The Laptev Virus

“But really, they haven’t killed that many people, in the scheme of things. At least, Laptev hasn’t. From what Sarah said, it sounds like a dozen or so, maybe twenty. That’s not that many people. No, that’s not the reason we care more than we cared about HIV when it first started affecting people.” Emile looked around the room, and no one said anything, so he continued. “The real reason we are more concerned now is because this infection is affecting people from first world countries, unlike Ebola. If it were destroying small villages in some remote third world country, we wouldn’t even be looking at taking on this project,” insisted Emile. “And no one would be asking us to drop AIDS research, when HIV affects so many thousands of people, just to take on this tiny outbreak in the Arctic.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment, pondering Emile’s words. Sarah knew that he was right, but she also knew that only independently wealthy labs could afford to study whatever they wanted to study. Organizations like theirs, which depended on money from outside sources, did not have that liberty.

“I have a question,” said Shane, raising his hand and breaking the thoughtful brooding of the team. “Does the infection look all gross when it gets in people, like Ebola? Does it make their organs dissolve in a pool of blood and their eyes get all bulgy and purple and start to bleed…”

“All right, Shane, I think that’s quite enough,” said Sarah, cutting him off quickly. She immediately regretted having allowed him to speak in the first place. She should have known that he was going to say something inappropriate when he raised his hand, as if he were still in high school.

“This isn’t a Hollywood zombie movie, Shane, it’s real life. To answer your question, yes, the physical symptoms are much like those found in Ebola cases, but that’s typical of hemorrhagic fever viruses in general. The fatality rate for Laptev is higher than for Ebola though, at 65%, so let me stress again to all of you how imperative it is to go through BSL-4 training again and adhere strictly to the safety precautions at all times when you are working with this virus.”

Several people nodded soberly and Sarah decided it was time to wrap up the meeting. “All right folks, we don’t have that much time before the transition needs to be complete. Since this new megavirus is so much more contagious than HIV, we have to pack away all of our work and get the lab set up for the new work as quickly as possible. As I just mentioned, safety training will be a priority. Now, I know you all have had that kind of training before, but it’s important that you review all of the safety material. I don’t want to add any of our names to the list of victims out there. Cool?”

“Have they scrubbed down the labs for the conversion yet?” asked Drew, his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, revealing blue socks under his jeans.

“We’ve got a crew coming this afternoon. The labs should be ready to go by tomorrow, I believe. It’s good that this building is so new.”

“When will the first tissue samples arrive?” Tally asked.

“Next Wednesday.”

“Wow, that is really soon,” said Miquela, and then quickly covered her mouth, as if she was embarrassed at having spoken her thought aloud.

“I know,” said Sarah. “We’ve got samples coming in from three different victims. I wish we had more, but they burned the other bodies before anyone thought to sample them.”

“And we will be using human tissues for growing the virus?” asked Emile. It sounded like he had said gwowing the viwus.

“Actually, I’m thinking we can try two different hosts. We’ll use the HeLa line to generate human cells…”

“Gila monster cells? Cool!” said Shane, picking up on the fact that HeLa and Gila had the same pronunciation.

“Not Gila, HeLa, you know, Henrietta Lacks cells?” said Drew.

Shane shook his head. He seemed genuinely puzzled, which made Sarah wonder if his training had been adequate for him to be included in her lab after all. Surely every microbiologist had heard of HeLa cells? They had been around for so many years and had been used so extensively throughout the world.

“It’s an immortal cell line that was developed in the 1950s, wasn’t it?” said Miquela in a quiet voice.

Shane looked at her, a sneer forming on his face. “Well, there’s a gold star for you! So, superman cells to grow the deadly megavirus. Seems fitting, somehow.”

Sarah was about to chastise him when she saw Emile catch Shane’s eye and shake his head slightly in admonition. To her relief, Shane blushed and looked down.