Genetic Bullets: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 3)

by JC Ryan

  “The good news is that she and the others should be able to fight it off. Man, I wish I were there. She needs me, Nigel.”

  “I understand. Listen, we’re going to get you home as soon as possible. Try not to worry. Are you comfortable with the care she’s receiving?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t have much information. One good thing is that Luke is there. They’ve detained him at the hospital under quarantine. I’m surprised I’m the first to tell you about this.”

  “Frankly, so am I. More heads may roll, yet. Esther and I will be praying for her, Daniel.”

  “Thank you, Nigel. I’ll keep you posted.”

  With Daniel’s report came a number of tasks for the President to perform, the first being to call the CDC and find out what the devil those clowns were doing now. He would have thought they would have solved their communications problems with him after what happened to their Director a few weeks ago.

  Chapter 32 - Do I have the legal ability to order that?

  The news that the H10N7 had started to affect people whose heritage had no known links to the Middle East was out via the grapevine before the news media picked it up. All over the world, people who assumed they were immune had gotten lax about their quarantine compliance. Into hospitals that were already overwhelmed with the initial wave poured more and more patients. Medical personnel who, hearing that their patients weren’t Middle Eastern, failed to mask and glove before they were brought in were also exposed. Within twenty-four hours of Sarah’s collapse, it was as if someone had shouted ‘fire’ in a crowded theater. Panic ensued.

  Luke felt fortunate that the doctor he first talked to wasn’t past his residency. He had a slightly better chance of having the man listen to him about Daniel’s information than the stressed-out head of the ER. Doctor Hanson was his name, and he was interested to learn that his patient was the famous Sarah Rossler. As soon as he had made her as comfortable as possible, he had a chair pulled into the cubicle for Luke and sat down on the rolling stool himself.

  “Tell me more about this,” he said.

  “I think I can do better than that. One of the CDC virologists who’s down there where this thing started might be willing to talk to you, if she thinks you can sway others to begin the treatment that’s been working there.”

  “Do you mean to tell me they have survivors?”

  “One so far, out of six patients of mixed blood. The others are still being treated, and the doctor that’s with them is cautiously optimistic. We can find out what’s happening with them. But it was these patients that were the key to the virologist figuring it out.”

  “I’m all for it. Let me get someone to pay attention to your niece and make sure that fever stays down, and then let’s go where there’s less noise and make that call.”

  A few minutes later, Dr. Hanson led Luke into the doctor’s lounge and offered him a soda from the mini-fridge.

  “No thanks. I’ll just give Daniel a call. He’s going to want to know how Sarah is before he lets you talk to anyone else.”

  “That’s fine.”

  Luke made the call, explained to Daniel who Hanson was, and then handed over his phone.

  “Dr. Hanson, Luke tells me you’re taking care of my Sarah.”

  “Yes, sir. Her uncle did the right thing to get her in right away. From what he’s telling me, I’d say we have a good chance to pull her through. I have a nurse watching her vitals for the smallest rise in temperature, and we’ll cool her off right away if we see that. Would it be possible for me to speak with your doctor and your virologist? If they can give me the scientific mumbo-jumbo that will explain this thing, I think I can get it used throughout the hospital. You’ll save a lot of lives.”

  “Sure thing. Just make sure Sarah pulls through, Doc. I should be with her and instead I’m stuck here for the next six months.” Luke heard the anguish in Daniel’s voice, and even the doctor, who didn’t know him, had a moment’s empathy.

  “We’ll take good care of her, Mr. Rossler.”

  There was a slight delay while Daniel got Rebecca, then left her with the Skype call while he went for Hannah. By the time they got back, Rebecca had done a creditable job of explaining the mechanism of the virus and what they’d found out about CCR5. She handed the phone over to Hannah.

  “Good afternoon, Dr. Price. I’m Eric Hanson, an ER resident here at Boulder Community Hospital. Has Mr. Rossler informed you of what we’re facing here?”

  “Yes. I’m so sorry we didn’t figure this thing out before it could mutate,” she answered.

  “Do you have anything to add to the retrovirus and T cell discussion I just had with Dr. Mendenhall?” he asked.

  “Perhaps. I want to let you know what section of the DNA sequence is mediated by the CCR5 alleles, so you can determine whether the virus is still acting there, or somewhere else. I’ll also tell you how we found what we did. Rebecca has told you how to treat your patients, yes?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Very well.” Hannah proceeded to give Hanson the ideas she had to curb the mutated virus before it accelerated the depopulation of the earth. When she informed Hanson of the rate of spread the original virus, he groaned, causing Luke to sit up in alarm. Hanson ignored him.

  “All right,” he said, when she finished. “I’ll get the word out here as fast as I can, but you should probably call the CDC. I understand the hospitals are being overrun like a cookie crumb at a picnic in an anthill.”

  “Already did,” she replied, her usual terse style making him wonder if he’d offended her.

  “Okay, then, I’ve got my work cut out for me. Thanks for giving me the rundown.”

  Hanson handed Luke his phone back. “I owe you one. Say, what’s your name?”

