Chapter 4. CDC
Present day. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atlanta, Georgia.
Murielle Winston was at the lab by 6:00 a.m., already having run three miles, having worked out at the gym, and having drunk what any normal person would view as a disgusting concoction of kale and eleven other vegetables from her juicer machine. She got her morning coffee with two blue Equal packets, and met her co-worker Jacob Roessler for the morning roundup.
“Morning, Jacob,” said Murielle.
“Good morning, Murielle,” said Jacob.
“What have we got today?” asked Murielle.
“We have 162 people confirmed with hepatitis A after eating Fledgling Farms Antioxidant Blend in ten states. We have 23 reported cases in Arizona, 79 in California, 28 in Colorado, 8 in Hawaii, and 11 in New Mexico. Sixty percent were women; ages were all over the board. Illness onset was from 1/31 to 2/15 of this year. All purchasers bought it from Costco. This virus relates to Genotype 18, which is rarely seen in the United States, and mostly appears in the Middle East and Africa. Here is the draft report.”
Murielle read through the report for about twenty minutes and then turned to Roessler.
“Did you isolate it?” asked Murielle.
“Yes, I did a traceback analysis and the most likely cause is pomegranate seeds from a company in Turkey, called Modbur Foodstuffs. So if you approve, we will put out a recall on that this morning and ban import of the pomegranate seeds.”
“Are Costco and Fledgling Farms cooperating?”
“Yes, they have issued a recall notice and are fully cooperating.”
“Great,” said Murielle, signing off on the report.
“How are you coming on that paper about antibiotic-resistant multiorganisms?”
“I can have a rough draft for you in a couple days. I am just waiting for some final data to come in.”
“Great, because Bjorn has been on my back about getting that out.”
“Are you going in the Oven later this morning?” asked Roessler. The Oven was their term for the Hot Zone, the Level 4 Biohazard Lab where the most dangerous pathogens in the world were stored.
“Yes, I have to. I am going in right after I make a phone call. We got those samples in from Sudan that we need to analyze. Care to join me?” asked Murielle.
“It’s a date,” said Roessler.
Murielle Winston walked down the hall to her office and shut the door. It was the morning after Teddy’s football game. She called her husband Charlie, who was taking Teddy to school on his way to the university. Charlie put his wife on speaker.
“Good morning, you two.”
“Morning, Mom,” said Teddy.
“Good morning, Murielle,” said Charlie Winston.
“Listen, Charlie, the pharmacy will open in about ten minutes. Would you mind picking up Teddy’s prescription on your way to work? It should be all ready.”
“Sure, honey, happy to.”
“And Charlie, you kept me up all night last night with the History Channel blaring at full volume. Can you turn the television down at night when I am sleeping?”
“Sorry, honey. I was watching U-571.”
“What is U-571?”
“It is a movie with Matthew McConaughey about submarine commanders in World War II who capture a German submarine in order to get the German Enigma cipher machine.”
“I see,” said Murielle. “I can see how that was an urgent thing to do at one in the morning.”
“It’s a really good movie, Murielle. Important American history, you know.” Charlie Winston winked at his son.
“Teddy, are you ready for your Science test today?”
“Yes, Mom, and thank you for helping me study for it.”
“Well, I wouldn’t be much of a scientist if I couldn’t help you with science.”
“Well, honey,” said Winston, winking at his son, “You know, Teddy was just telling me that Science is really not his thing, he is much more of a History guy.”
“Oh, is that so?” asked Murielle.
“Actually,” said Teddy. “I don’t like Science or History. I like Music. Which is why I need Dr. Dre BEATS Headphones.”
“Well,” said Murielle, “When we find our Money Oak in the back yard, we will get you some of those. Five hundred dollars for headphones! What is the world coming to? Anyway, have a nice day at school, sweetie. And don’t eat junk after school. I am making lasagna.”
“Mmmm, lasagna. That sounds good. Thanks, Mom. Don’t bring home any super-germs.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t. Talk to you two later.”
She hung up the phone and thought about her young son. All her expertise in science and there was nothing she could do to cure his paraplegia. Every morning at about this time, she ran a quick Medscape scan for any new articles on potential cures for paraplegia. There was an article published by a Chinese researcher about some kind of herb. Probably bogus, but she made a mental note to pull the article later today. Murielle Winston wrote herself a note about the ingredients she would need for the lasagna.
She then walked down the hall and entered the decontamination chamber, where she would spray herself with strong antimicrobial soap before putting on her RACAL space suit and entering the Oven. Ten minutes later, dressed in her space suit, she entered the Hot Zone and connected the spiraling yellow airhose to her suit. The oxygen pumped in. She walked carefully. Even though she did this hundreds of times a year, she was always careful. One cut to her suit could mean exposure to a fatal disease.