Chapter 85: The Diagnostic Kit (2)

“Hey, did you get the diagnostic kit?”

Ryu Ji-Won pricked up her ears when she heard the voices of the students on their way to school. All the students walking into the main entrance were talking about the same thing.

“I saw my mom use that yesterday at home, but it’s so freaking cool. My mom has diabetes and arthritis, and only those two came up when she plugged the kit into her phone and opened the app.”

“I went to the convenience store last night to get it, but it was all sold out. It’s trending like the kkul butter chips[1]. Apparently, people who work at convenience stores buy twenty of them when they come in and sell them for a higher price to people they know.”

“Insane...”

“The supply speed isn’t keeping up with the demand. And people who have the money already bought their supply for a few months. Apparently, they are going to diagnose themselves once every week.”

“Seriously, why are they like that? Why do they have to take all of it? It’s not like a disease that wasn’t there a week before will suddenly appear or something.’”

“I guess they’re older, so they’re anxious about it. But I think the supply and demand will settle down with time, right? It’s probably like this right now because it was just released.”

“I think the convenience store at school would have gotten some. Do you want to go?”

“They might be out already. The biotech kids are going crazy about it and going on the school convenience store raids every morning.”

This wasn’t an exaggeration. The biotechnology students were huge fans of Young-Joon. But it was natural as nowadays, Young-Joon made people’s chests puff up just by the commonality that they were both Korean. As such, the pride and respect that would come from Young-Joon being an alumnus of their department would be quite special. Plus, it wasn’t like he was an alumnus from twenty years ago; Young-Joon had only graduated from school a year ago. Some of the current undergraduate and graduate students had learned directly from him in the lab when Young-Joon was a graduate student.

“No, they are actually crazy. I get it because they are OG fans of Ryu Young-Joon, but...”

“Isn’t it more because this is the homeground? I heard that some people come into the school to see it. They even come to his advisor’s lab.”

Ryu Ji-Won gulped as she listened to them

‘The pressure is no joke...’

It was like this before, but it was getting worse.

There weren’t a lot of people at school who knew that she was Young-Joon’s younger sister. They didn’t even think of that because their age gap was pretty big, but a few of her colleagues and seniors knew that. It was something she revealed at the MT[2] at the beginning of the semester when she was explaining the system that discounted tuition if two or more people in the family were from or attending Jungyoon University.

‘I didn’t know he would become a huge star back then.’

If she knew that, she wouldn’t have told anyone. Already, Ryu Ji-Won was suffering quite a lot from it. There were some people who asked her if they could meet Young-Joon or wanted her to ask Young-Joon for advice on going to graduate school. One of the older girls in her school club who had a promiscuous past wanted her to set up a date. There was no telling what kind of troubles she would go through if more people knew she was Young-Joon’s younger sister.

‘I’m going to hide it as best as I can from now on.;

Ryu Ji-Won went to the convenience store that was in the basement of the Central Library. Of course, it wasn’t for the diagnostic kit but to get something to drink during class.

All the students who came to the convenience store asked the same thing at the counter.

“Do you have A-Checkup?”

A-Checkup was the product name of A-Bio’s diagnostic kit.

“No, we’re out.”

The part-time worker was also suffering as they were repeating the same thing they would have said since the morning dozens of times.

Ryu Ji-Won quietly paid for her drink and went to the lecture room.

Unfortunately, her class right now was her general biology course. The reason she enrolled in this course when she was a non-major student was to take advantage of her brother. All she would have to do was ask her brother since he was a doctor of biology, right? She wanted to get good grades easily, but she deeply regretted her decision now. The professor for this course was Professor Ban Du-Il. He was the professor who supervised Young-Joon from his undergraduate all the way to his doctorate; he was the “Ryu Young-Joon Maker”. And as he had known Young-Joon for a long time, he knew about Ryu Ji-Won as well.

“Oh, hello.” Ryu Ji-Won greeted Ban Du-Il when she saw him at the entrance.

