Liu Banxia, although he didn't press the gas pedal to the tank, was extremely anxious.

When he arrived at the hospital, it was 3:08 a.m. Actually, he woke up much earlier than yesterday.

"Routine blood tests show no significant abnormalities, and the ECG is normal," said Wang Chao, who was waiting in the lobby.

"What about the blood culture? Has it tested positive yet?" Liu Banxia asked.

Wang Chao shook his head, "Not yet, and the heart sounds are also normal upon auscultation."

"Let's start with some Levofloxacin and see if it has any effect. It feels like an infection by some bacteria. Otherwise, it wouldn't recur so quickly, and the fever wouldn't spike so high," Liu Banxia said.

"I'll go get dressed. By the way, is the patient still conscious? What methods are used for reducing the fever? How effective are they?"

"We've used an ice blanket, but the effect isn't ideal. It's only reduced by less than a degree," Wang Chao replied.

Liu Banxia nodded, put on his white coat, mask, and gloves, and followed Wang Chao to the ward.

The patient's condition was indeed not good, and he was experiencing some chills. This wasn't because of the cooling effect of the ice blanket but rather a symptom reaction in high-fever patients.

"Doctor, what's wrong with Dawei? What illness does he have?" the patient's mother asked worriedly.

"Please don't worry, let me examine him thoroughly." Liu Banxia comforted her briefly and then began examining the patient.

This time he was very meticulous. He not only listened to the heart and lung sounds but also performed a detailed manual examination. He did not feel any enlarged lymph nodes, but what kind of infection caused this high fever?

"Let's do a chest CT to see if there's any new change in the lungs," Liu Banxia said after finishing the examination.

Wang Chao didn't delay and directly followed Liu Banxia pushing the hospital bed out.

He was actually quite anxious; the patient's current condition was beyond his control.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have called Liu Banxia in the middle of the night; after all, this was a patient that Liu Banxia had particularly instructed him about, and he didn't expect any real changes.

"Is this the newly arrived emergency patient?" Wu Bo from the Radiology Department asked curiously.

"We did an X-ray this afternoon, and it didn't show anything. In the evening, the fever got worse, so we're checking if there are any lung changes," Liu Banxia replied.

"It seems quite serious," Wu Bo frowned.

Clearly, the patient's symptoms are accelerating; otherwise, Liu Banxia wouldn't have rushed over from his home. Although he's not a physician, this patient's condition might be pretty tricky.

Although the CT scan was done quickly, Liu Banxia was still somewhat anxious waiting. As soon as the images were displayed, he watched without blinking.

"I can't see any lesions," Wu Bo said after watching for a while.

"That's the problem; the symptoms show some upper respiratory infection and pneumonia signs. With the current fever, I can only suspect a bacterial infection, so I've given Levofloxacin to see if it works," Liu Banxia said.

He was also feeling quite anxious; the patient's symptoms were worsening, but he couldn't identify the cause.

There could only be a rough judgment that the patient was infected. But where is the source?

Based on the patient's self-report and earlier examinations, the infection was thought to be in the upper respiratory tract and lungs, but none of the scans showed any lesions. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Please carefully recall if, during this time at home, he mentioned feeling uncomfortable somewhere," Liu Banxia placed his hopes on the patient's family.

The patient's mother shook her head, "He just caught a cold, and it's not getting better. Medication isn't helping, so he came to the hospital for a check-up."

"Has he gone to any places where infectious outbreaks occurred?" Liu Banxia continued to ask.

"No, he's just been at school and then came home during the holiday," the patient's mother said.

"Doctor, what's wrong with Dawei? Why is he so feverish? Do we need more tests? Should we try different medication? Such high fever isn't good; he could get brain damage,"

"Please don't worry, we are actively reducing the fever. Wang Chao, how's the temperature now?" Liu Banxia looked at Wang Chao, who was pushing the patient out.

"It's dropped half a degree, the antipyretics and ice blanket are working," Wang Chao replied.

"Then let's place him on the examination bed in the lobby. If there are any changes, there are more devices here. I'll keep an eye on him," Liu Banxia said.

His intuition told him that this was caused by some bacterial infection, but he couldn't locate the source now. And he suspected it might not be common bacteria since the blood culture had been done for so long without any positive results.

This is a serious issue as broad-spectrum antibiotics might not be effective against such bacteria. The patient should have taken some medications at home but still couldn't suppress this bacteria.

But now, with the source location undetected, precise pathological analysis cannot be performed. Without isolating the bacteria, targeted medication won't be possible.

