American: Native Empire

Chapter 76: Bacteria and Vaccine.

After the invention of the microscope.

Kim Kiwoo used his utmost ability to increase the number of microscopes and make more precise ones.

‘It’s a race against time now.’

The reason why he prioritized the development of the microscope more than anything else was, of course, to make a vaccine.

‘I can’t afford to lose my imperial citizens in vain.’

This thought became stronger after he came back from a family trip.

He could see his face in statues, paintings, and artworks everywhere, regardless of the region or place.

They praised him endlessly without anyone asking them to.

They gained strength by thinking of him when they had hard times in life. 

They believed that he would solve everything, no matter what adversity they faced.

‘I don’t want to disappoint them.’

He felt more desperate as he saw and experienced this social phenomenon firsthand.

He wanted to minimize the disasters that would befall his imperial citizens in the future.

In fact, anything could have happened as soon as the expedition returned safely.

That’s why Kim Kiwoo tried to advance the research related to infectious diseases, even if it was abnormal.

And now he was able to take the first step.

“***

“Wow! How arrogant we have been until now! There are so many things in the world that we can’t see with our eyes!”

“With this microscope, we can learn everything that we didn’t know before!”

As soon as the microscope was developed, countless scholars became interested in the microscopic world.

“Please give us a microscope too!”

They wanted to reveal many things using the microscope.

If they discovered something really important, they could easily receive the academic medal that was hard to get otherwise.

And because Kim Kiwoo mass-produced the microscopes as fast as possible, they were able to use them relatively quickly.

“We have to discover faster!”

Soon, the scholars began to observe various substances with the microscope, as if they didn’t have time to spare.

“Wow! There are so many things like this in our semen!”

“Huh… Are these tiny things what make up our body?”

“So this is how a leaf looks like!”

“What are these small things in our blood?”

It was really amazing that new things were discovered every time they woke up from a night’s sleep.

The scholars announced their discoveries to the academic world, and the line went on endlessly.

And after some time passed.

“The world is made up of countless microorganisms!”

What would have been ridiculed as nonsense before, now became an established theory.

Kim Kiwoo looked at this and thought.

‘It’s incomparably faster than the history before the arrival.’

It seemed to be thanks to the explosive distribution of microscopes and the sharing of knowledge about them, and the competitive observation of various substances.

But Kim Kiwoo was not satisfied.

The most important bacteria had not been observed yet.

They had not yet reached the concept that these microorganisms, one of which was bacteria, entered our body and caused diseases.

‘Then I have to move it myself.’

Kim Kiwoo immediately went to the palace research complex and had a deep conversation with the researchers.

“There are so many microorganisms in this world. But do you think they are all harmless?”

“…Do you mean that these small things enter our body and have a bad effect?”

“I think so.”

And Kim Kiwoo subtly explained the concept of germs.

“We get sick from many diseases, don’t we? We didn’t know what made us sick until now. But what if these small microorganisms enter our body and cause diseases?”

“Wow! The things that cause diseases were so small!”

“We’ll check it out right away!”

This was just a hypothesis for the researchers.

But the person who proposed this hypothesis was none other than Kim Kiwoo.

Nothing he said so far had been wrong.

That’s why the researchers were already excited.

Then, one researcher asked cautiously.

“But how can we collect such microorganisms?”

“Hmm…”

To confirm germs, they had to collect them first.

But they still didn’t know for sure which ones were germs.

The researchers began to worry when Kim Kiwoo opened his mouth right away.

“That won’t be too hard.”

“Is that so?”

The researchers’ faces were filled with curiosity at Kim Kiwoo’s words.

“You all know this, right? That drinking contaminated water can make you sick.”

“Ah! Of course… If your majesty is right, then there must be microorganisms in the contaminated water that harm our bodies!”

“That must be the case.”

Contaminated water referred to water that was polluted by the animalistic plague.

After discovering that drinking from a certain well could cause illness, they started to call this kind of water contaminated water.

Until now, they had not figured out why drinking it would make them sick, but now things were different.

“Then we just need to bring some contaminated water and examine it.”

“That’s what I think too.”

“We’ll prepare it right away!”

Soon, the researchers began to bustle around.

Naturally, the plague had not completely disappeared. 

They had only isolated the areas where the water was contaminated by the animalistic plague.

Therefore, obtaining contaminated water was not a very difficult task.

A few days passed by.

“Your majesty, we have prepared the contaminated water.”

“Really? Then let’s go right away.”

