Virus: The Day of Resurrection

by Sakyo Komatsu

  “Wow, so even pigs can catch the flu?”

  “Absolutely. Swine flu is a lot like the kinds that humans get, especially the A types. During the time of the Spanish flu, pigs frequently got ill. By the way, one relative of the influenza A virus is the virus that causes fowl plague.”

  “Oh? That bug that all the chickens are catching now?”

  “No, what’s going around now is false fowl plague. Newcastle disease. It’s a relative of these, but a little different. By the way, even among the influenza A contagions, the antigens aren’t all the same. Influenza A—the one that caused the Spanish flu back at the end of World War I, the A1 subtype which tore through Europe between ’45 and ’48, the A2 subtype that caused the Asian flu, and now this new A-Minus too—the structure of each and every one of these antigens is a little different from all the others.”

  The girl was watching his eyes carefully, a look of surprise on her face.

  “In the same way, the influenza B viruses have two subtypes: the B1 and B2 forms. And in just the same way that a new strain of influenza A developed recently, it’s possible as well for new B subtypes to emerge. And C subtypes too—”

  “So, I see,” the girl began fearfully. “The HA type is another different kind?”

  “Yes, just like there’s a paratyphus that acts a lot like the real typhus, there’s also a disease called ‘parainfluenza’ that has the same kinds of effects as flu. The HA virus is the contagion for that. The first type of parainfluenza virus includes the HA2 virus and the Sendai virus. The second type includes the California Group virus, which Dr. Robert Chanock isolated. The third type includes the HA virus and the Shipping Fever virus that hits livestock. Finally, the fourth kind is the M-25 virus. Out of all those, only HA 1 and 2 cause adsorption reactions like we’re seeing here.”

  The girl’s mouth had fallen open. “And all those are flu viruses?” she asked.

  “They are. Along with mumps and Newcastle disease, they’re all myxoviruses, relatives of flu.”

  The coed shuddered in disgust. “There are that many kinds of flu out there?”

  “There are,” Professor Kaji said with a glum little sniff. “I don’t know why, but these myxoviruses—especially the influenza kind—mutate into new types very, very easily. The virus that causes measles? Doesn’t change at all. You get it once as a child, and you’ll never have it again for the rest of your life. Polio viruses have Type I, Type II, and Type III, but it’s just one of them that spreads, so we don’t see new kinds popping up all the time like we do with the flu.”

  “So this virus …” the student began as she gestured over to the microscope. “Is it Type 1 of HA? Or Type 2?”

  “We don’t know yet.” Professor Kaji shook his head. “From here on, we’ve got to use all kinds of lymph to study the neutralization reactions. We’ll have to order a variety of lymph samples, though my gut is somehow telling me this is a new type.”

  “I hate this,” the student said, her face twisted like she was about to start crying. “Yet another flu might be going around.”

  “Parainfluenza usually causes serious suffocative bronchitis in children, but this one is taking down adults.”

  “Is it possible to get a double infection of this with influenza A-Minus?”

  “Probably,” Professor Kaji replied. “There have been quite a few cases where people got both A1 and A2 together. These little guys are very contagious and their rate of mortality is high, so that would make for one heck of a problem. The effectiveness of each vaccine is completely different from one to another, so we’d have to make vaccine for both the A-Minus and the HA types.”

  The girl sneezed.

  I wonder if she isn’t predisposed to allergies? Professor Kaji wondered. She could be one of those types who can develop symptoms of a disease just by listening to a detailed description of it.

  “Professor, I’m going home now,” she said, her face turning pale as she spoke. “My head hurts. I wonder if I’ve caught it just by being here.”

  “Did you get sick when the Asian flu was going around?”

  “I did,” she said, getting up. “I was still in elementary school. They closed the school, but most of us got it anyway.”

