If you recognize it, it is not mine. Some credit goes to everyone behind the book MASH FAQ, the Army Nursing Corps website and Britannica (Hantaviruses).
The Mash 4077 deals with patients who contracted hemorrhagic fever, which includes some of their own. The next two chapters were supposed to be one, but I split them in two, so the chapter I teased is coming up next.
Hawkeye wondered why Potter said the soldier of the month contest will be judged by second in command, Frank Burns. He didn't like people forgetting Claudia like that. But then he remember she was still feeling under the weather. It didn't seem to be anything serious, because she didn't have a fever, but her headaches were sometimes so severe she couldn't stand light. She stayed in her tent nonstop for two days, Radar of Klinger kept bringing her food, but she barely ate anything. He went to visit her a few times, but she was asleep every time he did and he didn't want to wake her. No matter what was wrong, her body needed the rest.
He usually slipped into her tent as silently as he could and after noticing she was sleeping, he got right out. Once he stayed there for about a minute, watching her sleep, until he decided it was too creepy. Her tent was very dark, he could barely make out more than a silhouette and her delicate features. Her breathing seemed shallow and louder than normal. Every few seconds she moaned softly and mumbled something incoherently. She looked so pale and fragile, lying there motionless in just a few rays of light, it made Hawkeye feel sad.
Colonel Potter was right, they were all working around the clock. Throughout the whole Korea the fever epidemic was showing its teeth. The medical staff had little information on the illness and tried to determine what to do on the fly. Father Mulcahy was supposed to investigate in Seoul and Claudia knew some doctors who might be able to help. But on the whole the situation seemed dim. Like Margaret reminded them, they were short on beds already and they were expecting more fever cases.
"I'm for doubling up." Hawkeye said with a lecherous smile, thinking about one woman in particular. For a while now, he was not really paying attention to his surroundings. Only now and then he worked in a joke to be a part of the conversation, but this one was obviously going nowhere. Frank can try to manage all the rats in Korea, but it won't do anything for the patients already sick. Hawkeye hated this. He felt useless, both as a person and a doctor. No antibiotics did any good and there were supposed to be the new miracle cure.
He felt hopelessness that he hadn't felt in a long time, even in horrible place like this, standing next to a patients' beds. Just waiting for their temperature to rise again, seeing the sweat on their foreheads and hearing them moan quietly in pain. This was not why he became a doctor. He became a doctor to be able to alleviate peoples' pain and to help protect lives, not to live like this. Waiting for the announcement that broken bodies were arriving, of young innocent boys, bodies that were torn to pieces by mines, maimed by phosphorous burns or littered with bits of shrapnel. And now this mysterious malady that seemed to be violently attacking the human body on all fronts.
If he thought he was doing nothing, Frank was sabotaging everyone's efforts. The two worst cases with the fever could have already been on their way to 121st hospital. Any delay in their transportation could have been fatal, but dumb Ferret Face ignored the signs of acute renal failure. The only thing that excuse for a doctor cared about was all the saluting that was happening because of the soldier of the month contest.
The only relevant information they received were from Father Mulcahy and it was more like a confirmation of what they already knew. There was no cure, all they could do was treat the symptoms, go easy on fluids and hope for the best. On his way from Father Mulcahy's tent he stopped to see how Claudia was doing, but her tent was empty. Maybe she is feeling better.
"Hi, Radar. Nurse Able caught me on one of my many trips to the latrine and said you were looking for me. What's up, buttercup?" Claudia slowly walked into Radar's office, looking even paler than before.
"Ma'am, I tried calling the doctor you told me about, you know, Dr. Roskovy? He was very rude and said he refuses to speak to anyone but you. He suggested I was a Russian spy. And I don't even speak Russian!" Radar was obviously very flustered by the accusation. Also he was probably pretty tired from studying history for the quiz.
"Oh yeah, that's Dr. Roskovy. Can you please call him again now?" Claudia sat down at Radar's table as she watched him quickly operate the telephone. She was strangely weak, so she leaned against the table and laid her hands on it. Even in her robe, it was too cold for her. She could feel she was shivering.
"Yes, sir, sorry, ma'am."
It felt like forever waiting for the connection, until finally Radar handed her the phone. Then she kindly asked him for a cup of tea and watched him leave.
"Hello, Ros, how are you? Recognize my voice?"
"Hello. I think I might. If it's you, Klaudie."
"How many people call you Ros? Okay, how about this. You remember how we used to walk in Hyde Park back in the day? And you drank coffee, but I refused to, because I hated the taste? I have always stuck to tea." Claudia smiled as Radar handed her a warm cup with dark liquid inside. She took a big gulp and listened to her old friend.