Finally, the samples arrived at the palace.

Of course, there was not only one kind of water contaminated by the animalistic plague.

They had brought water from four different polluted areas, and also plenty of water from unpolluted areas.

They had to compare them to identify the exact bacteria.

The observation proceeded, and the researchers were certain.

“Your majesty was right! There is a same microorganism living only in these four kinds of contaminated water!”

“So it was these tiny creatures that caused the disease!”

“This is surely a great discovery!”

The laboratory turned into a cauldron of excitement as they confirmed the bacteria with their own eyes.

This news quickly heated up the academic world.

“So it was not bad energy that caused the disease, but these little creatures that made our bodies sick!”

“Indeed… People got sick in groups because of the microorganisms in the contaminated water.”

“Does that mean that all the plagues are caused by these microorganisms?”

The scholars could not stop marveling as they learned the reason why people and livestock had been dying for a long time.

“It’s not time for that yet. The disease is not only obtained through contaminated water. There must be countless other microorganisms that cause illness.”

The scholars were sure.

There were not only animalistic bacteria in the contaminated water, but also other diseases that had microorganisms as their cause.

So they competed to research again to confirm this.

As time passed, many bacteria were revealed to the world.

***

‘It’s still not enough.’

Every day, more and more bacteria were announced.

But this was only the beginning stage to prevent disaster.

‘Knowing and making a vaccine are different levels of difficulty.’

Vaccines were divided into attenuated live vaccines and dead vaccines, or more precisely, inactivated vaccines.

Among them, the only possible vaccine production method right now was to culture attenuated live vaccines.

The principle itself was simple.

The place where bacteria were suitable for culture was called a medium. 

They cultured bacteria continuously in this medium.

Then the bacteria multiplied endlessly and changed their characteristics slightly.

At some point, their toxicity disappeared. 

This was called an attenuated live vaccine.

Attenuated live vaccines had reduced toxicity to us, but they could still multiply in our bodies when they entered.

‘Of course, they could also acquire toxicity in our bodies…’

But the probability of that was very low.

In most cases, they entered our bodies and triggered an immune response, giving us immunity to that bacteria.

It sounded easy like this, but handling these bacteria, making a medium to culture them, and extracting attenuated bacteria from there was not an easy process at all.

Kim Kiwoo first explained this concept to the researchers.

“We have now learned some of the causes of disease. But I don’t intend to stop here. If we know the cause, we should also find a solution.”

“But how can we prevent these tiny microorganisms from entering our bodies?”

“We obviously can’t. I’m not trying to prevent the invasion of bacteria itself.”

“Then…”

Kim Kiwoo looked around at the researchers and asked a question.

“When various bacteria enter our bodies, do we always die?”

“That’s not true.”

“We do get better over time.”

“That’s right. As long as we don’t die, our bodies overcome these bacteria. I’ll call this immunity.”

“Immunity…”

That was the moment when the concept of immunity was first mentioned.

If Kim Ki-woo had not explained this idea, it would have been a knowledge that was only revealed after countless trials and errors.

“But, isn’t that something that happens after bacteria enter the body and cause disease?”

“That’s right.”

It was a natural question.

Kim Ki-woo answered it decisively.

“Our body does not get sick again from the same disease after we recover from it. This is all because of immunity. The memory of defeating the bacteria is engraved in our body.”

“…!”

“Is that so?”

“It’s not that hard to verify this, is it? Just make someone who has been infected by the contaminated water drink it again. They probably won’t get sick from the water.”

“Ah! Now that you mention it, I think I heard about something like that! So that’s how it happened!”

The researcher exclaimed loudly, even though he had said it himself.

But soon another man added a question.

“So, does that mean we have to get sick once in order to be immune? That’s impossible…”

“Of course not.”

The researchers’ faces became puzzled again.

Kim Ki-woo enjoyed their change and finally said what he wanted to say.

“But what if we could eliminate the toxicity of the bacteria? What if we inject the bacteria into our body and only get immunity to that disease?”

“Is that possible?”

“It is.”

Kim Ki-woo asserted, but added more.

“Of course, it’s not easy. But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean we won’t do it, right?”

“Of course not!”

“Please let me join your great research again!”

“I’ll do my best!”

“Haha! Then let’s try to win against the many diseases that exist in the world! When we succeed, we will be somewhat free from the fear of disease!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The researchers realized.

How big the impact would be if this research succeeded.

Therefore, their faces were full of determination as they answered.

That’s how the vaccine production began in earnest.