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Published 17:19 IST, March 19th 2020

'Scrubs' episode gaining popularity online as it demonstrates how infection spreads

Netizens are sharing episode 12 from the 2006 television show which had shown how infections spread among people 14 years before the coronavirus broke out.

Reported by: Vishal Tiwari
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Amidst coronavirus outbreak, an episode from an American medical comedy-drama Scrubs is going viral on social media. Netizens are sharing episode 12 from the 2006 television show which had shown how infections spread among people 14 years before coronavirus broke out and three years after the SARS epidemic. 

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The excerpt from the show that is going viral shows, Dr. Bob Kelso of Sacred Heart hospital, telling a janitor the number one cause of deaths in any hospital. Kelso tells the janitor, "Do you know the number one cause of death in a hospital? Infection. And do you know how quickly infection spreads in a hospital?" 

"Infection can start with a simple sneeze and then a handshake. Perhaps an accidental collision and then a simple touch on the shoulder. Just like that, you have a patient in trouble," Dr. Bob Kelso tells the man. The episode then ends with a medical student named Jason "Cabbage" Cabbagio shaking hands with a patient right after taking off an infected glove and throwing it into the medical waste bin. 

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The patient played by The Waltons actress Michael Learned dies in the next episode as she unknowingly catches the infection through the infected glove just when she was about to get discharged from the hospital for another illness. The coronavirus outbreak has caused panic among people across the globe and this excerpt from the episode of Scrubs is going viral at the right time as it might teach the importance of staying hygienic. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

The COVID-19 has claimed more than 9,000 lives across the world and has infected over 2,20,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China is the most affected country in the world as experts believe that the virus originated from a seafood market in Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. Iran is also highly affected as it became the third country after China and Italy to record more than 1,000 deaths. 

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17:19 IST, March 19th 2020