SD241903.01 | A case of lurgy [Pt. 1]

Posted on Wed Apr 17th, 2019 @ 6:39pm by Commander Torhild Jessen & Lieutenant Commander Sarah Jordan

2,575 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: The Sincerest Form of Flattery
Location: Sickbay

Tori sat on the couch in her quarters. The lights were low and she had adjusted the internal thermostat so the room was a rather balmy 85 degrees, yet the slight form of Astrid still shivered in her arms, despite being cocooned in a blanket. Leaning down, Tori brushed her lips over the little girl's forehead, feeling her skin burning under the touch.

"Computer, what's the time?"

"It is currently zero one thirty seven," came the monotone reply.

"Alright little one, I think it's time we go see the doctor," she said quietly, bundling the child up carefully in her arms.

Though it wasn't a long walk to sickbay, it felt like it had taken a small eternity as Tori carried the whimpering child.

As soon as they stepped into the brightly lit sickbay, Astrid turned her face into Tori's arms, her whimpering increasing as she tried to hide her face from the lights.

Glancing around the room anxiously, Tori's gaze fell on the doctor she had seen herself just days earlier. "Lieutenant Jordan isn't it?" she called.

"That's correct, I like to be a little less formal though, so you can call me Sarah" she replied, she took note of the child wrapped up amongst Tori's arms, Sarah continued "You here with the little one today?" as she signalled for the child to be put on the bed.

"Let's do something about these lights too," she said as she observed the clear discomfort produced by the bright lights. "Computer, reduce lighting to 60 percent", which was met with "Lights reduced to 60 percent" was heard from the monotone voice of the computer.

"What's been going on then, why are we here with this adorable little one?" Sarah questioned

Settling her onto the biobed, Tori tucked her favourite blanket around Astrid and stepped back slightly to let the doctor get in. "She came home from class yesterday ago complaining of a headache. Today the sitter had to collect her from class early because she had a temperature and wasn't feeling well, the sitter bought her into sickbay and they gave her a mild analgesic and she seemed to pick up, but now her temperature won't come down, she's shivering and she keeps complaining she hurts everywhere, especially her eyes. She's a kid, I know kids get sick, but this just doesn't seem like the normal class room viruses she usually comes home with."

"Hmm, I see... and let's have a look at her then." Sarah tapped away at the console over the biobed, beginning the assessments, Sarah looked "She sure is cooking, a temperature of 40.3, so definitely an infection going on here..." She awaited the results before entertaining the child to make her stay a little more bearable. "We'll check everything over, she may have to stay in for a day or two whilst we run tests."

Sarah asked a med tech to try and get a sample of blood from Astrid, as she didn't want to be seen as 'bad' to the child, and wanted to be the friendly doctor. She prepared a hypospray with an antipyretic and pain reliever, Sarah moved closer to Astrid, tickling her neck near the injection site to reduce sensation before giving the hypospray quickly.

Astrid felt nothing, as Sarah retreated, she spoke to Tori to get more information. "Sorry to barrage you with questions but, when did she start developing these symptoms? Anyone else been ill in the family? Where has she been the last few days?" She paused as she waited for Tori to answer, taking notes as she did.

"It's only the two of us," Tori replied. "But I've been fine. Just tired. I got home about six last night after I finished my shift, the sitter had already bathed her and it was as I was tucking her into bed that she complained of a headache. I didn't think much of it, she seemed to settle okay after I turned out the lights and sang her lullaby. She only got worse today. The sitter had to pick her up from class around eleven am and she called me around 2pm to go back to my quarters." Tori paused for a moment. "We haven't been anywhere except on the station. She's either in class or in our quarters and I'm either at work or in our quarters. Occasionally we go to the promenade together and get ice cream or chocolate shakes... oh, and the other day we were down with the refugees. We took them some toys and Astrid was playing with the kids there for a while."

Sarah nodded to herself as she acknowledged the information she'd been given. "Ok, I mean there's no reports of anything like this elsewhere and not with the refugees either, so maybe it is just a bad viral infection? We'll find out for sure" she smiled, providing reassurance to the mother and child.

