Chapter 160: Ebola (3)

“Anthracis?” Young-Joon’s eyes widened. Michelle nodded her head with a worried expression.

“Anthracis are bacteria that can live in the ground. If it makes spores underground, it can live for thirty years. Most sterilization methods don’t work, and the damage is continuous.

“...”

“It’s nothing new. Anthrax is one of the oldest diseases in Africa.”

“Has the Ebola virus gone into anthracis?”

“I don’t know for sure, but what we do know is that genes from the Ebola virus were found in the soil at the village of Bakori, where the first Ebola patient was from.”

It was difficult to find a virus, something difficult to observe even with a microscope, in dirt. So, how was Michelle able to detect the presence of a virus? A technology called PCR could be used to amplify the virus’ genes in the suspected contaminated soil. If the gene was amplified, it meant that it was present, and if it wasn’t, it probably wasn’t present.

“But we found the genes of anthracis and Ebola in the dirt,” Michelle said. “Doctor Ryu, as you know, Ebola is not a virus found in soil. The virus spreads from organism to organism and is transmitted through bodily fluids.”

“Yes.”

Young-Joon tapped his lip in thought, then had something he was curious about.

“But why did you try to detect Ebola and anthracis genes in soil? I don’t think it's common to look at the soil of an Ebola-infected area.”

“You’re right and wrong,” Michelle said. “As you said, it is unrelated to Ebola. However, we do look for anthracis in soil in all of our infected areas.”

“Really?”

“I said anthracis is an old disease in Africa, right? The country that suffers the most is Congo. It’s because most of Congo is a jungle.”

“Jungle?”

“Yes. And the soil in the jungle area is perfect for anthracis to grow. So, it’s become habitual for us to test the soil for anthrax whenever we go anywhere. Testing for Ebola was kind of like a negative control.”

A negative control was a sample used to verify that there was nothing wrong with the experiment; it was always negative. An example of a negative control was testing for Ebola virus genes in soil where it could not survive. If there was a positive reaction, one would assume there was a problem and redo the experiment. But if it was positive over and over again, panic set in, just like Michelle.

“Thankfully, anthracis hasn’t caused huge damage to people yet. It just destroyed a lot of gorillas,” Michelle said. “Human capturing is the biggest reason why gorillas in Africa are at risk of extinction, but anthrax is probably a close second. I used to get a lot of reports like that when I worked at the World Health Organization.”

“...”

Michelle sighed. Young-Joon knew what her sigh meant.

“What’s the infection route of Ebola?” Young-Joon asked.

“It’s transmitted from animal to animal through organisms like vampire bats, then to humans. It’s carried in bodily fluids like blood.”

“What do you think is the relationship between Ebola and anthrax, Doctor Michelle?”

“It’s probably one of two things,” Michelle replied in a depressed voice.

“That’s right. One possibility is that Ebola has evolved and multiplied with anthracis as a host, and the second is that anthracis consumed Ebola and absorbed the genes into its own.”

“...”

“If it’s the former, Ebola could be detected in soil and infect people. If it’s the latter, the Ebola gene will be active in people who have anthrax and show Ebola symptoms,” Young-Joon said. “If it was the latter, Doctor Michelle, it would have been an anthrax infection and had the properties of anthracis. Did they have any signs of anthrax?”

“No, but we can’t say for sure. We didn’t have many patients.”

“But it makes it more likely.”

—The former is right.

Rosaline said.

Rosaline was staring at the plains from the moving car window.

—Over there.

She pointed.

—There’s an anthracis that’s been infected by Ebola.

‘I see.’

Young-Joon gulped. This was the worst situation possible. The combination of anthracis, a bacterium that grew and spread the soil, and a virus that was transmitted between organisms through bodily fluids, drastically increased the possible infection routes. This wasn’t an additive effect, but multiplied.

“You said the entirety of Congo is covered in jungles, right?” Young-Joon said.

“Yes,” Michelle replied.

If a gorilla was infected by the Ebola virus that was in the anthracis infecting one region of the jungle and went to another region, it would die there due to Ebola’s highly fatal hemorrhagic fever reaction. The bodily fluids from the dead gorilla would seep into the ground and infect the anthracis in the nearby soil. After a few times, the disease would go through livestock and quickly reach humans. Ebola would spread quickly and conquer the jungles in a short period of time. It would live for a long time through the unique ability of anthracis and continuously produce the virus.

“The bacterial genome is relatively stable, but a virus evolves quickly,” Young-Joon said. “Doctor Michelle, I think the Ebola virus infected anthracis.”

The world of microorganisms was a chaotic world that was composed of tens of thousands of different bacteria and viruses. It wasn’t uncommon for them to eat and be eaten. However, it was extremely rare for something like this to occur between a famous virus and bacteria like Ebola and anthracis.

“I thought so. This is terrible...”

Michelle chewed her lip nervously.

The Congolese government wasn’t even able to control the spread of Ebola through animals like vampire bats, cattle, and pigs. This was for two reasons.

