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Exposure (standard:science fiction, 1048 words) | |||
Author: Ryan from Boston Latin School | Added: Oct 21 2005 | Views/Reads: 3461/2 | Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes) |
This medical sci-fi thriller concerns a disease called Ebola. A man named Eugene Mayburn is an ambitious epidemoligist who is interested in Ebola. Therefore, he gains clearence to experiment with Ebola. However, when he enters the lab, things go horrib | |||
Ryan Hoang 024 Section 71 September 28, 2005 Chapter 1: Exposure The world of virology, the study of viruses, had always fascinated him. As a small child, he would never take his eyes off books describing these tiny organisms and how they worked. Eugene Mayburn became so fascinated with virology that he joined the World Health Organization as an epidemiologist in 2010. An epidemiologist dealt with outbreaks of various kinds of disease and sickness. The W.H.O examined his resume which included working with multiple epidemics including AIDS, a disease of the immune system, at Los Angeles in 1981 and Avian Influenza, a infection caused by birds (also known as the flu), at Vietnam in 2003. Once they saw this impressive resume, they automatically hired him as chief epidemiologist. Not until one month later did Eugene learn about the two deadly filoviruses: Marburg and Ebola. Eugene knew that working with these microscopic organisms could kill him, but his interest got the better of him. Ebola and its sister Marburg were a great extent different than all the other viruses. Instead of looking ball-shaped like other viruses do, a filovirus looked like a snake and was also more lethal. Eugene's whole interest in the filoviruses came right after he joined the W.H.O. Eugene read an article about the massive outbreak of Ebola in Zaire, Africa. This filovirus was so deadly that it killed nine out of ten people infected. The trademark symptom of this virus was the hemorrhage, or bleeding profusely. This hemorrhage started because there are no blood clots to block the flowing. The hemorrhage continued through every opening in the human body. As the virus multiplies through the body, little blocks of crystals start to appear in the organs. These crystals are saturated with Ebola virus and are ready to blow like a time bomb. Autopsies of a victim would show an organ swelled up because of this process. As soon as your body crashed and bled out, (a medical term for those who bleed from every opening in the body and die) your organs will slowly start to liquefy until it is a pile of pudding in a matter of days. Marburg was practically identical to Ebola. Ebola was unknown in many countries so it was diagnosed incorrectly. Eugene looked into this mystery and found that they named this virus for its first appearance near the Ebola River. Ebola and its sister were much different than all the other viruses. The scary thing about Ebola was that there was no cure for it. Eugene's father had died of Avian Influenza and Eugene could not do anything about it. He could not bear the sight of people dying from disease that had a cure. This became the inspiration that Eugene was looking for. He wanted to find a cure or at least something that could fight Ebola. The only way he could work with the Ebola was by gaining clearance into a maximum containment lab. A maximum containment lab was a laboratory where all the filoviruses and other deadly viruses were kept. Eugene's superior, Dr. Fredrick Smith, thought he was crazy when he asked for clearance. He said, “Son, these viruses can kill a man in less than ten days. If you want to deal with this, then so be it, but don't tell me that I didn't warn you when you're in bed bleeding to death.” Eugene could not believe his luck. He had not thought that it would be this easy. Maybe there was a reason why there was no objection. Eugene could barely contain his excitement as he paced to the maximum containment lab on the second floor of the W.H.O building. He finally made it after 10 minutes of walking and a steel door lay in front of him. Sure enough, there was a key slot to slide a clearance card that Eugene had received from Dr. Fredrick Smith. Once he slid the card in it, there was a “hiss!” and the door started to creak open. The exterior of this lab had many layers for protection. The first room that Eugene entered was the room for taking off all accessories. The only accessory he wore was a baseball cap which he removed. He then entered the next room which was much bigger. It had a desk with a couple of hooks next to it. On the right hand side of the hooks lay three immense suits. These suits were the only things you would wear in the lab. They kept you protected in case of an emergency such as a glass bottle containing a virus breaking. It looked sort of like a space suit which astronauts wear, but the hood was oversized. Eugene took off his clothes and laid them on the hook as instructed. He placed on the suit which felt like a cement block; he could barely walk in it. Now it was time for business. Before Eugene walked into the next room, he thought he felt a hole somewhere in his suit. Eugene walked through the final steel door. The lab was built airtight so if the viruses broke out, they would not be able to flow out of the lab. The main lab was much larger than Eugene had expected. Covering the whole lab were air hoses for refilling on oxygen. In the center, was a small table where the scientists could examine the viruses using a microscope. What Eugene did not notice was patch of ice on the floor. The biggest asset of the room was the vault as it towered over Eugene. Eugene slid the clearance card into the slot of the vault and it swung open. The interior of the vault was like a freezer. The walls were lined with canisters and tubes. These contained the diseases from AIDS to influenza. Eugene finally spotted the isolated tubes of Ebola and Marburg at the back of the room. He took the tube labeled Ebola and took it out of the vault. Just as Eugene was about to sit to examine the Ebola, he suddenly slipped on the patch of ice. Eugene's heart stopped as the Ebola tube came crashing to the ground and broke. To make matter's worse Eugene saw the hole in his suit. Exposure began. Tweet
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