's home, turning on the faucet, Wang Xu used his hand to scoop up some water and put it under his nose for a sniff. His eyebrows immediately furrowed, this water indeed had a problem, if you didn't smell carefully, you wouldn't notice, but upon careful smelling, this water actually had a faint stench.

  "Dr. Wang, how is it? Is it a problem with the water?" asked the middle-aged man on the side.

  Wang Xu stuck out his tongue and licked it, carefully feeling it for a moment, then said: "It should be a water problem. You get a clean bottle, I'll fill some up, and we'll send it to the lab for testing while we think of a solution."