“Ok, I’ll be here. We’ll make something at home for dinner tonight. Maybe chicken nuggets, the kids favorite,” he joked.
“Good. I will see you soon. Rob, I do love you very much.”
“I love you too honey. Drive safe.”
They hung up. Rob figured she was already upset enough that now wouldn’t be a good time to tell her about the student that had died. It was going to be a tough evening. He turned on the TV to catch the President’s statement while he fixed the kids some chicken nuggets, but the statement was delayed. The kids finished their meal and Rob sent them off to prepare for their homework. At least this part of his life was normal for right now.
CHAPTER 8
“Kids, come quick, the President is getting ready to speak. Mom says this is very important,” said Rob.
The dinner was just coming out of the oven, so Rob fixed the kids plates and they all sat around the TV waiting to hear what the President had to say. The kids didn’t know yet about the death at the Center. Rob was waiting to talk with Katie first. Now, with the speech, and what he expected would be said, it would be clear to the kids that people were going to be dying.
The President was a healthy man, in his mid-forties, just a couple of years older than Rob. Previously, he held office as the Governor of Delaware and had been intimately involved in the contingency planning for various types of terrorist actions following the attacks of 9/11. As helpful as the planning had been, as President he was just now realizing that the emergency actions necessary for an isolated incident or locality was much easier than an action that needed to be taken across the globe. The complexity of the problem was unfathomable. “How do you isolate all of humanity?” he thought to himself.
From the left of the podium you could see people moving as the President entered the White House Press room. His characteristic smile was missing which could only mean one thing, bad news. As he reached the podium he looked out across the mass of reporters, standing room only, and looked directly into the camera.
“My fellow Americans, I come before you today to discuss a problem that is affecting everyone in our nation, as well as most of the people across the globe as far as we can tell. I am not here to raise an alarm, on the contrary, I am here to reassure you that the United States, along with its world partners has combined arms to find a solution to a global issue that now confronts us. Earlier today, I was informed that there is an illness that is spreading around the world. As of now, we do not know the cause of the illness, but we do know that it is predominately affecting the elderly and those in poor health. We have teams of research scientists in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Atlanta, and elsewhere working around the clock to determine the cause. We have reached out to our worldwide partners to do the same,” said the President.
“As of this moment I cannot definitively tell you when we will know the cause of the illness or how we will be able to prevent it or treat it. But I can assure you that we are putting all of our resources toward finding the cause and a cure to this problem. We do not know how the illness is contracted and we do not know if the illness is transmitted from one person to another. These are key questions that will drive our precautionary measures. For now, we are not recommending that people take any precautionary measures, but this may change. We will be providing daily briefs on this issue until it is resolved. The Federal Government will be providing help to the States as requested. I know many of you have lost loved ones in the last couple of days, and our thoughts and prayers are with you. I look forward to talking to you again over the next several weeks as we work toward a solution. God Bless you all and God Bless the United States of America”
Rob had listened to the speech carefully trying to detect any nuances in the President’s words. It appeared to him that the President had been very direct and had not minced his words. He immediately wondered if this disease is what had killed his student. Seth did have a weakened respiratory system and had some minor heart defects. It wasn’t clear to him that there was a link, but he had a gut feeling that there probably was.
Brett piped up first, “Well, if I heard the President correctly, there is something going around that is basically killing old people. So we don’t have to worry, except for our grandparents. Is that what you heard dad?”
“Well, basically, yes, that is what he said. I think the bigger issue is that they don’t know what is causing the illness and they don’t know if it will affect anyone else. I guess we will have to wait for more information. I did talk to both sets of grandparents earlier this evening and they are both fine,” said Rob reassuringly.
“That’s good,” said Hope. “Maybe we should plan on getting together with them this weekend in case something does happen.”
Rob smiled - Hope was always admirably to the point and pragmatic.
“That might be a good idea Hope. I’ll discuss this with mom when she gets home. She should be home in a few minutes. Has everyone gotten their homework done?”
A chorus of moans and complaints followed as Rob ushered the kids out of the family room and down the hall to their rooms.
Rob decided to sit outside to meet Katie when she arrived. Marveling at the dark clear sky filled with thousands of stars, he could see their reflections as they danced across the ripples on the Patuxent River. In the distant northwest he could see the faint glow of Washington, D.C. They were only forty-five miles from the center of world power, but out in the countryside of southern Maryland it felt like they were light years away. There was a feeling of safety and security here that he couldn’t explain, but that he nonetheless gravitated to, especially in times of stress. He could happily sit out here for hours on end, but the pull of life kept him from doing it as often as he would like.
Rob was snapped out of his daydream by Katie’s arrival, and he hurried over to the car to help her with her things. As Katie got out of the car, she clung on to Rob as if she would never let go. They stood there in an embrace and Katie wept for several minutes until she calmed, drawing strength from Rob. She leaned back and gave him a light kiss and said, “Thank you for being here. I have so much I need to share with you right now.”