  “We ought to take early measures this time too,” the professor murmured, “but since the new semester’s just started …”

  The virus Professor Kaji had discovered was a completely new kind. It was classified as a Type 6 parainfluenza and given the name HA3 Kajivirus. It caused serious respiratory disease in adult men and women. Not only was it extremely contagious, another horrifying fact soon became clear: it was confirmed that when double infections of HA3 and A-Minus viruses occurred, the rate of mortality skyrocketed to nearly seventy percent.

  On April 17, Beijing’s People’s Republic of China Chemo-Sero Vaccine Research Institute—which had once made a spectacular contribution to virology with its isolation of the trachoma virus—pointed out the sobering fact that the current vaccine for the A-Minus virus produced unusually weak antibodies in human lymph. Specifically, they were saying that in order to generate sufficient immunological protection, not three but almost five times as much vaccine as was needed for A2 influenza vaccination would be necessary. Further, a person who had recovered from the disease once could be infected again, and that those who were infected would be difficult to cure. Dr. Long Hai of the same institute reported that the A-Minus virus did not grow very well inside developing chicken eggs (like all influenza viruses to date, it hardly grew at all in the allantoic cavity inside the egg, preferring the amniotic cavity that enveloped the embryo), and grew better in cells from human embryos or monkey kidneys. This finding suggested that although the new virus was close to the A group in terms of antigen structure, it might rather be more appropriate to refer to it as an altogether new “Influenza E” class of virus. Also, this was accompanied by a reference opinion that said the A-Minus influenza might easily cause not only respiratory complications, but also complications of the nervous system. The virological research department at Rhône-Poulenc, one of France’s mass-producers of pharmaceuticals, reported that this “complication” could easily cause heart attacks due to the sympathetic nervous system being affected—especially in cases where patients already had heart problems.

  On April 20, the World Health Organization gave formal warning to all nations, declaring that the Tibetan flu was going to be the first global pandemic since the 1918–19 Spanish flu:

  “At present, we predict that the disease caused by the influenza A-Minus virus, which is now reaching the proportions of a worldwide epidemic, will bring about serious conditions surpassing in every way the ‘Asian flu’ caused by the A2 type of 1957, and resembling or exceeding those of the 1918–19 ‘Spanish flu’ that was caused by the Type A virus. The Spanish flu peaked in three waves over a period of about one year and was contracted by over thirty percent of the entire world’s population at that time, resulting in fifty million fatalities, exceeding the total number of battlefield deaths in the First World War.

  “Please take special note of this striking difference between the A-Minus virus and the Asian flu, which had a relatively low number of fatalities compared to infections. Influenzavirus A-Minus is a completely new genus, entirely different from any Group A virus previously known, and it is reasonable to believe that almost no one in the world has any immunity to it whatsoever. Also, it is presently known that the A-Minus species itself has many subtypes, and variation between the subtypes is great. Furthermore, the mortality rates due to A-Minus infection that have been reported up until the present time are extremely high—averaging fifteen percent and climbing as high as thirty percent. That is to say, the possibility exists that an epidemic more serious than the Tibetan flu and Spanish flu may occur.

  “Furthermore, the current situation is being complicated by difficulty in securing a cultivation base for the vaccine due to NC2, the new strain of Newcastle disease now affecting the poultry industry worldwi
de, and also by double infections with Type 6 parainfluenza, caused by the Kajivirus discovered in Japan. In light of the seriousness of the situation insofar as it may be predicted, the World Health Organization is requesting the cooperation of every nation in establishing a temporary headquarters for combating Tibetan flu, in tracking the epidemic’s progress globally, and in committing to a general prevention framework worldwide, including measures such as the pooling of vaccines.

  “In addition, we are also issuing a warning to ordinary civilians across the world, who due to past experience with previous forms of influenza may well be taking the current epidemic too lightly. For this reason, we ask that disease prevention officials in every nation make robust efforts to keep the people informed, particularly in regard to the gravity of this situation wherein such an epidemic may occur, and to seek the cooperation of the public in preventing its spread. Due to the unfortunate overlapping of many negative factors, Tibetan flu may become a serious challenge for the entire human race.”