"Teacher Liu, is there anything you need us to do?" At this moment, Xu Yino, Huang Bo, and Li Hao also arrived.

"You guys can rest for now; the patient's condition is temporarily stable, and the temperature is dropping. I'll call you if needed. I'll be here following up," Liu Banxia said.

He's somewhat relieved now; if the high fever doesn't retreat, it could lead to encephalitis, commonly known as "burning out the brain," which is irreversible damage.

After thinking for a moment, he put the stethoscope back on and then placed it on the patient's chest cavity; he wanted to continuously track the patient's heart and lung sounds.

This way, at least there would be a direction, allowing for focused examination.

Although he said to let the three of them rest, since they were already up, how could they leave?

Moreover, they knew about the patient, that the situation had become more serious, and they needed to stay here as well.

The patient's mother was even more worried, but seeing Liu Banxia occasionally take out the stethoscope to examine her son eased her mind somewhat.

"Teacher Liu, the temperature is 38.9 degrees Celsius."

After more than an hour, Xu Yino reported.

Liu Banxia nodded and put on the stethoscope again to auscultate the patient.

This time, while listening, he furrowed his brow.

"You guys listen too and tell me the result." After listening for a while, Liu Banxia stood up.

The three didn't dare to question, taking turns listening with the stethoscope.

"How is it?" After the three finished auscultating, Liu Banxia asked.

"Teacher Liu, it seems the moist rales in the left lung are larger than those in the right lung," Xu Yino said.

Liu Banxia looked at the other two, and they nodded as well.

"Let me listen again." Wang Chao then began to auscultate the patient as well.

After auscultating, Wang Chao nodded too, "Indeed, the moist rales in the left lung are larger."

"Just now, I thought I heard wrong. It should be that the inflammation in the lungs has changed; let's do another bedside X-ray to save time," Liu Banxia said.

Everyone moved at once, pushing the patient to the emergency room. This was a new development but roughly confirmed the focus of the illness was in the lungs.

"Ma'am, there will be a certain amount of radiation inside. Let's wait outside," seeing the patient's mother trying to enter as well, Xu Yino quickly stopped her.

"Doctor, can we know what the illness is now?" the patient's mother asked.

"It's preliminarily judged to be infectious pneumonia, and the X-ray now can show the location of the lesion," Xu Yino said.

"Doctor, if it's pneumonia, using anti-inflammatory drugs should be enough, right?" the patient's mother continued asking.

"Ma'am, we need to see which specific bacteria caused the infection," Xu Yino said.

She could only say this vaguely as it was only the initial stage of pneumonia, and the previously given levofloxacin hadn't shown any effect.

"Come in, the lesion isn't very clear, but it's there." After waiting for a while, Liu Banxia's voice came out.

The crowd hurried into the emergency room; this time, Xu Yino didn't stop the patient's mother. Otherwise, she would have to explain to her.

"Look here, this patchy, very faint shadow should be the location of the lesion," Liu Banxia pointed at the X-ray.

"It is slightly more evident on the left side, and I'm currently unable to determine if this spot in the right lung is the original location of the lesion. Look at the left lung again; it seems there's a bit of fluid accumulation."

"Now we can diagnose the major direction as pneumonia, but the specific bacteria causing the pneumonia is still unclear. Do you have any ideas?"

"Teacher Liu, if we perform a biopsy, would the results come out faster?" Huang Bo asked.

"That's all we can do now," Liu Banxia nodded.

Next to him, Xu Yino quickly explained the purpose and significance of the biopsy to the patient's mother, as an endoscopic biopsy is an invasive procedure that must be clearly communicated to the relatives.

The patient's mother no longer cared about such things and naturally agreed.

"What kind of pneumonia is this? Why is it so strange? It seems there should have been a lesion when he was admitted; why is it only showing now?" Wang Chao asked, furrowing his brow.

"I haven't encountered it either. Finally, we have some progress, as we couldn't determine at admission whether it was an upper respiratory tract infection or pneumonia," Liu Banxia said with a bitter smile.

"However, the situation isn't optimistic. If we can't cultivate bacteria, we cannot prescribe medication. Pneumonia is progressing, and once the antipyretic effects wear off, the patient's temperature will rise again."

"Should we... send him to the ICU?" Wang Chao asked.

"Let's wait. I estimate it will be fine until dawn. Sending him there now would still be waiting for culture results, only changing antibiotics and continuing with fever management," Liu Banxia said.

Wang Chao nodded, still worried.

The symptoms were too peculiar, and they were fortunate to have called Liu Banxia over.