Chapter 472: Accelerating Vaccine Research with Magic - A Hospital in Another World?

"What? The smallpox virus can’t infect cows?"

The eyes of several archmages lit up.

If it can’t infect, that means this path is incorrect; it means that using this method to develop a cowpox vaccine either won’t work, or...

Or, God knows what will come out of it.

If the Radiant Church really fell into this pit, then... that would be great!

But the problem is—

"Can’t?"

"Are you sure?"

"How do you know?"

"Why?"

Eight committee members, along with Archmage Edgar, burst out almost simultaneously. Garrett’s smiling face froze, and cold sweat broke out:

Oh no!

I spoke too quickly!

Smallpox and cowpox are not the same virus—wait, this world hasn’t even established the concept of "virus"—and, smallpox cannot infect cows, it’s just because the two viruses have a similar structure, so the antibodies produced after cowpox infection can also fight smallpox—

This world doesn’t have the concept of "antibodies" either!

There’s no way to explain it!

Kill me now!

"I’m sure! Carlos has done experiments!"

Garrett quickly responded.

Thank goodness, Carlos’ experimental records show that he has conducted experiments in this area...

This young necromancer, in the process of searching for cowpox, tried to infect cows with the pustules from smallpox patients. Of course, he failed dozens of times.

With these records, it was enough to counter the archmages’ skepticism.

As for why...

"Why I don’t know. Anyway, the experimental results look like this!"

Garrett, suppressing his guilt, replied with a chest-thumping confidence. His logic might not be sound, but his demeanor was strong:

Well, knowledge of this world starts with observation and then delves deeper into principles. I’m not the only one who knows only the appearance and not the reason!

This explanation was widely accepted. Then, Garrett witnessed the spectacle of the war machine starting up:

"How many cows do you need?—Start with 20? No problem! By tomorrow night, everything including the cowshed, hay, and the caretakers will be delivered!"

"How many rabid dogs? Ten for the first batch? No problem! And 100 rabbits? A magical formation for operating cryogenics? It’ll be ready by 8 o’clock tonight!"

"Need operators? No problem, we’ll start with ten apprentices from the plague branch, and call more if needed!"

"Need subjects? Just tell the city hall, and we’ll allocate 100 prisoners right away!"

"Need to expand the research institute? Need to build a house? No problem, I’ll call people from the transmutation division, they’ll be here this afternoon!"

At the command of the review committee, everything from budget forms to personnel and materials was arranged for Garrett. As for himself, he only needed to focus on one thing:

Writing papers.

Planning experiments.

Papers on human vaccines are very easy to write. Garrett gave a direction, a plan, tossed it out, and immediately an unknown apprentice from the plague school threw himself into it—

There’s already a ready-made topic!

There’s already a basic structure!

It could even guarantee publication, and the journal wouldn’t be low-tier!

Just need to thoroughly research and fill in the content, where else could you find such a good deal?

Apprentices like them struggle for a year without producing a single paper!

Other apprentices looked on with envy and jealousy. Garrett clapped his hands:

"Don’t fight, don’t fight! Everyone, work well on the project, and whoever contributes more will definitely be the second or third author!"

Well, things like rabies attenuated vaccines really need papers and experimental data to be published. Garrett, keep it up!

Of course, before starting the development, Garrett still needed to teach these apprentices how to obtain rabid brains, spinal cords, and so forth...

"Put on protective gear! Wash your hands! Wear gloves! If you get a cut, come to me immediately for a healing spell! Don’t let the rabid dog’s saliva contaminate the cut!"

Thank goodness this world has healing spells. If not, an apprentice who accidentally cuts himself would have to leave immediately and couldn’t participate in the development until healed...

And, thankfully, these are necromancer apprentices, all experienced in dissection. If it were those from the sculpting or curse school, Garrett would be very worried, even having to start teaching them how to hold a scalpel.

Necromancers are really useful.

Necromancers are indeed the closest to surgeons.

Of course, aseptic operation still needs to be taught from scratch...

Garrett divided the rabies group’s apprentices into three teams, each with three members, dealing separately with rabid brains, spinal cords, and saliva.

Inject directly; inject after natural drying;

inject after drying with [Thirsty Touch]; inject after natural freezing, inject after freezing with [Frost Beam], inject after freeze-drying...

Then, observe the condition of the rabbits.

"Sir, the rabbits are fine!"

"Sir, my rabbits are also doing well!"

"Sir, are we using the wrong method? Should we let the rabid dogs bite the rabbits directly?"

A flood of questions suddenly surged toward Garrett. Garrett remained calm:

"Don’t rush, the disease doesn’t manifest that quickly."

"Don’t rush, there’s an incubation period."

"Let the rabid dogs bite the rabbits? Are you joking? The rabbits will be dead from the bites before they even show symptoms!"

Wait...

Garrett suddenly paused.

Back in the day, Pasteur spent five years developing the rabies vaccine, with a lot of time spent on virus iteration.

But, in this magical world, could it be accelerated?

"Bring a few infected rabbits over!" he called out loudly. Soon, a row of rabbit cages was moved in front of Garrett, and he recalled the relevant spell models:

"Pestilence Spell!"

"…Sir, this rabbit seems off!"

Garrett breathed a sigh of relief.

Among the necromancy spells, there’s a specific Pestilence Spell that can infect healthy subjects with disease or accelerate the onset of disease.

Although it’s a harmful spell, it’s just right for this use.

"Wait for the rabbits to die from the disease, then use their extracts to infect new rabbits, and observe naturally to see if they will get sick!"

If they do get sick, it means the [Pestilence Spell] indeed sped up the rabies disease process without introducing other diseases.

Following this, all the diseased rabbits can be accelerated this way!

Fortunately, after five or six days, the second iteration of diseased rabbits all showed symptoms of rabies. Once this was confirmed, Garrett’s vaccine development took on wings of speed.

"Pestilence Spell!"

"This one is no good, take it for dissection!"

"This one seems to have a lighter disease..."

"Select those that appear to have a lighter disease, continue injecting, continue iterating!"

"That... Sir, can we eat these rabbits?"

"…"

While theoretically they could be eaten if cooked thoroughly, what if a student doesn’t cook them long enough, or they’re not done properly? What if the person eating has gingivitis?

Garrett decisively kicked them all out:

"Burn them all! Experiment animals infected with the disease are not to be eaten!"

---------------

Your invaluable feedback and ratings mean the world to me. Please take a moment to rate this novel at Novelupdate.

If you come across any mistakes within this chapter, kindly notify me in the comments below, so that I can make the necessary corrections.