“Hi.”

Ban Du-Il, who was sixty and close to retirement, was extremely delighted. He had been this way these days. It was natural as his student, whom he taught from his undergraduate to doctorate degree, was sweeping the scientific community.

“Ji-Won, your brother. Is he coming to school anytime soon?” asked Ban Du-Il, hinting at something. “The school is doing a World Scholars Seminar. It’s for all students down at the big hall, and our department is inviting a scholar this time. And I’m the one in charge. Your brother would be enough, right?”

“A World Scholars Seminar?”

“The one where we bring in one person every semester. It’s probably the first you’re hearing from it because it’s your first semester. Haven’t you heard about it from your brother?”

“The seniors at my club were talking about how Chomsky came last year. Is it that?”

“Yeah. The humanity department called him for the second semester last year. Well, I got the baton, so it’s my turn to invite someone. If we invite your brother, we can save money since your brother’s Korean and we don’t have to hire a translator.”

“...”

“I’ll talk to the department office and make the lecture fee worth his while. Although it won’t be worth a lot to him.”

“I’ll ask him. But he doesn’t come home very often nowadays.”

“Really?”

“Yes. He’s so busy that he just stays up at work or sleeps at a hotel nearby. He says that it’s a waste of time to drive home.”

“Man. He didn’t work that hard for his degree. Anyways, just ask him for me.”

* * *

Dengue fever was a mosquito-borne viral disease. It affected fifty to one hundred million people in about one hundred countries around the world. This value had soared since the 1980’s. This was because the population of underdeveloped countries increased rapidly, causing people to live in the habitat of mosquitoes, and proper quarantine and epidemiological investigations were not conducted.

The problem was that the occurrence latitude of dengue fever began traveling to the north in the Northern Hemisphere with climate change. Last year, the asian tiger mosquito (aedes albopictus) was found in Jeju Island last summer; these mosquitoes were one of the carriers of the dengue virus.

“Dengue fever itself is not that dangerous. It heals naturally with some rest. But still, we must quickly find and take action against confirmed cases of the dengue virus. If left unattended, the virus spreads and the patient is in danger as well,” Ji Young-Soon said. “As you know Doctor Ryu, there aren’t a lot of mosquitoes that have the virus in Jeju Island. But it’s a different story if a dengue fever patient is bitten.

When a healthy mosquito without the virus absorbed dengue virus-infected blood, the virus multiplied in the mosquito’s stomach. The virus then spread all over the mosquito’s body and infiltrated their salivary glands. When that mosquito bit someone else, the virus in its saliva would enter the body and cause an infection.

“The infection could grow instantly. And there is another problem,” Ji Young-Soon said. “There are several different types of dengue virus. When a person infected with one type gets infected with another type, cross-immunity occurs. A strong inflammatory reaction occurs, which leads to dengue shock and bleeding.”

Simply put, the person who was infected with the dengue virus first wasn’t dangerous, but they could spread the virus if they were bitten by other mosquitoes, and it could be dangerous for the patient as well.

“Thankfully, there hasn’t been word of an infected patient being bitten by a mosquito and spreading the virus. So up until last year, we didn’t even isolate patients. But this time, we are going to monitor the situation and start isolating patients if it is severe.”

“I think that is the best thing to do,” Young-Joon agreed.

Ji Young-Soon finally got to the point.

“We need a large amount of A-Checkup in order to continuously check and track it. That’s why we are worried.”

The sell-out crisis was a phenomenon that made ordinary citizens impatient, but it was a serious problem for the KCDC. It was already late April; mosquitoes were coming out one by one as the weather was warming up.

“There are six hundred thousand citizens living on Jeju Island. We need quite a large supply to have enough for everyone.”

“Probably.”

“But it is still selling out fast right now, right? Would you be able to decrease the amount distributed to the market and supply it to the government first? We will make a stockpile and use it at Jeju Island.”

