"But chicken soup is boiled, and it usually remains boiling for a long time. Bacteria shouldn’t be able to survive in chicken soup at 100 degrees Celsius."
Yu Xin voiced her opinion.
Salmonella lives and reproduces within the chicken’s body without causing much harm to the chicken itself.
However, once it enters the human body, it can pose a fatal threat to humans.
Normally, maintaining a high temperature of over 60 degrees for 15 minutes is enough to kill them.
"Under normal circumstances, boiled chicken soup should not contain live Salmonella, but there are exceptions. If Salmonella hides deep within the chicken meat, and the chef cuts the meat in large pieces which cannot be thoroughly cooked. Moreover, small restaurants are usually busiest around four or five in the afternoon. At that time, many dishes need to be cooked and processed before the dinner rush."
"Think about it, can the chicken soup be boiled for a long time under these conditions? If there is living Salmonella in the chicken meat, the family will cool the soup to a palatable temperature before giving it to the patient. Normally, a temperature of forty to fifty degrees is considered palatable, not too cold nor too hot. During this period, Salmonella could escape from the chicken meat and survive in the soup."
Zhou Can’s social practice experience is richer compared to Yu Xin.
and he considers problems more comprehensively.
Hearing his analysis, Yu Xin found it quite reasonable.
"At that time...I indeed cooled the chicken soup to a warm temperature before giving it to my husband to drink. But I also drank some, why am I fine?" This type of question, raised by family members, is common in everyday life.
The same food may cause no issues for some people,
while others may get diarrhea.
"This is because the stomach acid of normally healthy individuals has strong killing power that can eliminate most bacteria ingested into the stomach; this varies from person to person. Moreover, Salmonella has varying incubation periods. Your husband had just undergone surgery, and, having fasted for at least twelve hours before the surgery, his stomach movements are much slower than a normal person and his resistance is weaker, making him more vulnerable to viruses and bacteria."
Zhou Can provided a reasonable medical explanation.
After hesitating for two seconds, he seriously said to the family member, "You might also consider getting a complete blood count to see the results. Because it’s hard for stomach acid to completely kill Salmonella, which can resist various immune defenses like the body’s macrophages. Your constitution might be stronger, but consuming chicken soup with bacteria is a significant potential risk."
Doctors can only make suggestions; it’s up to the patients and their families to cooperate, and doctors do not have the final say.
"Um...check my husband first! He’s already this sick now, please think of something to save him."
The family member’s gaze flickered, clearly not prepared to follow Zhou Can’s advice.
Zhou Can refrained from urging further and turned to Yu Xin, as arranging the examination was definitely her responsibility.
Since the patient was under her management.
She still had some doubts about Zhou Can’s diagnosis.
However, requesting a complete blood count for the patient and collecting a stool sample for Salmonella was not difficult.
The costs of the tests were not high, had diagnostic value for the illness, and posed no major harm to the patient; usually, there wasn’t much need for consideration.
It could be requested directly.
Zhou Can decided not to dwell on this matter and returned to his office to discuss the surgical plan for the patient in bed 71 with Director Shang.
As long as Director Shang approved, Zhou Can would be responsible for proceeding with the surgery.
Having nothing else to do, he began to study the cases within his department.
Patients in internal medicine share certain commonalities with surgical cases, many of which require surgery to resolve.
This was different from his initial belief that most could be managed with medication.
No wonder, surgeons were saying life was getting harder after the development of endoscopic surgery. The increased competition was inevitable.
Around ten o’clock, Director Shang hadn’t returned to the office and was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, Dr. Yu Xin excitedly ran into the office and approached Zhou Can proactively.
"Dr. Zhou, Dr. Zhou, the results are in, it’s really an acute Salmonella infection." Her usual aloof expression had disappeared, replaced by excitement and exhilaration.
For any doctor, identifying the cause of a patient’s illness is incredibly exhilarating,
especially in the case of such sudden, unexpected events.
[Pathology Diagnosis Experience Points +1.]
[You have successfully diagnosed a case with relatively high hidden difficulty; reward Pathology Diagnosis Experience Points +10.]
Experience point rewards are not always 100.
Sometimes surgeries are complex, or the diagnostic difficulty of the condition isn’t extremely high; only 10 experience points are rewarded.
"Poisonous chicken soup hurts people!"
Zhou Can was not surprised by the test results.
He appeared very composed after hearing the results.
As for the 10 Pathology Experience Points earned, having been accustomed to the high rewards of 100 points, he did not feel much.
"Um... do you have experience treating this disease? Maybe you could teach me."
She was biting her lip and hesitated as she spoke.
Unquestionably, Zhou Can’s successful diagnosis of the patient’s condition had greatly elevated his medical standing in her eyes.
She was now completely adopting the attitude of a student seeking guidance from a teacher.
"To treat a Salmonella infection, it essentially involves symptomatic treatment and therapeutic actions against the pathogen. For ordinary patients, you could handle the medical orders yourself. However, given that this patient just underwent major surgery, his overall physical condition isn’t great. To be safe, it’s best you immediately report to your senior doctors. Since the cause has been identified, reporting to Director Shang wouldn’t result in any demerits."