Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 530: Chapter 530: Intelligence Hint

Li Xu examined him carefully.

The little boy was less than a meter tall and looked like a three-year-old toddler.

Under normal circumstances, a five-year-old should be about 1.1 meters tall and weigh around 18 kilograms.

But... looking at his condition, forget 18 kilograms. Li Xu felt... the child would be lucky to even weigh 10.

His ribs were clearly visible, one by one, yet his belly was distended. His limbs were as thin as sticks.

But what was most striking was his head.

It was swollen, as if it had been forcibly pumped full of water. It was a whole size larger than a normal child’s, with a protruding forehead. There were even signs that his fontanelle had not fully closed.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this condition is called a "separating skull."

It refers to a disease caused by an excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain’s ventricular system due to various factors. This leads to increased intracranial pressure, compression of brain tissue, and ventricular enlargement, potentially causing brain dysfunction. In Western medicine, it’s known as hydrocephalus.

As the little boy breathed, his mouth was slightly agape, revealing his teeth.

His teeth were sparse, small, yellowed and blackened. They were poorly developed, and some had even begun to fall out.

Li Xu frowned slightly. "His head... was he born like this?"

The woman shook her head. "No... he was fine at first. He was a big, healthy baby when he was born. Everyone said how handsome he was. It was only after he turned two that he started getting thinner and thinner. No matter what he ate, he couldn’t gain any weight."

"Then his head just kept getting bigger... We thought it was a sign he was smart, but later we realized something was wrong."

Li Xu sank into thought. ’Acquired hydrocephalus?’

Typically, acquired hydrocephalus is a secondary condition caused by abnormalities in cerebrospinal fluid circulation resulting from things like traumatic brain injury, intracranial infections, or brain tumors.

But...

According to the test reports, none of those diseases were present.

Although the head CT and MRI showed enlarged ventricles, they revealed no space-occupying lesions or clear signs of infection.

This was strange.

Li Xu couldn’t help but feel conflicted, his brow furrowing even deeper.

’What should I do?’

The child was still asleep, whimpering from time to time as if having a nightmare.

This rare and bizarre illness was giving Li Xu a headache.

This was completely outside the scope of conventional diagnosis and treatment.

’What on earth is going on?’

After a moment of hesitation, Li Xu placed his fingers on the child’s wrist to carefully feel for his pulse.

The boy’s condition, while exhibiting features of a "separating skull" and the "five flaccidities" (softness of the head, neck, hands, feet, and mouth), somewhat resembled the "five delays."

The so-called "five delays" is a concept in traditional medical theory referring to developmental delays in children, specifically in the five areas of standing, walking, hair growth, teeth eruption, and speech.

Traditional Chinese Medicine posits that a series of symptoms leading to developmental delay can be caused by an insufficient congenital constitution, such as from premature or difficult birth, resulting in a deficiency of essence and an underdeveloped brain. It can also stem from a lack of postnatal care, leading to weak internal organs and flaccid, feeble muscles and bones.

But... according to the woman, the boy had been mostly normal before the age of two.

’How did he end up like this?’

Clearly, the possibility of it being a congenital case of the "five delays" was slim.

This looked more like an acquired, progressive, wasting disease.

As Li Xu felt the pulse, he found it hollow and empty under his fingertips—a clear sign of deficiency. It was difficult to even feel a beat.

The weak pulsation was like a candle flickering in the wind, threatening to go out at any moment.

This was truly strange.

The weaker the pulse, the more deficient the body’s healthy qi, but this also allowed the pathogenic factor to hide deeper.

This made it even harder for Li Xu to locate the source of the illness through the pulse alone.

This was going to be difficult.

Just then, a nurse came in with a list of hospitalization fees, intending to check on their previous outstanding balance.

When the woman saw the list, she shot up as if pricked by a needle and said frantically, "Don’t worry, my husband went to borrow money. He’ll be back soon."

"We definitely won’t short you."

"Even if we have to sell our blood, we’ll get you the money. We’ll never default on the bill."

After his examination, Li Xu still couldn’t find the cause.

However, he wasn’t disappointed.

He believed that tomorrow’s intel would surely provide the answer.

So, Li Xu reassured the woman, telling her he would go back and study the case.

After returning, Li Xu first searched through some ancient medical texts, but found no clues.

He could only wait for the intel to refresh.

With the case weighing on his mind, Li Xu stayed up until midnight.

The intel refreshed as scheduled.

[Today’s Intel: Zhao Chunxiang was infected with HIV while selling blood. Her son was infected through breast milk and has now developed a concurrent case of central nervous system cryptococcosis. The detailed treatment plan is as follows: ...]

"It’s actually..."

Li Xu stared at the words on the screen, silent for a long time.

AIDS.

That dreaded word had descended upon this impoverished family without any warning.

Yesterday, when he heard Zhao Chunxiang mention "selling blood," he hadn’t thought much of it.

He never expected this to be the cause.

Everything was normal before the age of two, then the illness suddenly manifested.

And Zhao Chunxiang had gone to sell blood to make ends meet right around that time.

It all made sense now.

But there’s always a way out.

The system not only gave him the intel but also provided a detailed treatment plan.

Li Xu now had a solid plan.

He went to bed.

...

The next day, Li Xu returned to the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Lin Guorui was already waiting outside the ward. Seeing Li Xu, he asked anxiously, "Doctor Li, how did your research go yesterday? Did you make any headway?"

Li Xu didn’t rush to state his conclusion. After all, he couldn’t just say, "I have a system that told me it’s AIDS."

He needed to guide everyone to think in that direction and run the right tests.

Walking into the ward, he saw Zhao Chunxiang wiping her child’s face, her movements as gentle as if she were polishing a fragile piece of porcelain.

When she saw Li Xu enter, she quickly stood up, wringing her hands nervously. "Doctor Li, you’re here."

Li Xu nodded, gesturing for her to sit down.

The surrounding doctors and nurses also gathered around, eager to hear Li Xu’s expert opinion.

"Ma’am, I’d like to ask you one more question."

Li Xu looked at Zhao Chunxiang, his tone serious. "Yesterday, you said you had sold blood before?"

Everyone was taken aback, wondering why Doctor Li was so fixated on this question.

Selling blood?

What direct connection could that have to the child’s strange illness?

Zhao Chunxiang became fidgety, her eyes darting away. "I... back then... I didn’t know any better..."

"I didn’t do it on purpose. We just couldn’t put food on the table."

"A lot of people from the village were doing it back then, so I went along for a while. It... it was just like that. They’d draw a vial of blood for a few dozen yuan."

In our country, the buying and selling of blood is strictly illegal.

But the underworld behind it runs deep.

Those underground blood stations, driven by profit, have abysmal sanitary conditions.

Unsterilized needles are reused, and sometimes several people even share a single centrifuge to separate plasma before their red blood cells are reinfused... Such practices are a breeding ground for viruses.

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