You Be Illin'

"The average person touches their face about 18 times every waking hour. That leaves your susceptible to infection about 100 times a day. Infection has a nasty habit of taking advantage of our every day behaviors. It spreads by touching doors, desks, elevator buttons, pens, sharing cups, even money. All we can do is try our best to prevent it from spreading, because once it's out there, the infection usually wins. It's a known fact that doctors make the worst patients. We ignore our symptoms until we're faced down on the ground. We like to think we're different species from our patients, but none of us are invincible. Eventually, we have to face the fact that we're human and that sometimes, even the mightiest of us need help."

- Meredith Grey

 is the eighteenth episode of the tenth season and the 214th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
The hospital gets inundated with flu infected patients, which causes the doctors to slowly fall ill one by one. Derek must fight off the sickness as he prepares to give a speech on brain mapping and the residents place bets on who will fall ill first. Meanwhile, a new doctor at the hospital gives Alex a glimpse into an alternate form of medical practice.

Full Summary
A montage of germs under a microscope accompanies Meredith saying that the average person touches their face about 18 days every waking hour.

Arizona gets sneezed on by a small child and then wipes her hands on her face. She picks up the tablet she was using and as she leaves the room, she touches the door jamb. Outside the room, she meets up with Alex and tells him that she needs to move up the anoplasty with Dr. Lebackes because she's going to be sick this afternoon. Alex doesn't believe she can know that, but she says you get a sense of it. He suggests they just cancel, but she says he needs to learn the surgery. Alex calls him Dr. Butthole and says that as a private practice doc, he's all about seeing how much he can charge. She tells him to cancel tomorrow's procedures. He asks why and she reminds him that she's going to be sick. She tells him she'll let him know the new time for Dr. Lebackes, to which he quips, "Just tell me with your mind."

Alex gets into the elevator, followed by Jo, who has a stack of payment books for his student loans. She says he has to do something with them. He throws them in the trash.

April and Jackson get on the same elevator, arguing about keys while making out.

As April bumps into Leah, Owen tells the doctors about the virus that's going around the hospital and reminds them to use hand sanitizer and wash their hands and if they're sick, go home if they can.

April goes to the ER, where Braden Morris is touching a bump on his forehead while his mother blows his nose. He says he can blow his own nose, as he's "practically a tween." Braden has SCID and his doctor sent them to GSM because he's out of the country. Normally, people with Braden's condition are advised to stay away from hospitals because of their high risk of infection. Braden gets enzyme injections, which have been working well. April notices the bump and marks it for monitoring while his mom explains that he got congested, which is why they're at the hospital.

Webber is making assignments to the residents. He goes to assign Ben, but Ben's out sick, as are several other residents. Leah even says she's leaving. Webber tells her that doctors aren't sick. He tells her to push through. He changes the assignments and leaves. Stephanie and Jo are sure that Leah will be Swap Monkey for the week. Whoever falls first due to the virus has to be Swap Monkey for a week, meaning anyone else who gets an assignment they don't want, the Swap Monkey has to trade. Shane thinks they just made that up, but he's in because it's a big day for the conduit trial patients. Leah tries to defend herself, but ends up running from the room.

In the ER, Logan Treadwell is waving to get Jo's attention. He's been waiting for a long time, but his jaw is clenched, so he can't really talk. His brother comes up and explains that he cut himself composting and refused to get a tetanus shot or even get it cleaned. His brother has brought him a soda, but he says to take it away because it's poison. Jo strongly recommends a tetanus shot, but he refuses.

Shane and Cristina enter the room of Ivy McNeil, who has end-stage heart failure due to cardiomyopathy and has been waiting for a heart transplant for four months. A heart has become available. Cristina notices that the rest of their family is missing. Ivy's mother, Sabine McNeil, informed Cristina that Ivy's little sister, Francesca, has caught the virus, so her husband is home with her and their son. She's also concerned about the heart maybe not being viable, but Cristina says the scans looked good, so they're excited.

Outside Ivy's room, Cristina is not happy about the timing because it's post-op day 30 for her trial patients, so they need to report to the NIH. It can affect her Harper Avery Award nomination. She had planned to spend the entire day with the trial patients to optimize their results. Cristina assigns Shane to take care of the trial patients in her stead. She tells him the trial is her baby and not to let her baby die.

April goes to check on Braden, who is now wearing a mask. The bump on his forehead has started to swell. He says his nose is a little stuffy, but he feels a little better. April prepares to move Braden into isolation. She looks around at all the virus patients in the ER as she tells a nurse.

