Chapter 164: Ebola (7)

On a hill overlooking the jungles of western Congo, Rosaline was looking around south-central Africa in Simulation Mode.

—Woah

Rosaline exclaimed.

“It’s bad,” Young-Joon, who was also seeing what Rosaline was seeing, said.

—It’s no joke. The jungles of southern and western Congo have already been taken over by Ebola and anthracis.

“...”

Young-Joon held his head.

“Anthracis isn’t that good at spreading, is it?”

—Anthracis quickly hopped onto the herbivores in this area when they got Ebola and had low immunity.

Rosaline said.

—And if they go to another area after Ebola’s incubation period and die, they are going to spread the anthracis there.

“How much do you think it relies on anthracis?”

—The spread of Ebola?

“Yeah.”

—About eighty percent.

“That’s pretty high.”

Young-Joon thought for a moment. The hot, thirty degree wind brushed his neck.

“What do we have to do to kill anthracis?” Young-Joon asked.

—It’s difficult to destroy once it forms spores. We can kill it if we pour a solution of ten percent formalin onto it.

“But if we pour something like that onto the jungle...”

—The environmental damage will be severe.

“But at this rate, the other countries in Africa will pour formalin on Congo’s jungles. At this rate, Ebola can cause a pandemic, and that is the only option to stop it. Using formalin to put a fence around the spread of anthracis in Africa.”

—I guess so.

“It’s a desperate measure that damages itself. But we have a better way, Rosaline. Let’s use anthracis to catch Ebola.”

Young-Joon shot up from his seat.

—Using anthracis?

Rosaline asked.

“Our target is the anthracis in eastern Congo where Ebola hasn’t spread yet. We can stop the spread of Ebola using them.

—How?

“We develop a virus that mimics Ebola. We only leave the receptor that infects anthracis so that it doesn’t harm humans or animals.”

—...

“We can add Ebola genes into it so that it can have immunity to Ebola.”

—We make a vaccine for bacteria and inject it into anthracis?

“Exactly.”

Young-Joon snapped his finger.

“Although, it’s hard enough to develop an Ebola vaccine for humans, let alone one for

anthracis.”

—And you’re going to make me do all the work, aren’t you?

“Five milliliters of ATP when we get back to A-Bio. Good?”

—Ten.

“... Okay, ten.”

* * *

In the lab at the University of Kinshasa...

“The animal experiments will turn out well, and you can make a treatment based on that data,” Young-Joon said. “And A-Bio made us a standard serum. You can develop a vaccine based on the antibody values here.”

Young-Joon handed Michelle the standard serum. “Are you going back to Korea?” Michelle asked. She seemed disappointed that Young-Joon was leaving.

“No, I’m going to stay here. And take this.”

Young-Joon gave them another document.

“What is this?” Michelle asked.

“It’s a research protocol. It’ll be good to consider when you’re developing the vaccine. It’s a vaccine candidate. The Ebola virus is difficult to use as an inactivated vaccine,” Young-Joon replied.

An inactivated vaccine was a vaccine containing a virus that had been killed through chemical and heat treatment.

“If you develop an inactivated vaccine, there will be rare cases of people failing to produce antibodies and dying. Instead, we’ve isolated some of the fragments that are essential to the Ebola virus,” Young-Joon said.

“And we’re going to vaccinate with fragments?” Michelle replied.

“That’s right.”

Michelle read the research protocol. It was very detailed and specific.

—BALB/c mice will be immunized twice every three days according to the standard vaccine development injections.

—On day seven, blood will be drawn and antibody levels will be compared to the standard blood serum.

—Formulate the vaccine at a concentration of 15 mg/L and proceed with preclinical studies.

“... How could you plan it in such detail?” Michelle asked.

It felt like Young-Joon had already done the experiment before.

“Well, because I’ve been doing similar experiments. If you follow that protocol, the vaccine will be developed in ten days,” Young-Joon replied.

“... But if you have a plan like this, why didn’t you do the rest? And you’ll still be here?”

“Yes, but I have something else I have to do. It’s about Ebola. I will be doing my own research for a while.”

“...”

Michelle was a little baffled, but she couldn’t force Young-Joon to develop the vaccine and treatment. He had already provided them with a prototype of the treatment, as well as a standard serum and target for the vaccine. He had already done much more than what an advisor would do.

“Okay. We will start it then.”

Michelle was also a member of the GSC. She was one of the world’s leading experts in vaccines, and she was a brilliant biologist. She also wasn’t going in blind. If Young-Joon laid the groundwork, the rest of it would be easy. A scientist like Michelle would be more than capable of leading her team and getting good results.

“But do you know that, Doctor Ryu?” Michelle asked.

“What?”

“The constitutional court of Congo made a decision to hold a reelection.”

“... When is it?”

“About two weeks later.”