  “Luke. Luke Clarke. Save Sarah and we’re even.”

  “We’re going to do our best. Why don’t you go on back and sit with her while I consult with my boss?”

  As a result, out of dozens of hospitals in the region that didn’t get the word so quickly, Boulder Community had the best track record in pulling their patients through the crisis. When all was said and done, they would later learn that they had a 98% survival rate. Meanwhile, they ran out of beds and had to cooperate in a region-wide shuffle of patients, sending everyone who didn’t have the flu to University of Colorado Hospital Anschutz Medical Center, while all flu patients filled up beds in every community and parochial hospital in the area between Colorado Springs and Ft. Collins. Other states were using similar triage methods to try to isolate the flu cases from the rest of the population, with little success. Most of them left the research to the CDC and simply treated their cases with ice baths and antiviral medications, letting the illness run its course.

  Meanwhile, the CDC and every cooperating researcher worldwide were searching frantically for a vector with which to deliver the genetic therapy that would give the Middle Easterners a chance. So far, just keeping their fever down hadn’t helped in the Middle East. With no antibodies specific to this antigen, as soon as cold therapy was stopped, the illness worsened. They weren’t going to recover unless the gene therapy solution worked.

  ~~~

  Some of the challenges that gene therapy as a science experienced at first, just after the Human Genome Project was completed and doctors started targeting the diseases known to be genetic in origin, had been solved within the past few years. The 10th Cycle Library medical section was responsible for some of the solutions, in fact. In the records, researchers had found a reference to an innocuous virus that could be used as a vector for in-body delivery of cells to specific body parts. For example, Parkinson’s patients could now expect to be cured when perfect copies of the defective gene responsible for the illness were delivered in this way to a certain part of the brain.

  Another discovery was a way to use stem cells from chimpanzees, to deliver in-vitro gene therapy. In this instance, ethical concerns about using human stem cells were sidestepped. Animal rights activists weren’t ha
ppy about it, but so far the benefit to human beings had trumped their arguments. In-vitro gene therapy involved exposing the stem cells to the vector carrying the good genes in a laboratory setting. Once the culture had developed sufficiently, causing the stem cells to become differentiated as the type of T-cell required, they were introduced into the patient’s bloodstream, where they continued to grow new, perfect cells.

  Both methods had their good points and bad points. In the first, getting the new genes to go into the DNA sequence in exactly the right spot and then stay there was an issue. In the latter, the stem cells were a bone of contention. No sooner than the CDC began working on Hannah’s discovery, scientists quickly became convinced that the first method was not going to do the Middle East any good. The illness was systemic, so introduction into the bloodstream was the better choice. Ironically, to be cured of this virus, the patients were going to have to be exposed to another virus.

  On the other hand, though scientists thought it would be simple to do it in-vitro, the amount of therapeutic cells needed was overwhelming just because of the sheer numbers of patients. Consultation with their counterparts in the world’s most advanced countries convinced the CDC that they and the others would have to get the authority to take over every lab in the West to make the therapeutic substance in such volume. The acting Director contacted the president’s staff and asked for an audience.

  “Mr. President, I’m here to tell you that we have found a therapy that will cure this virus, if only we can produce enough of it.”

  Harper’s joy at the words ‘cure this virus’ turned to concern when he heard the caveat.

  “What do you need?”

  “We need you to announce it, first, sir, if you will. Then we need the authority to force every capable lab to make it. It’s going to interfere with research and commerce alike, but it won’t be for long. Perhaps three weeks, then they can go back to business as usual, and we’ll have it under control.”

  “You’re kidding!” Harper said, though he was aware that more momentous words were required. Turning to his Chief of Staff, he asked, “Do I have the legal ability to order that?”

  Then, thinking more of the positive outcome, he went on. “You know what? Forget legality. I’m doing it and we’ll sort out the legalities later. We don’t have time to waste on red tape.”

  “Sir, I’d suggest that you make the announcement, followed by your strong suggestion that they should voluntarily cooperate. If that doesn’t get the response we want within hours, you can take the next step. That will give us time to investigate the question, but get some labs working on it right away.”

  “Schedule the announcement.”

  So it was that, at the last possible moment, with the Middle East on the brink of annihilation by disease, President Harper’s face appeared on millions of TV screens, with a grin not seen since it all began.

  “My fellow Americans, and friends across the globe. I am delighted to tell you that, due to the dedication of our brightest scientists, working without cease since this terrible epidemic began, a cure has been found. I will leave the details to the Director of the CDC to explain. I’m just a politician, don’t follow most of this science stuff too well, but they tell me that the illness is caused by the virus exploiting a vulnerable gene in some of us, and that they have a way to replace that one with a one that the virus can’t interact with. If you or your loved ones are sick, know that we are working on this just as fast as we can.

  “I want to particularly single out the dedicated scientists in Antarctica, who, despite being almost universally blamed for this accident of nature, have worked tirelessly to find a cure. Dr. Rebecca Mendenhall, Dr. Ben Epstein and Dr. Hannah Price all deserve credit for what may well be the salvation of the entire world. Dr. Epstein might have lost his life by contracting the virus if it hadn’t been for the determination of Dr. Mendenhall to save him. Dr. Price, who found the key, did so because of a suggestion from Dr. Mendenhall. While they all deserve credit, I hail Dr. Mendenhall as a heroine; the most valuable player on the winning team.”