They sat together on the porch swing, looking out across the river as Katie explained everything.
When she finished, Rob asked: “I heard the President’s speech and he indicated the disease was only affecting the elderly. But Herb was only 72? Did he have some health problem?”
“Well, he was overweight and he told me once he had high blood pressure. It could be that it was just his time, but you know I don’t believe in coincidences,’ said Katie.
“It just doesn’t make sense. Our parents are about the same age and I called them earlier and want to let you know that everyone is fine. Oh, by the way, Hope thinks we should visit them based on the President’s speech. Maybe a little bit of an overreaction, but what do you think?”
“I was thinking we should visit them, based on my feelings since Herb’s death. Hope must have my emotional genes,” chuckled Katie, smiling for the first time today.
“I do have some news from the Center,” Rob said. “I will start with the bad since I think it might be related to what you have been talking about. We lost a student. He had Cerebral Palsy, with some respiratory and heart issues. Everyone else seems to be fine.”
“Oh my God,” gasped Katie. “Do the kids know?”
“Not yet. I wanted to talk to you about it first. I don’t know if it is associated with what the President said. The kid’s take away from the speech is that they are safe, only the very old are at risk. I wasn’t ready to pop that bubble until after talking to you.”
“My guess is that the death is related to all that I heard and saw today. I don’t think it is necessarily an age-related illness. I think if you are in your seventies and in good health, you are safe, at least for now. I think we should hold off telling the kids for a day or two. Let’s see if there are any breakthroughs that can shed some light on what is really happening,
” she said. “Now, you said you had some good news too, so let me hear it.”
“Oh yes, I nearly forgot. I met with Will Walters today. He wrote me a check for two million dollars to build all fifteen pods at the Center. And, the Council of Churches gave me five hundred thousand to boot. So, in just one day, we’ve raised all of the money we need and the gears are turning to break ground, maybe late this week or early next week. Since it is all modular, I expect to have the structure finished in sixty days and then we just need to furnish it,” said Rob with a big smile.
“Finally some good news,” said Katie.
Rob put his arm around his wife, pulling her into him. She felt safe there, as they sat on the swing for the next half hour just staring out across the water. She didn’t know how she was going to get through the next day or what it would bring, but for now she felt calm.
CHAPTER 9
“I need you to be at the headquarters for a secure DVC by 9 a.m. Can you make it?” asked Sarah, Washington Director of the CDC when Katie answered the ringing phone that had jolted her from sleep.
Rob rolled over in the bed to face his wife.
“Who was that? Don’t they know it is only half past five in the morning?”
“It was the Director. She wanted to catch me before I left for the office. I have to be downtown by 9 a.m. I was planning on going by the conference. I can still do that, I just need to get there by 8:00 so I have a few minutes with Beth and the participants.”
“Well, you can catch another thirty minutes of sleep and still make it.”
With a longing look in her eyes, Katie said, “Well, since we are awake, why don’t we…?”
Before she could finish her sentence Rob had pulled her towards him
“I thought you would never ask.”
A little after 7 a.m., Katie was on her way to the University of Maryland conference Center. Her head was full of questions. Why was she attending the DVC? She was only a statistician. How many people would still be at the Aging Conference? Would they be panicked by the illness that was going around and the President’s speech? What was causing the illness? She knew that shortly she would have the answers to all of these questions save one: What was killing the elderly and the infirm? This had to be stopped soon. She knew that if the disease was communicable the number of sick people could multiply fast as it spread throughout the world. Then again, maybe it wasn’t contagious. Maybe something else was causing people to get sick. But it was already worldwide, she thought. This just didn’t make any sense at this point.
A little before 8 a.m. she arrived in the conference hall and found Beth arranging tables and making sure everything was set for the last day to start.
“Hi Katie. I am so glad you could come today. Everyone has been asking about you,” said Beth.
“Well, I am just glad you have been here taking care of things. This conference couldn’t have happened without your care and feeding. Thank you so much for holding down the fort in my absence. How is everything?”
“Well, yesterday about twenty five people felt ill and left,” replied Beth. “I am not sure if it was sympathetic illness or if they were actually sick. I do sense some fear in this older crowd. It doesn’t make sense to any of them that several people would die over the course of just a few days.”
“To be honest with you, I think they do have something to worry about,” said Katie. Whatever the illness is, it seems to have a catastrophic effect on the elderly. Has anyone who left because they were sick returned? Did they end up in the hospital?”
“I don’t know,” said Beth. “Maybe there will be some news today when they start arriving in about ten minutes. They will have to be pretty sick to stay away from the famous breakfast buffet here. It seems to be their favorite meal,” Beth laughed.
“Well, I hope everyone is ok. I can only stay until about 8:30 a.m. I have a 9:30 meeting with the CDC Director and I need to check my email and messages before then.”
“Do you think Herb might stop by for part of the conference?” asked Beth.