  Coming from the usually reserved WHO, the announcement contained a remarkable note of agitation. However, even in this form, its language had been somewhat softened. Dr. F. Kopecky, a WHO member from Czechoslovakia and an authority on the study of epidemic prevention systems, had urged that the draft statement include language stating that Tibetan flu would be “as serious a problem as the plague that destroyed a quarter of Europe’s population in the fourteenth century.” Naturally, such extreme language was not adopted out of consideration for the shock it would give the world, but those in charge of disease prevention in every country couldn’t help shuddering as it hit them that the epidemic pattern of this influenza A-Minus represented an entirely new stage in the war against contagious diseases.

  Out of consideration for the shock … Yes, when exposed to an overwhelmingly large-scale crisis, the experts often hesitated to reveal the true extent of the situation. If a truth that only the experts could discern got out into the general public, a terrible panic might ensue.

  “To tell the truth, this is a body blow against the systematic prevention of epidemic diseases,” said Robert McAllister, a young worker in the WHO office. His face was tense as he spread out a report tallying up data on influenza that had been sent in from all around the world. England, France, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the countries of Scandinavia, and more.

  “The mortality figures are topping twenty percent in Ukraine. And in Peru …”

  In Mexico, Guatemala, and the backwaters of inner Ecuador, entire villages of Indians had been wiped out—by the flu.

  “Mainland China is the only place we don’t have any precise information on yet.” To this, Bob McAllister added with just a touch of anticommunist inflection, “As always.”

  “Insofar as we’re talking about contagious disease, China has much to command our respect,” replied Dr. Albert Dubois. “Even if they tried to put a report together, that country is just too big, and too much of it is backwoods. Also, during the Korean War, China suffered germ warfare attacks courtesy of the U.S. Air Force. The People’s Republic of China is still a young country, and since that time, it’s had no choice but to set aside much of its meager budget and personnel for epidemic prevention research. Now China is known as the country with the fewest number of mosquitoes and flies in the world, but this is because their Patriotic Hygiene Campaign has been going on since 1952. And those efforts at stamping out harmful insects were in fact begun as a measure for dealing with the US military’s germ warfare. In those days, the US military spread germs by dropping infected mosquitoes and flies, as well as fleas, spiders, field mice, and such from airplanes.”

  “Pardon me, Doctor,” McAllister said, making no effort to hide the anger in his voice. “Is there any concrete evidence of America using germ weapons during the Korean War?”

  Dr. Dubois stared with light aqua eyes at this young American. Robert had wanted to be a doctor and had made it as far as intern, but he wasn’t a scientist himself. He was from an old family in eastern Maryland, son of a senator, and only twenty-four.

  “Bob …” Dr. Dubois said kindly, “that was ninety-eight percent factual. No, the scholars who were assigned the investigation were sure it was one hundred percent true. However, they were short two percent when it came to concrete evidence. Of the rest, half is circumstantial. Moreover, America and China were in a de facto state of war at the time, and China was being branded an ‘enemy of the United Nations’ by America’s coercive tactics in the General Assembly. They blocked China from joining the UN for more than a decade afterward.

  “The Communist Bloc was dancing to Stalin’s tune in those days, and his hateful clashes with Truman pulled the rest of the world into a state of semi-war. So much so that even now I think of the 1950s as the Third World War. Even though there wasn’t actually the full-on use of armed force, living in that world felt no different from being at war. How much weight do you think the voice of a scientist truly carried in those days? During the Second World War, even scientists from neutral countries perfected, tried to develop, or did develop terrifying weapons like America’s atom bomb and Germany’s V-1 flying bombs. How much use do you think it would have been if the so-called neutral countries had demanded a big investigation?”

  “Doctor, have you been to China yourself to look into this?”

  “I was still young,” Dr. Dubois said, taking off his glasses and giving his eyes a rub. “In February of 1952, thanks to an appeal made by China’s Professor Guo Moruo, the International Council for Science formed an investigative team under Dr. Needham of England to look into the facts regarding use of germ weapons during the Korean War. I accompanied Mr. Martell, who was France’s representative. At the time, there was a bit of a situation, so his name was different back then, though—”

  “And?” Robert said, looking at the doctor with piercing eyes.