"Ros, I'd like to talk, unfortunately things over here in Korea are not going so well." Claudia always had to pause when she spoke about Korea. She wondered how she ended up in a place like this. How improbable was the road she travelled. "Yeah, in a mash unit. The best one, 4077th. That's us. However, right now we have an unexpected visitor you may know - hemorrhagic fever. Crazy high temperatures, severe headaches, muscle pains, respiratory problems, all of which can result in acute renal failure. The Army is not a big help in getting information on this. We are flying blind here, but I was told you and the Japanese dealt with it during the 30s. Anything you could tell me, I'd appreciate."
She quickly grabbed a pencil and started scrabbling on a random piece of paper. The movement made her moan a little as her muscles protested the sudden effort after being able to rest for so long. Still she mustered all her energy to soak up all the knowledge coming her way and put it on paper. Radar gestured to her that she does not have much time left.
"Listen, Ros, anything else you can think of? The Army is going to cut us off any second now." Claudia got a perplexed look on her face. "What do you mean? What happened to him? Ros? Ros!" She took a deep breath and swore. What a bombshell to drop at the end of their phone call! Radar slammed shut one of the drawers of the filing cabinet and woke her from silent contemplation.
"Radar, can you get the doctors here? On the double."
"I think Hawkeye and BJ are in Post-Op. I'll look." Radar walked away swiftly.
"I'll get Colonel Potter, then. I think he's in his office." Claudia said mostly to herself as she saw Radar disappear behind the doors that led to Post-Op. For a while there was silence, then Colonel Potter showed up, looking for his company clerk and after that Radar came in running, followed at more casual pace by the two doctors. They spotted the female body lying motionless on the floor around the same time.
"Claudia!" Hawkeye brushed pass Radar to hurry to her. Colonel Potter was already checking her pulse, when he hesitated before speaking.
"She is burning up. We need to get her to bed."
"And I thought I'd enjoy getting her to bed." Hawkeye said sadly as he put his arm under Claudia's, lifting her from the floor with the help of their CO. BJ and Radar opened the door for them and they slowly walked through them and into the Post-Op. Hawkeye could feel how hot Claudia's body was, and not in a good way. She did not register being moved and did not seem aware of anything at this point. As they laid her in the nearest bed and cover her with an army green blanket, she stirred a little. Then, just as Hawkeye was sitting down, she opened her eyes.
"Don't touch me." Her voice was strained and she spoke so quietly, the words were barely heard by the surgeons. Hawkeye frowned.
"Relax, Colonel." Potter answered. "You passed out on us. Just trying to help here."
"No, I mean…" Claudia tried to sit up, but she wasn't strong enough. After a few deep breaths, she settled down and continued. "I mean, I could be contagious. I talked to the doctor, Colonel Potter. I made some notes…" Looking around, she slowly took in her surroundings. She was in Post-Op, not knowing how she got there.
"They're here, ma'am." Radar finally emerged in Post-Op with a paper in his hand. He laid it gently on the bed next to Claudia's right hand.
Incredibly slowly she moved her hand to grab it and afterwards she just maneuvered it closed to her head and laid it down here.
"One of father's friends has dealt with this disease before while serving on the Eastern front during World War II. It is not the mites or fleas, but the rats themselves that transmit it and they don't even have to look sickly. The only proven transmission was via a rat bite or via contact with rats' dropping or bodily fluids. He did some experiments to verify it, mostly with animals. The bite part was verified by a clumsy assistant of his." By now Major Houllihan has joined their medical summit and Radar ran away again. "But that's not all, bodily fluids of infected humans are also suspected to transmit the virus. It mostly happened due to reusing of needles in medical facilities during the war, but still we need to change the procedures. Major, you need to tell your nurses to start taking precautions when dealing with fever patients."
"All were transported to 45th Evacuation hospital in Seoul, ma'am. You and Major Burns are the only ones left in the camp." All medical personnel except Claudia stood silently around her bed. They all knew, but the Major said it first. Claudia contracted the fever.
"Anything new on how to treat it?" Hawkeye finally spoke out after a while.
"The most important things are bed rest, fluid management and monitoring of vital signs. Sponging and antipyretics help with the high temperature. Trendelenberg bed positioning can be used to decrease the blood flow to the extremities." Claudia sighed in between sentences, obviously exhausted. "At first, 40 percent of all cases were fatal, but with today's medicine it's down to five to fifteen percent. It depends on the exact subtype of the fever."