Ebola Fate, Chapter Four

Ebola Fate

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Chapter Four

February 14, 2034 3:45 PM James Spriggs Payne Airport, Monrovia, Liberia

Two hundred and thirty test strips, all tested negative. Alphia Browne was incredibly busy this afternoon. Beyan called her earlier and told her to drop everything and get to the airport, and to bring as many Ebola test strips as she could. She was out of the lab within three minutes, and at the airport in ten. She had the cameras in her glasses recording as she numbered each strip prior to rubbing it on something, and dropped it in a baggie. This allowed her to run about a dozen tests per minute, if she weren't trying to get good coverage. She figured it would be more important to test a large area, and if any came back positive, she would go and not only re-test, but test in more detail.

So she would write a number, wipe on a surface, put the strip in a new baggie, throw the baggie in a larger bag she had over her shoulder, walk to a new location, and repeat.  She'd done five tests when a security official introduced himself and escorted her to the airplane. She tested the seat where Mr. Stephens was riding, the seat back in front of that, all of the shoulders, overhead bin handles, and the bathroom.

After testing the airplane, she'd tested the ground, garbage can lids, bathroom doors, sinks, toilet seats. She tested the luggage carousel.

"Beyan, I don't know where Mr. Stephens contracted Ebola, but it wasn't at the airport or on the plane. There's no sign of it here whatsoever."

"Thank God! We'll want to make sure that plane is sterilized, and the airport, too; even though it didn't come up in any tests, there's no way you could test every square inch.  Easier to just require a sterilizing spray across the whole thing."

"So I guess we're going public?"

"Yeah - Mr Stephens has officially tested positive."

"God help us."

February 14, 2034 3:50 PM Merryman Labs, Monrovia, Liberia

"God help us, indeed." thought Beyan to himself. "We still don't know how patient zero contracted Ebola. It wasn't at the airport. The Lyft? He must have picked it up in the Lyft. It's a good thing Dorley has been so willing to round up all of his fares from today. With luck one of them will be the actual patient zero, who gave this to Stephens, and we'll be able to trace backwards from there. Vaccines should be here inside an hour."

He composed himself, and stood up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as you've no doubt told each other, you've all likely been exposed to Ebola. Please, try to not worry - things have changed significantly since the last outbreak. We have a vaccine available now, and our testing indicates that it will be effective, provided you take it within 24 hours of exposure. Luckily for all of you, you're well within that window. The vaccines ought to be here soon. In the mean time, I'd like to prick each of you for an Ebola test. Whatever the outcome, this will not be the last test — you will all have to be monitored very closely, tested several times per day, during the incubation period, which is about three weeks."

"Mr Gbala, how long do you intend to keep us confined?"

"Long enough to make sure you're vaccinated. The last outbreak killed over eleven thousand people. Almost five thousand of those were in Liberia. We can't risk that happening here."

"Yes, but medicine is so much better now. Don't we have a cure? Just cure us and send us on our way!"

"We have a vaccine, not a cure.  If you're already sick, we have the treatments that worked last time, but the vaccine won't help. Speaking of the vaccine, it's been tested for safety in humans. It's very effective, in chimpanzees. We can't just send you on your way; we'll have to monitor you for about a month to make sure you don't get sick, and quarantine you immediately if you do."

He put on some latex gloves, and pulled out a one-use lancing instrument. "Okay - who wants to get pricked first?"

Teta raised her hand; "I'd like to go first. I'm diabetic, so I'm used to blood tests anyway."