April explains isolation procedures to Braden's parents before they go into his room to see him. The lump on his head is an infection and she wants to prevent him from getting any more. His T-Cell count is zero, meaning the enzyme is no longer working for him and he's highly susceptible to infection. She asks if they considered bone marrow donations, but ethnic donors are hard to find, which is why they used the enzyme. They put on their masks and enter Braden's room.

Derek is practicing his speech, using notecards. It is revealed that he's practicing to baby Bailey. Meredith comes in looking for Bailey, saying she'd gone to day care to get him to find him missing. Derek wants Meredith to listen to him rehearse, but she says she's heard it so many times that she could do it herself and tells him to stop boring their son. He asks if his speech is boring, because it's a really big deal. She says she knows it's a big deal, but she takes Bailey and leaves, because she says she doesn't want his first word to be hypothalamus. He continues to rehearse.

Cristina tells Ivy and her mother that the heart is good and they're getting her ready to go to the OR. Her mother gets quiet and gives her a kiss before they wheel Ivy out, leaving Sabine in the room alone with a promise from Cristina to update her. Sabine pulls out her phone and calls her husband, asking how their other daughter is. She says she's okay, but starts crying and says she wishes he were there, too.

Arizona and Alex walk down the hall toward Callie. Arizona tells Callie that she needs her to get Sofia to school in the morning because she'll be sick. When Alex quips about it, Callie informs him that this is Arizona's superpower. Arizona says she thinks it'll be about three days, so she tells Callie she should also cancel dinner with their friends. Callie asks if Arizona can call instead because she doesn't have a resident and everyone's out sick.

Alex asks if Arizona is even sure that "Dr. Butthole" will be there because he's already late. Dr. Lebackes comes up behind them and says, "Dr. Bullhole has arrived." He lists off a series of nicknames he's been given. He says his friends just call him Oliver and tells Arizona she looks radiant as always with a kiss to her hand. She says it's nice to see him. Alex starts to apologize, but Oliver brushes it off, saying he'll just cry himself to sleep on his piles and piles of money. He asks Arizona if she's ready and they go off.

Bailey comes up to April and asks about Braden, who is a former patient of hers. April tells her about the enzymes not working and the infection he has. Jackson comes out of Braden's room, saying they need to take him up to surgery right away to drain the wound. April says he looks horrible and tries to feel his forehead, but he objects that he's fine. April tells him he should leave and Bailey says she'll drain the tumor. They both tell him to go home. He again says he's fine as he lays his head down on the nurses' station. Then he says he might go home. April suggests a few ways to take care of himself, but he says he can handle it and leaves. April and Bailey prepare to operate on Braden.

Meredith is delivering results to Mr. Gordor. They're going to take him up to surgery. He says he's nervous, so Richard suggests that Leah take him through the procedure again. They wait, but Leah is asleep on her feet, which Mr. Gordor points out. Meredith steps on Leah's foot, waking her. Leah starts to detail his procedure while visibly struggling not to vomit. He asks if he'll still be able to poop just fine. She swallows loudly and says that's the plan.

Derek tells a nurse to call all the colleges and ask if anyone there can speak it. Meredith comes up and asks him about it and he says the Estonian translator called in sick. She tells him he doesn't look good and asks if he's getting the virus. He says he doesn't get sick. It's the unwritten rule. Leah points out that it's been spoken twice today. He says he won't get sick today if he does at all and then tells Leah she looks awful. He sends her away.

Derek sees someone and tugs Meredith around to look at Gerhardt Strauss. He's there for Derek's presentation. He comes up and introduces himself, saying he was intrigued, but wonders if the whole thing is a PR stunt for the president. He says he hopes it's not a complete waste of his time, but he looks forward to it. After he walks away, Meredith asks Derek if he's sure he feels okay.

Outside the Pediatric Cardiac Care Unit, Shane is taking the temps of everyone before allowing them in. He stops a mom with a 100.7° temp. She's upset because it's barely a fever, but he tells her to rest up because her daughter is trying to heal from her surgery. Stephanie and Leah come up to him. Shane tells them to leave, but Stephanie says the ER is a hot zone and she'll get sick if she stays down there. Leah wipes her nose. Stephanie tells her to go home, but Leah insists she's pushing through. Shane tells her to do that elsewhere and takes a sip of his coffee. Leah asks him if he's enjoying it, because she enjoyed it when she took a sip of it. He believes she's lying, but she challenges him on that. She and Stephanie leave.

Jo is feeling Logan's abdomen, which is rigid. Jo says it's his choice not to accept the treatment, but she informs him that full-blown tetanus can kill him. He calls her a fear monger. Abraham explains that big pharma is just trying to get people to buy their product. Jo insists that she's not big pharma. She's just a doctor, but Logan says she's their puppet, which upsets Jo. Logan starts spasming, so Jo grabs him to keep him on the bed. Then his arm snaps, startling her and making him scream.

