Academy Life part 2

Posted on Sat Sep 23rd, 2017 @ 6:08pm by

Mission: A Day in the Life
Location: Academy Centre - lecture centre
Timeline: several hours after part one

Authors: Dr Winter Summers, Dr Wytara Barlow & her escorts & dogs.

“Schistosomiasis.” Dr Winter Summers broke the chatter as she entered the conference room. “Also known as Bilharzia or Snail Fever.” Walking down the stairs to the podium she took her place behind the rostrum. “Schistosomes are parasitic worms of which there are five species that affect Humans. These worms carried in freshwater snails were discovered in 1851 by a pathologist called Theodor Bilharz, after whom the disease is named.”

“How did the patient come in contact with it?” One of the Starbase 332 medical nurses asked, somehow it turned out she not only had cadets, but assigned medical staff, as well as science staff and others as well, Winter guessed separating her lectures into open and cadets had both a good and bad side. Not that she cared how many people she had in her lectures, if they learnt something, and now she knew why her lectures had been moved to one of the larger lecture rooms. “It's not as if we have snails sliding the walls.”

“Water becomes infected when infected people excrete into it. The eggs hatch and make their way into freshwater snails, where they infect swimmers by penetrating the skin. They grow inside the blood of the hosts, produce eggs some are excreted by the host and can find their way into new hosts by penetrating their skin. The eggs that remain in the original host build up and cause damage to the tissues of the intestines, bladder and other organs. Because there haven't been many major outbreaks in areas outside tropical and subtropical regions such as South and Central America, Africa, Asia and Southeast Asia, it isn't something that general medical is looking for and expecting. As at 2016 there are an estimated 200 million people infected on Earth, and with space travel now an everyday experience that number has increased. That means snails don't have to be sliding along the walls for people to catch it.”

“So, there's no cure?” One of the doctor's asked. “I tried to look up some of your lecture topics on the Starbase's computers, but all I got was that it was extinct.”

“Excuse me for interrupting...”

All heads turned towards the back of the lecture hall, then back to Winter. “For those of you who don't know our interrupter, she is Dr Wytara Barlow, officially down as Security and Tactical Instructor and her attached protectors, for those of you who haven't signed up for both her cadet or open sessions, I'd recommend them. Wytara.”

“You had to do that didn't you?” Wytara shook her head. “We're aware that there is missing information in all of Starfleet's computers, new manuals are currently being written as a lot of previously extinct diseases are coming back, which means new manuals. You will be issued with larger storage PADDS, and you'll be able to take them to the Academy Reception Computers to transfer the associated information from the computers to your new PADDs. Think of each lecture as pages of new manuals. It was decided by UFOP and Starfleet Academy that unless you attend the lecture you won't get the new information. This isn't only happening here, it's happening everywhere. Crews from various ships will be incoming to be updated, over a period of time. Specialists who have been involved in writing new manuals or papers will be absconded to give lectures. Anything labelled open is exactly that. Anything labelled Cadet Only is for Cadets and There will also be lectures labelled Command, Specialists, Civilians and Marines, however if there are spaces, open will be added.”

“And on that aspect we say goodbye to our fellow Instructor, and back to where we were.” Winter gave Wytara a wave, and turned back to the topic at hand. “A rash will appear a few days after being infected, however the rash may not be picked up or even reported. The longer a person is infected the more unwell they will feel, and logic dictates they would report it, however it is difficult to estimate how many people die from it, because the complications that lead to death will often disguise a diagnosis of schistosomiasis. The answer to your question James is will modern drugs replacing drugs such as Praziquantel, Oxamniquine and Metrifonate kill the worms and undo the damage the disease has done, no, in most cases only those who don't come forward at the first rash stage will die.”

“Won't an autopsy give a diagnosis?”

“No.” Winter continued. “Most autopsies are done after a period of time has passed, which is to the benefit of the worms. Tricorders are not programmed to pick up the eggs or the worms. We're talking about a disease which was identified in 1851, many areas of the medical and science fraternity believe its dead or no longer in existence. That along with the fact they forget about histories infectious diseases, and automatically believe they are no longer a threat, only adds to the death toll. The fact we had eight cases on the USS Bonnells Bay, gave us a reason to do blood tests and identify one hundred and seventy two other infected cases, all of whom are now on one of the newly created drugs.”

“There was one hundred and seventy two infected people on the ship?”

“And while we no longer produce drugs such as Praziquantel, Oxamniquine and Metrifonate, we have found their genetic make up, and chemists are attempting to duplicate them.”

“Attempting?”

“Attempting.” Winter nodded. “They all have missing ingredients, that so far we've been unable to produce, nor have we been able to find any current drugs which match the missing ones. Basically, our historical historians used too many antibiotics for conditions they didn't need to use antibiotics for. Now, despite what UFOP and Starfleet says, diseases which were extinct are coming back, and what was used to deal with them aren't available too us. Which is why you're all going to be the first on 332 to be tested. For anyone who has a blood phobia, grit your teeth, because since our tricorders aren't programmed for these so called extinct conditions, you'll have blood taken and the samples will go to the science labs. You've just given them the first of a hell of a lot of work, lets hope there are pathologists who know how to test blood the old way.”

“And if there isn't?”

“Aren't you lucky to have Instructors who know how to take them back.” Winter smiled. “So, at the end of each row you have a nurse or a trained cadet, who is going to take your blood, identify it, and secure it, from there it will be frozen and transported to the Science Labs. Your Science Instructor is there at the moment, waiting and going to insure all the pathology work is done according to protocol.”

“And if anyone has it?”

“We are going to try a variety of drugs that we have. I never said my lectures were going to be nice.” Winter answered.

“If we have it, do we get told?”

“If you want to be told. We found on BB that there were only eight cases, who had organ damage.”