Chapter 82: Making Antibiotics

Chapter 82

The imperial court has already issued orders for the various routes to mobilize troops. Wherever there is an epidemic area, it must be completely sealed off.

Limited rations of grain and medicinal herbs are provided on a regular basis.

The purpose is to prevent the epidemic from spreading nationwide.

This approach undoubtedly makes people in despair even more desperate.

Especially those already poor commoners, they now no longer care whether they are infected.

In order to fill their stomachs, they have begun gathering in the quarantine zone, constantly looting and killing the wealthy.

For a time, there was weeping across the land, a terrible sight.

The county government where Gong Xiaohua was located was not spared either. Fortunately, the county government had heavy defenses, so it was not breached by the mob. Alll latest novels at novelhall.com

The vice county magistrate was so anxious that he personally went to the courtyard of the doctors every day to inquire about the progress of the antidotes.

Since arriving in Shuangyu County, Gong Xiaohua and dozens of doctors in the county have adopted an isolation model.

No one was allowed to come and go freely. If someone needs to enter or leave, they must be fully protected.

The day after they arrived, they began trying various antidotal soups based on the patients' symptoms.

Based on the patients' symptoms, Gong Xiaohua tried all the famous wind-cold, cough-suppressing, epidemic-dispelling antidotal Chinese medicines she knew from her previous life.

In particular, there were several prescriptions that were not available in this era, but were very famous prescriptions in later generations.

For example, there were the Guizhi Decoction and Mahuang Decoction from Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders for treating wind-cold; the nine-ingredient Mongolian snakegourd root decoction from Essentials of the Golden Cabinet for treating wind-cold, and so on.

There were also the Sanqi Powder from Compendium of Materia Medica; the lily metal-securing decoction from Collected Explanations of Medical Texts and so on for treating coughs.

When this prescription came out, the other doctors also needed to participate in the evaluation.

"Old doctor, I have practiced medicine for many years, and this is the first time I have seen such a complete, perfect treatment for wind-cold and cough suppression."

"So accomplished at such a young age, remarkable!"

"Yes, yes indeed."

The doctors present all marveled repeatedly.

It is known that the most important cause of the large number of Daye residents dying every year comes from wind-cold coughs.

Especially for newborn infants, seven out of ten who get wind-cold cannot make it through.

This is also one of the most important reasons why the population is now sparse and people's life expectancy is not very long.

If these prescriptions are widely used in daily medical treatment, how many new lives could be saved in the future, and how many people's lifespan could be extended.

With this continuing, the population of Daye would be unimaginable.

The production process of this antibiotic was relatively simple, and the success rate was relatively high.

Of course, its ability to fight plague germs was weaker than other antibiotics, but it was enough to fight the current plague virus.

The first step was to make the culture medium solution.

This was made from yam boiled juice mixed with rice-ground juice.

Then penicillium mold was planted on the culture medium. This penicillium could be obtained from rotten fruits and vegetables.

The second step was to extract the cultured penicillium.

After completing the first step, wait about a week, pour the culture solution into a funnel.

Add vegetable oil to the filtered liquid and stir evenly, then let stand.

When the liquid separates into three layers, the top layer is liposoluble substances, the middle layer is insoluble substances, and the bottom layer is water-soluble substances.

Penicillin is a water-soluble substance, so you just need to extract the water-soluble substance.

The last step was the most critical one, purifying the penicillin.

Add the filtered penicillin solution to sterilized carbon powder, stir.

The carbon powder absorbs the penicillin. Put the carbon powder into a container, add steam water, and wash out the impurities.

Then add acidic water made with bitter wine, bitter wine is modern vinegar.

Finally add alkaline water, made by boiling seaweed juice.

The relatively pure penicillin will flow out at the bottom.

Seeing such a strange drug-making method, the doctors present had deep doubts.

Using moldy stuff to treat illness, wouldn't it just make the illness worse?

They thought it, so they spoke up about it.

"Little Hua, will this work? Won't it exacerbate the illness?"

"Don't worry, there shouldn't be big problems."

Finally it was time to test the effects.

The obtained penicillin was divided into portions, and patients with different symptoms were found to classify their phlegm.

A small amount of penicillin solution was absorbed onto paper strips and added to a small amount of phlegm.

Finally it was discovered that there were rings around the paper strips, indicating the medicine was effective.

"Vice County Magistrate Wan, success! It's effective. Now we can try it on some patients. If it works, we can mass produce it."