The first was the people’s ignorance. The Congolese people weren’t properly educated in science, and they went to a church to offer a prayer instead of following the government’s advice and going to a hospital when they had Ebola. The longer they were left unattended, the more their bodies produced the virus and spread to other people.

The second reason was because of war. Congo was listed as a “Do Not Travel” country in Korea. Although, Young-Joon was relatively safe because he moved with key members of the government under the protection of K-Cops. In 2014, the WHO had already tried to create a quarantine safety net to block the transmission routes of Ebola in Congo. But even then, it was just health workers standing on the road, taking temperatures and quarantining people. How could they do their job if the rebels pointed guns at them and told them to get out of the way? Because of that, the quarantine safety nets quickly became ineffective. And now, anthrax has emerged as a new route for infection.

“Sigh...”

Michelle let out a deep sigh. There was nothing they could do. This was a national disaster. Also, could this really only be limited to Congo? If the transmission ability and survivability had evolved that greatly, there was a high possibility that it would spread outside of Congo.

“This could be a pandemic,” Young-Joon said.

* * *

Two middle-aged men were having beer and chicken at an old pub in Donjak-gu. It was Yoon Dae-Sung, the CEO of A-Gen, and Nicholas Kim, the CTO.

“This reminds me of the old days,” Nicholas said as he swallowed a piece of chicken.

“Yeah. We used to have a glass of beer here a lot when we were poor college students.”

Yoon Dae-Sung finished off his beer. He set the empty glass down on the table and added, “The owner and the name are all different, but the beer tastes almost the same.”

“Yeah. I usually feel really terrible on the next day when I drink because I’m old now, but the beer here is less terrible.”

“That’s right. Kim Hyun-Sik, you know one of the ways I know I’m getting older?” Yoon Dae-Sun said.

“I don’t know.”

“I can’t keep up with the latest research trends,” Yoon Dae-Sung said.

There was a trend in science. When a major discovery was made, everyone swarmed and studied everything related to that. Then, once there was nothing more to study, another team would make another breakthrough. Like fashion, science had trends. People who did research that wasn’t the latest trend were sometimes called stubborn and stupid. And people who quickly chased the trend were sometimes thought to lack expertise in one field.

In the end, the only winner and greatest contributor in the scientific world were the trendsetters. They were the discoverers that led the trend of research and ushered in a new era. They were usually the ones who won Nobel Prizes, and there were only a few of them in the world.

“I lived my entire life chasing trends, but I can barely keep up with it now. A new technology is discovered every day,” Yoon Dae-Sung said.

“It’s already been thirty years since we were able to absorb new knowledge and information like sponges. Our brains aren’t that creative anymore, Nicholas said. “But Dae-Sung, how much of a relief is it that we have a trendsetter at our company?”

“Doctor Ryu?”

“Yeah. Doctor Ryu has already made two new trends.”

“...”

The first trend was stem cells, and the second was Cas9, which were gene scissors. They were both base technologies that had incredible potential. The list of things that had come from stem cells was just mind-boggling: cures for glaucoma and Alzheimer’s, and several organoids and artificial organs.

On top of that, Cas9 had successfully carried out a sophisticated genetic manipulation that cured HIV. It also became a key component of the diagnostic kits that made up the bulk of A-Bio’s revenue. Now, it also had the potential to end all cancers with the introduction of a new technology called dendritic cell bypass. This technology was only going to get bigger. It was clear that the concept of genetic surgery was going to reshape medicine for decades.

“I’m thinking of leaving A-Gen in his hands,” Yoon Dae-Sung said.

Nicholas was shocked.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

Yoon Dae-Sung solemnly nodded.

“And I’m going to turn myself in for the development of anthrax as a bioweapon and step down.” “... What about Bo-Hyun?” Nicholas asked. “DId you talk to him about this?”

“He doesn’t know yet.”

Yoon Dae-Sung shook his head.

“He probably thinks he is going to inherit the company,” Nicholas said.

“I’ll have to talk to him.”

“When are you going to turn yourself in?”

“... There’s only a few months left until the share exchange I promised Doctor Ryu. I’m going to clean up my mess as much as I can and then turn myself in.”

“...”

“It’ll be best to merge A-Gen and A-Bio and have Doctor Ryu as the sole CEO. I’m also going to transfer my shares to him,” Yoon Dae-Sung said.

“You made a big decision.”

“Please take care of Bo-Hyun when I leave.”

“... Okay.”

Yoon Dae-Sung finished his beer.

“The beer here is really good,” he said as he shook the glass. “It’s gentle.”

* * *

In Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Disaster Response Committee was convened to take care of the Ebola epidemic. The head was Michelle, and it was composed of the best scientists and doctors in Congo. All of them were deeply concerned about Ebola infecting anthracis. There was a high possibility that this was going to become an unprecedented biological disaster. How could the Congolese government stop this? There were already people who had basically given up even before the fight.

However, they had hope when they saw a man in the conference room. Young-Joon had appeared with a bunch of documents in his hand.

“This is a genome map of the Ebola virus,” Young-Joon said. “Let’s begin.”