This was bad. The incubation period for Ebola varied, ranging from two days to twenty-one days, but it usually took around two weeks. Given the current situation, the anthracis that had taken over all of southern and eastern Congo and the Ebola virus they were spewing were going to have significant impacts. Young-Joon had to make a vaccine and get it to patients as soon as possible.

“People are going to refuse the Ebola vaccine at least until the vote,” Young-Joon said.

“That’s right, since [people are already reluctant to get vaccines because they are not treatments.”

“...”

“But I think we will be able to meet the deadline since we’ve been prioritizing the development of the treatment like you said. The data from the mice experiment are looking good,” Michelle said. “At this rate, we will be able to do a preclinical experiment and then go straight to administering it to Ebola patients. Since this is urgent, the Ministry of Public Health is going to use the Infectious Disease Control Act to skip Phase One of clinical trials.”

It was common to give specialized drugs, such as cancer drugs, to patients in Phase One of clinical trials. However, drugs like the Ebola treatment needed to be tested for safety first. As such, they were administered to healthy people in Phase One. If they didn’t cause any side effects in them, the drug moved on to Phase Two, where they were given to patients to observe its efficacy.

“The spread of the virus through anthracis is very fast. We have to think that a lot of people have already been infected. The incubation period will soon be over and there will be a major outbreak,” Young-Joon said.

Michelle’s shoulders slightly quivered.

“We must have a large supply of the cure by then,” Michelle said.

“Yes. I’ll contact A-Gen and have them start production in advance,” Young-Joon said.

“In advance?”

“Yes. We skipped Phase One of clinical trials because of the urgency of the situation, but we’ll also skip some of the red tape too, since we’ll be able to get the drug to Congo right away if there aren’t any problems.”

“...”

Michelle was at a loss for words. This wasn’t something that a CEO of a company would think of. A mass production of drugs was usually done after Phase Three of clinical trials at the least. There were a lot of complex processes they had to do in order to mass produce a drug, such as optimizing various production processes and teaching the manufacturers. That cost a significant amount of money and time. That was why mass production was done after proving the drug worked; that way, the company didn’t suffer any losses.

“Thank you...”

This wasn’t simply confidence in the drug he developed; Young-Joon was making a huge gamble in order to save the people of Congo. Michelle was extremely touched.

“We will make sure to succeed in the vaccine and the treatment’s preclinical trial,” Michelle said.

* * *

The treatment was finished eight days later. The research was being done at an incredible speed. The vaccine was also being done at an extremely fast rate. Young-Joon told them to inject them twice, but they had already gotten a lot of antibodies with the first injection. It seemed like they would have complete resistance to Ebola with the second shot.

“He’s insane...” Michelle mumbled while checking through the research data.

She followed the protocol Young-Joon gave her, and she was able to make a treatment and vaccine for Ebola in a short period of time. She sent the research data to President Phillip.

And that evening, the Congolese government declared an Ebola emergency. Philip was giving a speech in front of the Kimitiere Church, the biggest church in Kinshasa.

“We have discovered that the Ebola virus can infect anthracis,” Phillip said as he read the announcement. “This gives the Ebola virus the ability to survive for long periods of time in anthracis, an organism with high survivability. This is allowing the virus to spread at an unprecedented rate.”

“Get out!” shouted one of the citizens.

“The Congolese government is putting all its resources into creating an Ebola vaccine and treatment as fast as possible. We will have a prototype of it soon. The people of Congo, do not be afraid and believe in the government. Vaccination wil...”

Crack!

An egg thrown by the crowd landed on Phillip’s shoulder.

“Get lost!”

“You’re not the president until we do the reelection!”

“Go away Phillip!”

The agitated people were swarming. The security guards were blocking them.

“I will not run for reelection if everyone gets vaccinated!” Phillip shouted into the microphone.

“...”

Everyone stopped. They stared at Phillip in bafflement.

“Congo is currently facing a huge biological disaster. The outbreak will begin sooner or later, and it will be a pandemic. It will be nothin like the one in 2014,” Phillip said.

The chief of staff, who was standing downstairs, looked concerned.

‘The government can’t scare the people like that.’

Phillip picked up the microphone.

“However, we can stop the disaster if we cooperate. Michelle, the secretary of the Ministry of Public Health I invited, is one of the best scientists in the country. And Doctor Ryu Young-Joon, the person we invited as an advisor, is rewriting history in medicine,” Phillip said. “Led by these two experts, countless scientists are shedding their blood and tears and working in biosafety level four labs while risking their lives. The treatment is almost finished, and I heard the vaccine will come out soon as well. People...” Phillip said as he clenched his fist. “I know that Ebola is being treated as a ghost in our society. I know that no one believes that Ebola is going around. I also know that Ebola is the reason why voting was banned in Maibi.”

“...”

“But I need your help. Ebola exists. Please believe that.”