The Patient

"Zack," Fran says quietly. "Bring the antibiotics. You," she says to you. "Bring your notes and my Diagnosis book." Then she gets up and walks shakily, but with determination, into the lab.

You grab the knapsack and follow as she passes by the bloodsmeared door, across the sticky mat of papers. Glass crunches underfoot. She pushes a scarlet-stained chair away and kneels by the huge man.

Fran holds a wrist as thick as her arm. "Pulse weak," she says. She wipes blood away from the man's eyes and peers into them. "He's in shock." The man's eyes gradually begin to focus on hers.

"Now," she says, not looking away. "The bacterium. The one in Sample A but not in Sample B. What color was it?"

"Red," you say. She nods, her gaze never straying from the man. "Gram-negative," she says. "Shape?"

"Curved bacillus," you say.

"Hmmm," she says. "Food-borne curved bacillus. Gram-negative. Maybe a vibrio."

She makes up her mind. "Zack," she says. "The Gentamicin."

The name rings a bell. "Wait," you say.

Continue with the mystery

An Access Excellence Science Mystery sponsored by Genentech, Inc.