In the OR, Oliver has upbeat music playing. Arizona tells Alex that they teach his technique in medical school now. Oliver just says everyone has to have a specialty and everyone has to poop. Alex asks if he always listen to music. Oliver says he spends so much time at work, it might as well be fun. Arizona asks him to explain the procedure as he's doing it because Alex has never seen it before. Alex talks the procedure out and Oliver says he knows his stuff. Oliver sings along as he, Arizona, and the rest of the OR staff dance to the music.

Shane is trying to get Tyler Christian to put the Pediatric CCU on lockdown. Shane says Cristina left him in charge, but Tyler counters that he's in charge of the CCU, while Shane is in charge of only three patients. Shane counters that they're important patients who need protection. Tyler says Shane can move his three patients to a separate portion and then do whatever he wants, but Tyler has no nurses to spare. Shane coughs and Tyler gives him a tissue, saying he should get that looked at.

Callie is looking at Logan's films with Jo. She says it's a nasty break and also points out a previous break that didn't heal properly, which left the bone weaker. Jo is concerned that she broke Logan's arm because she was upset. Callie tells her not to flatter herself, that tetanus spasms have been known to snap bones. Callie says they'll have to re-break the bone and she wants Jo to do it. Jo says she can't, but Callie reminds her that she thought she could a second ago.

While working on Braden, April asks Bailey what's so wrong about her wanting to help Jackson, because it's her job after all. Bailey says he doesn't want help. April says he's not a goat. He doesn't have to separate himself from the group and fight it himself. She wants to help. Bailey says Ben's the opposite, so April should count herself lucky, because Bailey knows she'll be going home to Ben wanting her to take care of him. April notices cerebral spinal fluid on the monitor and Bailey says that the abscess has penetrated into his brain since the CT. They have to call Derek.

Derek is practicing his speech again, this time in the room where'll he'll give it. A tech sits nearby, eating. Derek struggles to get through his speech. He asks the tech what he's eating. The tech tells him it's onion rings and Derek tells him to take them out of the building. Nurse Ruth comes in and tells Derek he's needed in OR 2. He says he's not on call, but she says everyone else is out sick, so it's only him left. Then she sees how he's struggling and notes that he's also sick, but he maintains that he doesn't get sick as he leaves the room.

Main Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
 * Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang
 * Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
 * Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
 * James Pickens, Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber
 * Sara Ramírez as Dr. Callie Torres
 * Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt
 * Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner
 * Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery
 * Camilla Luddington as Dr. Jo Wilson
 * Gaius Charles as Dr. Shane Ross
 * Jerrika Hinton as Dr. Stephanie Edwards
 * Tessa Ferrer as Dr. Leah Murphy
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Guest Stars

 * Patrick Fabian as Dr. Oliver Lebackes
 * Mark Adair-Rios as David Morris
 * Rebecca Field as Sabine McNeil
 * Graham Hamilton as Abraham Treadwell
 * Jesse Johnson as Logan Treadwell
 * Billy Malone as Jon McNeil
 * Bresha Webb as Teresa Morris
 * Moe Irvin as Tyler Christian

Co-Starring

 * Robert Alan Beuth as Mr. Gordor
 * Enn Reitel as Gerhardt Strauss
 * Teresa Huang as Nurse Ruth
 * Mara Hall as Nurse Kathleen
 * Lovlee Carroll as Janis
 * Jadin Gould as Ivy McNeil
 * Armani Jackson as Braden Morris
 * Sara Emami as Mom
 * JB Tadena as Nurse Adam
 * Gordon James as ER Nurse
 * Brian Sounalath as Tech
 * Harley Graham as Francesca McNeil
 * Thomas Barbusca as Link McNeil

Patient

 * Diagnosis:
 * Doctors:
 * Treatment:

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song , originally sung by Run DMC.
 * This episode scored 8.28 million viewers.
 * This is the first appearance of Patrick Fabian as Dr. Oliver Lebackes, a recurring character.
 * Moe Irvin makes a guest appearance as nurse Tyler Christian. He was last seen in the season seven episode Golden Hour.
 * That is the first part of a multi-part story arc, which continues in the following episodes.

Quotes

 * Callie: Ohh, you know, I can be fairly turbulent myself. Yeah, I've had my share of things to get angry about. Ortho's saved me a couple of times. I get to work my crap out and someone else is healed in the process and I get paid. It's a win-win-win.
 * Jo: Right now I feel like I might never get angry again.
 * Callie: Oh, sweetie. You date Alex Karev. You always have a reason to be angry.