Polite Dissent

Sgt. Frog
by Mine Yoshizaki

For the inaugural look at medicine and manga, I thought I’d start with one of my recent favorites, Sgt. Frog. It tells the story of an invasion force from the 58th planet of the Gamma Storm Cloud system — an invasion force made up entirely of bipedal alien frogs. For various reasons, most of these aliens end up living with — or at least frequently visiting — the Hinata household. The series is a fun read, and it veers into medical territory on a couple of occasions. Overall, Yoshizaki does a good job with the medical science (such as it is), but it also makes a good starting point for a discussion of a common medical condition.

The first scene of medical interest appears about halfway through the first volume, when Momoka brings the entire Hinata family with her to her own private tropical island. In an attempt to catch Fuyuki Hinata’s eye, she swims out and pretends to drown. A rescue attempt by Sgt. Keroro goes awry, and the fake drowning becomes a real one.

Natsumi is ready to begin CPR to revive Momoka, but Keroro wants to make up for his drowning her in the first place so uses his “Super Suction Space Octopus” to perform the CPR. Momoka is successfully revived, but no one has the heart to tell her that it as an octopus and not Fuyuki. (As a nitpick, I’m not sure Momoka needed full hands-on CPR as much as she needed rescue breathing.)

Take home messages:

• Don’t let outer-space frogs save people from drowning.
• Space Octopi should be standard issue for all rescue squads.
• Alien frog anatomy and physiology must be pretty close to human if CPR works on both.

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The next scene takes place in Volume 4, when Natsumi comes down with a sudden and severe febrile illness. Her temperature is 40.02° Celsius. Bearing in mind that 37° Celsius is the normal body temperature, 40° Celsius is equal to a temperature of 104° Fahrenheit.

Sgt. Keroro and Fuyuki drag Natsumi to bed. Fuyuki wants to call an ambulance, but the frogs won’t let him. Instead, Sgt. Keroro offers to help Fuyuki care for her by sponging off her forehead.

Natsumi’s fever doesn’t go down, and Fuyuki is once again ready to call an ambulance when Corporal Giroro arrives, carrying with him the liver of a space keropes. Eating this organ is alleged to cure any disease, but before he can give it to Natsumi, Keroro eats it, believing it to be breakfast.

First Sergeant Kururu walks in and announces that he is to blame for Natsumi’s illness she is infected with a “Level 5 Virus” never before seen on Earth; a virus, coincidentally, which he designed. Keroro “encourages” him to create a serum to treat the virus and Natsumi is cured by the time her mother arrives home from work.

Take home messages:

• 37° Celsius is the normal human body temperature (I have no idea what the normal body temperature for an alien frog is, I guess it depends on whether they are cold blooded like their terrestrial relatives).
• Fifteen minutes is an incredibly quick time for that severe of an infection to occur. It certainly can happen, but it tends to be bacterial diseases that strike that fast, not viral — probably because viral reproduction requires the virus to hijack the body’s cells, and that takes time. Then again, I’ve never seen a “Level 5 Virus”, so it may be something entirely different…
• Evaporative cooling (i.e. sponging people off) is a moderately successful way of dealing with fevers. Better ways are to use acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil). Aspirin can also be used, but is not recommended in children with viral illnesses because of the possibility of Reye’s Syndrome.
• Sadly, Corporal Giroro was mistaken, as every doctor knows that it is not the liver of the space keropes which can cure disease, but instead its spleen. The liver does make a nice snack, particularly with some rye toast. (Actually, I have no idea what a keropes is. An internet search only turned up my own site (the irony!), so I assume it’s just the made-up name of an alien creature (like a targ, Tamaranian, Ewok, or Libertarian))

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A couple of final notes regarding fever:

• First, do NOT tell the doctor or nurse that you have a fever because “you feel warm” or are “warm to touch.” Buy a thermometer for heaven’s sake! They’re inexpensive and the digital ones are easy to use.
• Do NOT tell the doctor or nurse that your temperature was only 99°, but that’s a fever for you because your temperature always runs lower than normal. We’ll nod our heads and smile, but we won’t believe you. We’ll believe that you believe it, but we don’t. Everybody tells us this, and it’s never true. Body temperature fluctuates throughout the day, with the average being just shy of 99°. Most doctors don’t consider a temperature a fever unless it is at least 101 or 101.5 %deg;.
• If you have a fever and are feeling poorly because of it, then start taking acetaminophen and/or ibuprofen. If it is a low-grade fever and you can tolerate it, then do nothing, as fever serves a purpose (raising the body temperature makes it too hot for invading germs to thrive).