  “The investigative team released a seven hundred page report.” The doctor broke off for a moment. “The verdict was guilty, McAllister. There was no evidence directly tying the fact that US military planes crossed over the Yalu Jiang River and invaded the northeastern district of China and the fact that immediately afterward large numbers of insects carrying infectious disease germs appeared. However, as scientists, every last person on the team was convinced. America was guilty.”

  “But you just said there was no direct evidence,” Robert persisted.

  “Well, not exactly. In January of 1952, two of the crew of a US B26 aircraft that was shot down near Ansan in North Korea testified that they had received training in germ warfare in Iwakuni in Japan, and in January of 1952 had dropped a total of ten germ bombs on North Korea. We of the investigative team interviewed these two American crewmen and confirmed their testimony.”

  “Well, they were probably tortured into confessing,” Bob argued. Bob had red hair—they say that red-haired people are stubborn. “It was well known at the time that they did that kind of thing.”

  “Information that was of course propagated by the powers that be in America,” said Dubois with a nod. “But by the time the crewmen confessed, the scheme was impossible to cover up any longer. The use of germ weapons appears to have originally begun in 1950, during the US Army’s retreat.

  “And it seems that POWs were experimented on at the POW internment facility on Kŏje-do Island. They say that North Korean and Chinese POWs were injected with plague in landing craft just before being released. It started with smallpox in June of 1950, and between then and mid-1952, from North Korea’s major cities and headwaters all the way to northeast China’s farm belt, there were all kinds of contagious bacteria present in the environment: plague, anthrax, cholera, and even black powdery spot that wipes out crops, and purpura. They were being transmitted by mice, fleas, spiders, flies, mosquitoes, clams, the feathers of birds, soybean stalks, oak leaves, maize.”

  McAllister had gone pale. Biting his lip, he looked up at the doctor and stared at him. “Doctor, you honestly believe the US
military did all that, don’t you?”

  “I do, Bob,” the doctor quietly answered. “Because afterward, I laid hold of almost completely conclusive evidence. By coincidence, actually. By then, however, a lot of time had passed, so I didn’t make it public. At the time of the Korean War, some of the germ cultures were being grown on Japanese soil, and apparently medical professionals who had been affiliated with Unit 731 of the former Japanese Imperial Army were helping them, along with a number of scholars …”

  Bob looked as though he had been struck across the face. Here was a young American who, raised in an blue-blooded family in the eastern US, had received a simple, Puritanical education. He was visibly struggling over whether to feel humiliation at Dubois’s claims or to fight back: “Did such a thing even happen?”

  “Even if it did, the Commies were doing worse, and that alone means America had just cause. It was unavoidable, for the sake of justice.” Bob’s elder brother, a Yale graduate, had been in the Peace Corps during the Kennedy years and had come home with a head full of radical ideas. But Bob was the youngest and, spoiled by his grandparents, had always resisted his brother’s sophisticated, rather cynical criticisms of his country’s policies. And now this …

  “I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead,” the doctor went on, “but they say Douglas McArthur was dismissed as Supreme Commander of the UN Forces in Korea because of two problematic issues: wanting to cross the Yalu Jiang to invade China and refusing to take the potential use of nuclear weapons off the table. But from where I stood I couldn’t help wondering if one more reason might be that it was about to come to light that he had used germ warfare—and had failed in it. Bob. I don’t know whether he was directly responsible for this filthy business or not, but at that time he was in the highest position of responsibility for all military operations of the US Armed Forces. Or to think about it another way, one might wonder if it was because he was determined to wage full-scale war on China, atomic weapons included, that he dared to cross as deadly a bridge as that of germ warfare. Because once it came to a showdown on the mainland, germ attacks that had ended in failure would hardly seem significant.”