It may be only 2% of our body mass, but for every cell we have in our body there ten of them. Bacteria are relatively harmless for the most parts. They help digest food, strengthen our immune system, and could kill us if escape from ours guts. -- Anon Guest
Humans are, for the most part, completely unaware that they exist in a state of symbiosis. If asked, most of them would mention their mitochondria, a symbiote so involved that it has become part of almost every cell in their bodies. They do not consider their own bacterial ecology.
They have no idea, or most of them don't, that their bacteria are so important to the proper functioning of their bodies that changing the ecology inside their own digestive system changes the course of their health. In fact, many deny that this is the case, claiming that their bodily systems are completely isolated from each other.
Hollistic medicine - which examines the whole patient instead of one of their systems - has been anathema to enormous swathes of Human medicine. Including a great many patients. The opposition to such often borders on superstition. Therefore, dealing with many Colonial-Origin Humans can be... educational for the attending Medik.
Fortunately, the need to extract specific samples has been phased out over the years. Most diagnostics can be performed with an in-depth scan. Unfortunately, Humans are wont to argue with anything.
"I came in for my sore arm," insisted the Human on the scanner bench. "That's a muscle thing, not a heart thing."
Medik Kalypur sighed. This one was less advanced than so very many Humans, and most of them were deplorable when compared to the sum of Galactic Alliance medical knowledge. Medik Kalypur said, "You're experiencing transferred pain. I can show you your heartbeat if--"
"ARE YOU CLAIMING THE SIGHT AND HEARING OF THE DIVINE?"
What? Oh sweet Powers That Be, this one was from an even more retrograde colony than ze had previously believed. "Absolutely not. I have special instruments that can help me see and hear what's going on inside your--"
"ONLY THE DIVINE CAN KNOW WHAT'S IN A BODY'S HEART! YOU'RE A BLASPHEMER! I CAME HERE FOR YOU TO FIX MY ARM! YOU FIX MY ARM. YOU FIX MY ARM RIGHT--" The pain must have been so intense that it cut off their outraged rant. What colour there was in his face drained right out of it as the growing horror of what that agony meant gripped their mind.
Fortunately for interspecies relations, Medik Kalypur was prepared for nearly such an emergency. Technically speaking, ze was prepared for several such emergencies and therefore had everything ze needed for just this emergency. In order to be prepared for a precise, Human-related emergency, it certainly helps to be prepared for several more generic ones at once.
Medik Kalypur cured that heart attack and did what ze could to stabilise the current arrhythmia, then administered a mild sedative to help hir patient remain calm for the duration. Because this was, after all, an easily-irritated and irrational Deathworlder, Medik Kalyper was not afraid to admit that ze might have overdone the sedation.
"Human Bar? Can you understand my words?"
"Yeah? I guess... Why's you all glowy an' stuff?"
"Your eyes are currently unable to focus properly. Do you know where you are?"
"Uuuuuhhhh... 'm onna bench?"
Well, they weren't wrong. "Do you understand what happened to you, just now?"
"F'r sure," slurred Human Bar. "I died... an' you're my angel."
This was going to take longer than ze thought...
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Notjungcg]
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