  Here, Harper had to pause while applause drowned out his next words. When the accolade had died down, he went on.

  “To the laboratories and pharmaceutical companies within our country, I say, we need your help. Hundreds of millions of patients across the globe are doomed to die of this disease if we don’t get this cure to them very, very quickly. The Director tells me that it will take the capacity of every lab in this country along with all others in the world that have the equipment to make the genetic medicine, to manufacture enough to save what’s left of the Middle East. I urge you to do your patriotic duty, to our great country and our ill citizens, but not only to them. Do your duty as a human being to fight this with your expertise, your facilities and your immediate cooperation. When the CDC contacts you, you’ll be given the formula for the gene therapy and the instructions for producing, packaging and transporting it. I am well aware that I have the ability to issue an executive order to that effect, but I believe it won’t be necessary; I believe that Americans are still kindhearted people who have always done the right thing as they see it, and will do so again. I believe that our nation and its businesses will lead the way in cooperating in what is, after all, in everyone’s best interest.

  “And now, the Director of the CDC.”

  Harper stepped aside despite a sudden cacophony of questions from the assembled reporters. He lifted both hands and made a quelling gesture, then held out his right hand, palm up, in the direction of the microphone. The media would get most of their questions answered in the next few moments, and any they had remaining would be answered by the CDC or not at all. Harper’s next move would be dictated by the response to his call for cooperation.

  With no time to lose, every lab in the US and most other developed countries began producing the gene therapy as quickly as they could. One thing they needed to know was how much or how little would be effective. The smaller the dose that would save lives, the more lives they could save with the production of which they were capable. The ethical question was, who do we choose to treat with the first, smallest doses?

  They had plenty of patients on hand to give it to, but if they waited to see the results, the wasted days would doom countless more. Primary researchers had a massive conference call, came to a consensus about the minimum effective dose, and stated the standard. It came down to a form of roulette. Millions of pre-loaded syringes were shipped as rapidly as possible to the countries most affected, and each doctor followed his or her own rules. Where there weren’t enough doses for everyone, and that was in most places, some doctors gave them to their sickest patients, others to those just showing symptoms, and in the most backward countries, nurses simply dosed the patients whose beds were closest to their supply closets until the syringes were all used.

  The second wave of medication that went out had a few more cubic centimeters in the syringes. Until the first batch of patients to be dosed showed improvement, each shipment would have slightly more in each dose. The CDC was acting as a clearinghouse for the information as well as imposing standards on the labs that were producing the medication, so that each batch was uniform in dosage, whether it came from the US, Great Britain or Germany—wherever labs were producing it.

  As the results came in, it became apparent that those whose illness was in its second week of symptoms and who were near death lived a few days longer after receiving the therapy, but in the end it only prolonged their agony. This was seen by the radical elements as yet another attack by the West, and they urged the healthy family members of the ill to refuse this treatment.

  When the World Health Organization became involved and urged governments to curb the ability of the family members to refuse it, it ratcheted up the political tension even more. Protests outside of hospitals all over the world hindered the ability of medical personnel to come and go, and several hospitals were severely damaged by suicide bombers whose avowed purpose was to stop th
e West from turning their people into science experiments.

  The second batch was more effective. Now that it was known that the sickest patients couldn’t be saved by it, instructions were to give it only to patients in the first week of symptoms, and most of those patients survived. It was decided that medical authorities would give the medication only to those who might, with its use, survive, leaving the patients who were sickest to die untreated. Again the radicals screamed that the genocide was continuing. Where before they had protested against the therapy, now they protested that it was being deliberately withheld.

  Nevertheless, with breakthroughs on both gene therapy and cold therapy happening hourly, week seventeen of the crisis drew to a close with the numbers of deaths sharply decreased. For the first time, though new cases were still being reported at the same rate, the death toll fell well below its previous one-hundred percent, to about seventy-five percent.

  A tough decision fell on WHO and CDC when they collaborated to forbid the use of the gene therapy on anyone who had passed the tenth day of symptoms. Those patients were considered unrecoverable. Instead, millions of family members who had shown no sign of illness but were exposed by their loved ones were given preventative doses. Within a few days, the rate of new cases dropped dramatically. Among those still falling ill were the thousands of followers of the Ayatollah Kazemi, who bought his propaganda that the medicine was intended to poison them.

  Meanwhile, strict quarantine protocols limited the spread of the mutated form of the virus in the US, while most of those patients survived due to superior medical care. Sarah emerged from her syncope to learn that she was under treatment and that Luke was taking massive doses of antiviral meds to prevent becoming ill in the first place. Her first rational thought was of course for her baby, but when Luke assured her that he’d shown no symptoms in the past week, she relaxed and became a model patient. It was the fastest way she knew to get sprung from the hospital, assuming she wasn’t now a carrier. That had yet to be established for the B form of the virus.