Zhong Nanshan: Guardian of Life

Chapter 24 "SARS" Sudden Attack
At the end of [-], a strange disease—acute infectious atypical pneumonia (also known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, referred to as "SARS") suddenly hit Guangdong. "SARS" is menacing.

This year, Zhong Nanshan was 66 years old.As the leading expert on respiratory diseases in Guangdong Province, he was originally only famous in the industry, but he was pushed in front of the people of the whole country and under the spotlight of the world's much-anticipated fight against SARS.

On December 22, [-], the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College and the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases admitted a patient transferred from Heyuan City Hospital.Zhong Nanshan went to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) for rounds as usual, and some doctors told him about the strange condition of this patient transferred from Heyuan.The patient's medical records showed that he not only had a persistent high fever and dry cough, but also had "white lungs" on X-ray fluoroscopy, diffuse exudative lesions in both lungs, and shadows occupying the entire lungs. Treatment with various antibiotics was ineffective.

Zhong Nanshan conducted a physical examination on the patient and analyzed the symptoms.He found that the patient's fever was not serious, and there were no problems with other organs. The only special thing was that the lungs were very hard.The lungs of a normal person are soft and elastic like a rubber ball. When air is inhaled, the lungs swell; when air is exhaled, the lungs deflate.But this patient's lungs are no longer elastic, they are stiff, and the response of the lungs to expand and contract when inhaling and exhaling air is not obvious.If you use normal methods to ventilate, it is easy to cause pneumothorax.

After consultation, the patient used a lot of antibiotics, but it still didn't work.Zhong Nanshan considered that the patient's lungs had been acutely injured, so he tried intravenous drip treatment with a large dose of corticosteroids.The patient was dying, and Zhong Nanshan had little chance of curing the patient, but Zhong Nanshan still did not give up his efforts.After treatment with corticosteroids, an accident occurred. On the second and third days, the patient's condition improved significantly, which surprised Zhong Nanshan and the team of doctors.

On January [-], [-], news came that eight people who had been in contact with this patient in Heyuan had contracted pneumonia with the same symptoms.Some of these eight people are medical staff and some are family members of patients.Zhong Nanshan is keenly aware that this case of pneumonia is unusual and is a special infectious disease worthy of attention.Zhong Nanshan immediately instructed to report the situation to the Guangzhou Yuexiu District Epidemic Prevention Station, and at the same time required to do a certain amount of protection and isolation.

After receiving the news on January 21, experts from the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases went to Heyuan City for consultation that afternoon.Then, a similar case appeared in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province.On January 30, Zhong Nanshan, together with experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, went to Zhongshan City for consultation and on-site inspection, and consulted and rescued more than [-] patients.The situation is getting more and more serious, and the top priority is to find the cause of the disease as soon as possible, and find out the methods of prevention and treatment.Experts worked around the clock in Zhongshan, collaborating to test for common, contagious pathogens that can cause pneumonia, to no avail.The investigation confirmed Zhong Nanshan's premonition: this is an infectious disease that has never been seen by humans, and its clinical manifestations are different from typical pneumonia.The main symptoms of the patient are high fever, dry cough, dyspnea, etc. If the rescue is not timely, the patient is very likely to die of respiratory failure or multiple organ failure.The expert team sent the investigation result "Investigation Report on Pneumonia of Unknown Cause in Zhongshan City" to the Guangdong Provincial Department of Health.In the investigation report, Zhong Nanshan and Guangdong medical experts still have no conclusions about the etiology of atypical pneumonia, but believe that the possibility of viral infection is high; the treatment principle proposed in the report is to use corticosteroids as appropriate; preventive measures include isolating patients and ventilating the ward , Ventilation, disinfection; and made a prediction about the transmission route of the disease that may be transmitted through air droplets.

This report is China's first report on SARS.In this report, the deadly infectious disease was named "atypical pneumonia" for the first time.On March 28, [-], the World Health Organization named the disease severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) based on its clinical manifestations and epidemiological characteristics.The name "SARS" is still widely used in China.The accuracy and predictability of this report were confirmed afterwards.It can be said that Zhong Nanshan and Guangdong medical experts fought the disease head-on in the correct direction of rigor, pragmatism, and efficiency when "SARS" first emerged.What they are doing is not general research or clinical work, but exploration at the risk of being infected.

The day after receiving the report from the expert group, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Health issued a notice requiring all medical units to study and master the treatment methods.The Guangdong Provincial SARS Medical Rescue Expert Steering Group was established, led by Zhong Nanshan.

Zhong Nanshan ushered in the biggest challenge in his life. This was the third time in his life that he faced death face to face.As a baby, he narrowly escaped an enemy bombing.When he was a teenager, he jumped down with an umbrella and escaped by chance.Now, he wants to use his own shoulders to shoulder the heavy burden entrusted to him by the country, and fight against a powerful and dangerous disease that is unclear but extremely lethal.He has no choice but to go forward and use his wisdom and courage to hold up a protective umbrella for the well-being of the public.

(End of this chapter)