Sarah kneeled down as she got on the same eye level with Astrid, she gave a smile and began "Hello there little one, how are you feeling?"

The Med Tech enters the room, nodding to Sarah came back with a preliminary result from the blood test, Atrid had heightened white blood cell levels, increased lactate and reduced cell oxygenation. Sarah looked at the results and was mildly baffled by the appearance of the child, and the results she had infront of her... "She has a very bad infection according to these tests results, and she shouldn't even be looking as well as she does... We're going to treat with some wide-spectrum IV antibiotics alongside oxygen therapy. Does that sound ok to you, Tori?" Sarah asked as she looked at the Medical Technician and asked them to ensure a more thorough analysis of the blood sample was done and to compare it to previous samples if needed.

The Medical Tech nodded, and headed back off into the distance.

Tori looked up, slightly confused. "That makes it sound like it's pretty bad," she said softly, her hand resting against her daughter's forehead. "What kind of infection? Where?"

She looked at the concerned parent, unsure of what to say in response... "So, back in historic medicine we called it Septicaemia and it's where the infection has spread to the blood, we've not seen it in years because we've managed to immunise most infections and common day illnesses, and with the boosters that Star Fleet officers and family get, they have an extra resilliance to infections. There's not one given source I can identify at the moment but one thing is for sure, it's an aggressive infection but we should be fine to treat it. We're running blood tests to find out what specific antibiotics to give, but until then we're going to treat with a wide-spectrum variety of antibiotics to start the treatment early." she paused to let Tori absorb the information before continuing "Has she had a cold, flu, coughing? Has she been going to the toilet fine? I know these are crude questions but it may indicate where the infection is based? Did she complain of pain anywhere other than a headache?" she stopped to allow time for Tori to answer.

"No, nothing at all, just a headache, and then her eyes hurt with the bright light." Tori looked across at the doctor. "All her vaccinations are up to date, I've always kept on top of that. She's not had any problems, even when she didn't want to eat, I asked her if her tummy hurt and she said she just wasn't hungry." There was a look of clear confusion on Tori's face.

"Hmm, ok then... I see.." she replied as she took notes down. "I think we'll have to do a full body scan and getting a few samples such as a lumbar puncture to get a more definitive answer to where this infection is based, and once we've done that we can start treating her with specific treatment for her infection... How does that sound?" Sarah asked.

"I... uh..." Tori glanced from the doctor to her daughter. "I guess so," she finally conceded softly, her voice heavy with worry.

"I know it's a lot to take in, I'm sorry... We'll keep you informed on everything we're doing... When you say her eyes hurt with the bright light, was it her head that hurt more or her eyes?" She administered a sedative to Astrid to relax her during the upcoming procedure. Sarah rolled Astrid onto her side and withdrew a lumbar puncture sample, completing this she rolled the child back onto her back and began a full and thorough indepth scan using the biobed. She grabbed her medical tri-corder and initiated a neurological scan.

"I don't know, she just said the light made her eyes hurt so I kept the lights out." Tori scooted the chair closer to Astrid, holding her little hands tightly as the doctor worked, softly singing her favourite lullaby even if she probably couldn't hear it. She didn't know what else to do.

Sure, Astrid had been sick before, she'd had all kinds of coughs and colds and viruses, it was part of being a child... but during none of them had she ever felt quite this out of her depth.

"Hmm, that's helpful... I've got an idea but the blood tests should rule it out as it was eradicated decades ago" Sarah said with a smile, confident in what she just said.

Sarah looked up from the lightly sedated child and saw the Med Technician standing there, "Sarah, you should see these results." said Gordon, "They're indicating meningococcal septicaemia, but it's different...", Sarah looked up at Gordon confused "What? That was eradicated decades ago... Send the results to my PADD please, I'll review them in a moment." Sarah looked at the child to confirm there was no rashes or other symptoms, the child had none... Sarah picked up her PADD and reviewed the results.

She looked ever more confused, the Technician was right and it did show early signs of meningitis... But how? How had a child, nowhere near earth, managed to contract a bacterial infection that had been eradicated decades ago?

