old dream

Chapter 78 The Hope of Healing

Ji Lian's persistence is mostly in vain.

At present, the world has no concept of antibiotics.Although pathogenic bacteria such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis have been discovered under the microscope, people are still helpless.

It can only be prevented, not cured.

As early as a few years ago, Ji Li'an was almost in despair.Because the harder she tried to understand the relevant materials, the more she realized that her persistence was meaningless.

Currently there is no cure.Even if you are willing to spend all your time working hard, you can't see the direction worth investing in at all.

It's like walking on a blank wilderness, but the only road ends not far from sight.

Maybe Ke Lin appeared later, Ji Lian had already been engulfed by this complete despair, and she was walking towards death silently.

Ke Lin still remembered the first time he found Ji Li'an after he eavesdropped on the address of the Jackdaw Hunting Group a few years ago.

It was a dirty room deep in the slum, unlit at night.In the darkness, only a touch of blond hair can be seen leaning against the wall. The cold light golden tone is extremely inappropriate for the environment.It also seems to be fading all the time because of neglect, or the owner is too haggard and weak.

Ji Lian was about 15 years old at the time, two years after she was excommunicated.There were petri dishes all over the room, but they were all piled up in a disorderly manner, and many of them had even been smashed, leaving pieces of agar scattered on the ground.

Her clothes were ragged and thin, and she didn't wear a mask, so she exposed herself to an environment full of germs like this, as if waiting for death indifferently.

Although those tuberculosis bacteria originally came from Ji Lian herself, such an approach was enough to further aggravate her condition.This is by no means because she lacks a basic sense of protection, but because she already feels indifferent.

The desperation may not be entirely due to the fact that tuberculosis cannot be cured.Ke Lin could somewhat understand Ji Lian's state of mind at that time, after all, he was once a refugee.

Ji Lian never mentioned her surname, and she received an excellent education in her childhood.An He orphan who escaped from the colony and returned to the mainland of the Alliance, probably has a family background above the middle class.Because the Anhe people who have lived in Nale for a long time, apart from soldiers, scholars and wealthy businessmen, only the nobles who manage that land remain.Then her family may have suffered accidents in the Naleite riots, so she had lost everything before she was diagnosed with tuberculosis a few years ago.

Going through trauma does not necessarily make people stronger, after all, not everyone can have that kind of tough black life force.The wound seems to have healed, but it only takes a little chance, and some despair may reappear at any time.

If one day in the future, I find that it is impossible to open the memory seal, I guess my performance will not be much better than Ji Li'an.

But understanding is understanding, a person who is completely desperate is useless.After all, for them, there is nothing worth paying for in this world.

So Colin had to try to give her hope, even if it was false hope.

"Do you know 'antibiotics'?"

In that room full of deadly germs, Colin covered his mouth and nose with the collar of his coat, and described to Ji Lian this kind of treatment idea from another world.

Empty words have nothing to prove, and he has to prove it himself.Fortunately, Penicillium is relatively common. Because of the name, Ke Lin vaguely knows that its plaques are green.As long as you collect those turquoise mold spots, you will be able to hit them sooner or later.

A few days later, he brought some moldy lemons and oranges to Ji Lian's room, and demonstrated to her the lethality of those turquoise plaques on general miscellaneous bacteria.

Under the copper microscope, all kinds of miscellaneous bacteria were quickly dissolved.Although it has no effect on Mycobacterium tuberculosis, following this line of thinking, antibiotics that can kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis are likely to exist.

Colin told her that there were antibiotics that could kill the tuberculosis bacilli, but they didn't know what they were.

He didn't say that the antibiotic was called streptomycin. After all, just knowing the name means knowing nothing.

In my impression, the medical community in my previous life discovered streptomycin during World War II, and it was extracted from a microorganism called Streptomyces.

Streptomyces... It turned out to be another existence like "tungsten", which sounded very familiar, making people think that they knew enough, but in the end they didn't know how to get it.

It is the highest type of actinomycetes, prokaryotes, and is famous for producing various antibiotics... I can seem to know a lot and talk a lot, but if I don't know how to extract and separate, it is completely meaningless.

There are countless bacteria in the world, and there may be 10,000+ species in a small piece of soil.

Finding a Streptomyces with medical value is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is likely that Ji Lian will not be able to do it before his life is exhausted, but at least there is a direction to work hard.

Ji Lian, who has gained a new idea, seems to have regained her vitality temporarily.

A way out suddenly appeared in the empty wilderness, perhaps a dead end at all, but for a while there was no end in sight.

Not being able to see the end is not necessarily a bad thing, at least it means that there is still hope.

……

However, this is only the appearance of hope.

What Ke Lin didn't tell her was that the production of antibiotics needs the support of a mature biochemical industry.Penicillin in the previous life seems to have been discovered by accident, but without a complete separation and purification process, it cannot be used for treatment at all.

As for the discovery of streptomycin, it has basically nothing to do with chance.It requires a large team to carry out systematic screening all year round under careful design. There are tens of thousands of bacterial species that need to be screened.

It is almost impossible for Ji Li'an to search slowly like this alone.

Colin concealed this fact from her, in order to preserve the false hope somewhat longer.

But as time progresses, Ji Li'an will definitely notice something.

……

Facing what Colin accidentally asked, she gradually stopped her movements, as if in a trance.

"...I tried it. The inhibitor is only effective against Vibrio carinii and has no effect on Mycobacterium tuberculosis."

She said lightly:
"Look, I guessed right again."

It seems that as long as the guess is "useless", it is always right.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is indeed abnormally reduced in the soil leachate, which means that the soil does contain antibiotics that can kill mycobacterium tuberculosis.

So far, she has screened more than 4000 kinds of microorganisms from [-] of them, but none of them are effective.

A goal that exists, yet never seems to be attainable.

Before each test, she always unconsciously guessed that the result was the "useless" side.So she easily guessed 4000 and [-] times correctly.

I'm afraid she will continue to face each other for an endless period of time.

(End of this chapter)