“But it’s just selling out fast because the supply is in the early phases. Wouldn't the situation improve as it slowly dies down when people are used to the kits?” Young-Joon asked.

“Of course, we also believe that is the case, Doctor Ryu. And we still have some time until the summer. But we are in a position where we have to be prepared for any kind of situation,” Ji Young-Soon said. “We are a national organization. Working hard isn’t enough; we have to be good. We work on the taxpayer’s dime and we have a responsibility and the power to take care of the Korean people’s health.”

“Alright.”

Young-Joon thought for a moment while touching his lips. He soon spoke.

“Then let’s produce the supply you need at Karamchand.”

“Karamchand?”

“The Indian pharmaceutical company. They have a huge production facility. They probably have one of the best GMP facilities in the world. We are producing diagnostic kits there for the HIV eradication project.”

It was to quickly diagnose HIV patients and focus on their care.

“We will adjust the royalty rate and receive a portion of the production to Korea instead. I’ll give you a little discount since it’s to save our people.”

Now, Ji Young-Soon’s face lit up.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“I didn’t know there was such a way. It’s very helpful to have a connection to a super large GMP like Karamchand. Thank you, Doctor Ryu.”

“But you must fully control the dengue fever epidemic in Jeju Island this summer.”

“Of course. We will not let you down.”

There wasn’t a problem if they would have some leftover as they could just send it to developing countries to treat HIV. There was no way demand would go down as long as the HIV eradication project was going on.

* * *

After his meeting with the KCDC, Young-Joon took a little break as he got ready for his next meeting.

—If you want to stop the dengue virus from going around, there is a better way to do it.

Rosaline sent him a message.

“A vaccine? It’s a good idea, but it takes time to develop it. Even if you make it in one day, I have to do a clinical trial.”

—No. This method gets rid of the carrier. You don’t need a clinical trial.”

“Getting rid of the carrier? Mosquitoes?”

—Yes.

Young-Joon squinted.

“What do you mean?”

—Exactly what I said. Extinct the mosquitoes that transmit the disease.

“...”

A mosquito eradication project was one of the oldest leads in biology. In fact, there was actual research going on about this topic. With Google and the Gates Foundation leading the way, many multinational companies were investing a lot of money in this business. But no one had yet succeeded.

“But that business is still being criticized for destroying the ecosystem. And to be honest, I’m a little worried as well.”

It was divided between experts as well; people who said the ecosystem would be destroyed and those that say that we can stand against each other.

—It is because humans are stupid about the ecosystem.

“I think the scientists will be a little angry if they hear you.

—I am just saying it to deliver the truth, not to mock you. Humans do not have a lot of knowledge about the ecosystem.

“I think it’ll make people more mad that you weren’t mocking them or exaggerating... But okay.

—The only problem that occurs when mosquitoes go extinct is that the profit of mosquito spray companies goes down.

“And there aren’t any problems in the ecosystem?”

—Yes.

“Alright. I don’t think we will be able to do the mosquito extinction project in Jeju Island this summer, but let’s hear it. From the part where there’s no problem.”

—Of course there is no problem. Was there a problem in the ecosystem because smallpox or back rhinoceroses went extinct? The ecosystem is more flexible than you think, so you don’t have to worry.

“But insects are different from viruses or black rhinos. And insects like mosquitoes are food to many organisms.”

—There are three thousand five hundred forty-two types of mosquitoes on Earth.

“There are that many?”

Young-Joon felt goosebumps on his entire body.

—Yes. And there are only around ten species that sucks on human blood. There will not be a problem even if you make all of them go extinct. Of course, there will be a small structural change, but it will quickly be fixed because it is nothing fatal. It is because there are a lot of substitutes in nature for an insect like mosquitoes in the food chain.

Rosaline said.

1. Kkul means “honey” in Korean. ?

2. MT is short for “Membership Training”, and it is a Korean university culture where a department goes on a short trip together to get to know people. ?