As Sarah was about to speak, she was approached by another Doctor, "Dr Jordan", said the almost angelic soft voice of Dr Angela Froser. "Can I run something by you quickly please?" as she walked towards Sarah, she replied "Sure," she looked at Tori "If I may just excuse myself for a moment", they walked over out of ear-shot of Tori and Astrid. A conversation was exchanged, but inaudible.

Tori, if she had looked, would have seen two doctors discussing an obviously peculiar case and seeing something that had obviously confused the two doctors. After a few minutes, Sarah walked back to Astrid and Tori, took a seat next to Tori and took a deep breath, as Dr Froser walked off into a different direction back to her own patient.

"So, as I said I would I'd keep you in the loop. We have another child, around the same age as Astrid who's reporting the same signs and symptoms. We're trying to find out the similarities in the two cases, as there may be something important between the two. Dr Froser will be coming back to be soon with the answers to a few questions I had." Sarah took another breath, looking at Tori "You say she was with the refugees the other day, did she happen to mention anything to you? Was anyone of them unwell or anything?" she asked, trying to get an understanding of the situation.

"No, they all seemed fine, none of the refugee children appeared sick at all." Tori glanced away from Astrid, looking around the room quickly. "Could this be something from the classroom? You said the other child was about Astrid's age, are they in the same class?"

"I think so, the other girl is called Kinsley. Does that name sound familiar to you at all?" she asked.

Tori closed her eyes for a moment. "Kinsley... Kinsley... I think her last name is James? She's little, blonde hair, green eyes... she's a cheeky little thing, I think her Dad is in Engineering? Astrid plays with her at school all the time, half the pictures I have that come home are of the two of them together." She took a deep breath and looked toward Sarah. "Is Kinsley this bad too?"

"That's the one," replied Sarah "She's probably just as bad as Astrid here, if not a little worse. She came in a few hours before yourselves and until now the other Doctor has been clueless how to fight it as she too, got the same results we have. We're thinking that this may be a new virus yet to spread, and we're going to start working on an antidote as soon as we can figure out what's causing it and where it's coming from.".

Sarah took a breath and continued "I think Astrid will be with us for a day or two, whilst we investigate this. Would you like me to request the captain relieve you of duties until Astrid is better?"

Tori nodded slightly. "I can't leave here here when she's unwell," she said quietly. She sighed softly, reaching out and touching her daughter's face, brushing hair back from her damp forehead. "Is there any chance you can get me a data PaDD? I can at least send some orders through for the rest of the team while I'm here."

“That’s fine” stated Sarah, “I’ll let him know in a moment.”

At that moment, Gordon returned back to medical bay with another set of results. He got the attention of Sarah and passed her the PADD. She examined the results which showed elevated white blood cells and had a note from the officer reviewing the sample. It read “There’s a slight change to genetic make up, it is altering the bodies immune response to the old meningococcal septicaemia. It’s enhancing the virus instead of fighting it.”

Sarah looked, fidgeted with her hair and then placed the PADD down after reading it in-depth. She replied “hmm, intriguing indeed. How are we to fight this then?” To which she was met by a response from Gordon where he simply shrug his shoulders. “I think we may have to compare with the other child and see if her results are the same and go from there, luckily we only have two cases of this for now, let’s hope we don’t get...” She was interrupted by a coughing child entering sick bay, the child’s mother Ensign Julie Roberts within science, reported the same symptoms Astrid and Kinsley had just hours prior.

“I spoke too soon” Sarah sighed, before assigning a doctor to the newly walked in patient. She asked the doctor to report findings to her.

Sarah looked at Astrid, before administering specialised antibiotics to help fight the infection she had. She looked to Tori, “We’re sorry, were trying to investigate this as quickly as we can. We’ve never encountered this before...” Sarah attempted to reassure Tori as best as she could before she turned to walk back towards her office, to study the infection further. "If you need anything else, just shout for someone who will come and grab me"



^== End of Log ==^


Sarah Jordan
Medical Officer
Starbase Versailes

&

Lieutenant Commander Torhild Jessen
Chief Science Officer
Starbase Versailles

 

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