The plague

The shack was dark due to a lack of windows, making the place seem a lot smaller and more claustrophobic. Cara had to spend some time to let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting inside, which was really just a few candles placed around the room.

Cara walked around the shack, going from bed to bed. She moved slowly, observing the signs and symptoms that the patients were experiencing.

The age of the patients were all varied, as there were both the young and old. So she deduced that the illness likely had to do with the environment than immunity. Since all symptoms displayed were similar, it must have came from the same source.

Most of them had diarrhoea and were defecating straight into a bowl through a hole in the middle of the bed. They all looked severely dehydrated. Others were vomiting into metal bowls beneath the beds as well.

The strong putrid odour stank up the whole place and Cara cleared her throat in an attempt to not puke from the smell. It had been a long time since she had been in such an unsanitary place.

The young girl which gave her water came up to her again. "Master, about 70 people have died so far in our village, and the neighbouring villages are almost wiped out. We have burnt the corpses to prevent further spreading of disease." the young girl reported.

Before Cara could say a thing, a voice interrupted from across the room. "Chang Ying! I need another pot to vomit in" shouted a voice from afar.

"Got it, coming!" the young girl shouted back and immediately rushed over.

"So that's her name..." Cara sighed in relief. At least she didn't have to ask for the girl's name now. It would have been a weird situation considering how well acquainted they seemed to be.

She walked closer to the patients who were looking very pale and sickly. Looking at the villagers' symptoms once more, she was 99% sure that they had cholera. It was something she had studied about and experienced in her previous medical trip to Haiti during the 2010 earthquake.

Cara almost felt a sigh of relief when she came to that diagnosis. It was scary not having any medical equipment on hand or modern medicine. Luckily, this illness did not require medical equipment to diagnose, nor did it require a special medicine or antibiotic to treat.

It was an illness caused by drinking unclean water, likely from a dirty source contaminated by fecal matter. Cholera is a treatable disease in the 21st century - as long as the patient gets medical attention. Sounds stupid but the cure was simply to keep drinking water to replenish the lost body fluids!

Back in the past though, the people didn't know this and thought that the illness spread through contact. As such, they imposed heavy quarantines to ensure that the healthy did not become sick.

If it was a more serious epidemic like SARS, Ebola or the coronavirus, it would have been a pain in the ass to treat.

Now all that was left to confirm was the source of the illness.

"Chang Ying, come over for a minute!" She shouted to the young girl. Chang Ying nodded and rushed over upon hearing her name.

"These patients... I notice they have diarrhea very frequently and vomit a lot until they eventually pass away? Is that right?" Cara asked.

"Yes doctor, we don't know what's the cause and no one has found a cure yet." Chang Ying replied her.

"Are there any main wells in this town?" Cara asked.

Chang Ying looked at Cara quizzedly, wondering why she would ask a question about a town she grew up in and knew so well.

"There are two public wells but we have a private one at the back of our infirmary." Chang Ying responded.

Cara noticed the confused look on Chang Ying's face but just nodded.

Cara explained her suspicion that the public wells had been tainted, and she would go test out the water from the well in the infirmary. She thanked Chang Ying and headed outside yet again.