“Oh, I am so sorry, Beth, I forgot to tell you, Herb is in the hospital. I am not sure of how he is this morning, but I think it is pretty bad. His wife called late yesterday crying, but didn’t leave a message. I couldn’t reach her to find out the status, so I don’t have a good feeling.”
Immediately Katie could see the shock and fear in her eyes as they welled up with tears. The three of them had developed a close friendship having worked together for the last eight years.
Finally, Beth let out a gasp and asked the one question that was on everyone’s mind. “Do you think he has the same illness that is killing the elderly?”
“Yes,” Katie whispered. “And we don’t know what it is or if it is contagious. I hope to find out more at the meeting I am attending at headquarters shortly. I know that isn’t very comforting, since we have both worked closely with Herb for such a long time.”
Beth composed herself and fell back into her role as the Executive Assistant saying, “Well, let’s hope Herb has stabilized. I will contact Melody and see if there is anything we can do to help.”
“That’s great Beth. I will call you when I get out of the meeting and let you know what I can. I’ll try to stop back by the conference for the closing this afternoon.”
As Katie left she was slightly panicked by the evident lack of attendees at the conference. Didn’t Beth just tell her that the breakfast buffet was their favorite? Perhaps they had been worried by the President’s announcement last night and decided to leave early. She hoped that this wasn’t a taste of things to come.
As Katie entered the Headquarters building the tension in the air was palpable. She took the elevator to the Director’s office. As she entered Sarah’s assistant looked up and said, “I will let the Director know you’re here. There is some coffee in the conference room and a computer in the corner if you need it. She has Dr. Shah in her office right now and she told me she wanted to see you at a quarter to nine, so you have about fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you,” replied Katie, “I’ll check some email while I wait.”
As Katie opened her email she could tell there was something different. Normally it took two or three seconds. Today it was taking fifteen seconds. When her email screen came up she saw that she had six hundred and eighty new unread emails. As she scrolled through and read each new subject line, her horror grew. Every one of them was a report of death or illness. A quick calculation told her that of the thirty-three hundred people she tracked around the world, several hundred had perished overnight.
When Katie was eventually called into the Director’s office, she was met with an upbeat tone. “Hi Katie, how are you?” But that tone contrasted dramatically with the strain on her face.
“Right now I’m OK, but I was just on my email and it looks as though maybe upwards of five hundred of the people that we routinely track in our aging studies have perished. This is quite a shocker,” said Katie.
“Well, as far as shockers go, I don’t know if you know, but I got a call from Melody and she said that Herb died yesterday afternoon. She said she tried to call you, but she got only your answering machine.”
Herb was an institution at the CDC and was beloved by all, and although she had allowed herself to think the worst before this, hearing the words out loud shocked her to the core
“I was afraid that was the case. Beth was going to call Melody to find out how he was and see if they needed any help,” said Katie. Then she asked, “But why Herb, he wasn’t elderly? He was only 72.”
“Melody said he wasn’t in the best of health, but the doctors certainly didn’t think he was going to die. I think that whatever is killing the elderly somehow affected him at a younger age. We don’t know why yet, but you are going to help us find out.”
Dr. Shah sat quietly as the Director continued. “The first autopsies from the D.C area and Atlanta have been completed. Whatever the cause, this disease seems to be attacking all internal
organs of the victims, as evidenced by the damage to their heart, brain, liver and kidneys. There is no indication of a virus or bacteria at present, but we hope to isolate something from our cultures. It is very baffling. We have all of the preliminary data on the conditions and the lab work that was performed on the deceased bodies. Katie, I want you to build a statistical model that will predict what we would see in a healthy human versus the victims of this epidemic. We have to figure out a way to detect the disease, whatever it is, so we can see if it is isolated to a specific area. Do you think you can do that?”
Katie nodded cautiously. “I will have to see the data and we’ll see where it leads us. I have been working on an algorithm for the last several years that uses blood testing to predict the longevity of an individual. With a few modifications, I should be able adapt this model to predict who may be susceptible to this disease. The key to my research to date is that I am using an array of blood tests that aren’t required during a routine physical. Would it be possible to have an extensive battery of lab tests run on the people who have died? The more information you can provide, the better. I could possibly predict what lab tests could be indicators for this disease. I need data from all over the country too, if possible, so that I can determine if there are any commonalities that can be isolated. I also need the information on what is the normal range for all of the lab tests, for comparison to our controls.”
Dr. Shah broke in. “We are already collecting that information. I took the liberty of putting it into a format that would be easy to look at. If there is anything missing, just let me know. We have also started to expand our protocol to test for contaminants and items we don’t normally do in day-to-day tests. It will take several days to get you all the information, but we have teams working around the clock. We are continuing to look for a bug that could be causing this, but right now the experts are baffled. It appears this is something entirely new. You should be receiving a file with the preliminary data before noon today and I promise we will provide you with updates every three hours until we get this thing figured out.”
The Perfect Pathogen Page 5