Beyan proceeded to test Teta, and followed with all of the others present. He built a table as he went:

---

Patient	Gender	Test Result	Possible Contact to P0
Gbala, Beyan	M	Negative	Investigating incident
Tondo, Teta	F	Negative	Merryman Demonstration
Merryman, John	M	Negative	Merryman Demonstration
Pupo, Boakai	M	Negative	Merryman Demonstration
Klhea, Russel	M	Negative	Merryman Demonstration
Freeman, Mulbah	M	Negative	Merryman Demonstration
Andreasson, Dorley	M	Positive	Lyft Ride
Seton, Sylbert	M	Positive	Lyft Ride 1, After Stephens
Seton, Quincy	M	Positive	Lyft Ride 1, After Stephens
Seton, Eleanor	F	Positive	Lyft Ride 1, After Stephens
Tokpa, Enoch	M	Positive	Lyft Ride 2, After Stephens
Ngafuan, Sarifina	F	Positive	Lyft Ride 3, After Stephens missed flight
Ngafuan, Moses	M	Positive	Lyft Ride 3, After Stephens missed flight
Perry, Hassan	M	Positive	Lyft Ride -1, Before Stephens. Probably Actual P0.
Haddad, Boakai	M	Negative	Lyft Ride -2, Before Stephens.

---

"Dorley, these are the only fares you've had today? 6 fares - Haddad, Perry, Stephens, the Seton family, Tokpa, Ngafuan?"

"Yes, it is. After the Setons, I stopped at the park and took a break to eat my duiker burger."

"Where did you get your duiker burger?"

"From home, before I started my shift."

"Did you exit your car at the park?"

"No. I enjoy air conditioning too much. I just sat in my car and listened to music. I fell asleep for a little bit."

"Okay. Did you contact anybody other than your fares?"

"No."

"Okay.  Mr. Perry?"

"Yes?"

"I'd like to talk to you, in private."

"Okay."

"You've tested positive, sir."

"What? How can that be? I was in the Lyft before your first patient!"

"I know. That means that Stephens isn't our patient zero." Patient zero is the term used by epidemiologists to describe the first person to contract an illness.

"Me? You're saying I caused this? But this other guy is already in hospital! I feel great!"

"I know. That doesn't fit the norm for Ebola. Normally you aren't contagious unless you have a fever. So, I need to take your temperature."

"Sure."

Beyan pointed the no-contact thermometer at Hassan's forehead. Sure enough, he was registering a mild fever: 37.5ºC.

"You've got a fever. You say you don't feel ill?"

"That's right. I feel fine. Is this thing going to kill me?"

"I hope not. We'll give you the vaccine, but I have to be honest with you: we haven't had success in treating chimpanzees with the vaccine once they were symptomatic, nor more than 24 hours after they were exposed. Once you're vaccinated, we'll want you hospitalized and on ZMapp. It's the best treatment we have, in addition to keeping you on an IV drip. What's your blood type?"

"I don't know."

"Okay - we'll figure that out once you're in the hospital and make sure we've got a good supply."

"Why?"

"Well, it's called Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever because it causes hemorrhaging.  You could lose a lot of blood. So ZMapp, keeping you hydrated, and blood transfusion are your best bets."

Beyan turned from him, disconnecting himself so that he could focus on explaining the vaccination and treatment situation for the other patients. Luckily, none of them had fevers yet, so the vaccine had a higher chance of working.

Hassan Perry could not believe this turn of events. As a photographer, he was normally out in public, but he'd been in a bit of a rut lately. He hadn't had a wedding to shoot in weeks; he had one coming up this weekend. He'd have to cancel that, he figured.

How the hell did he get this? He'd been staying home the past few days; his girlfriend had recently dumped him, so he was comforting himself by binge watching an old American television show on Netflix. It was about a young man who was turned into a superhero by a lightning strike, The Flash. He'd eaten only food he already had in his fridge. The only reason he took a ride today was because he'd decided it was time to get creative again. He wanted to sit outside the airport and take photos of he planes as they taxied, took off, and landed. This made no sense to him whatsoever.

February 14, 2034 4:18 PM, Merryman Labs, Monrovia, Liberia

Beyan's other two assistants, Juliet Jallah and Angelica Sayeh, pulled into the parking lot and began dressing each other in their hazmat suits. Two layers of gloves, each duct-taped to the suit around the wrists. They replaced their shoes with heavy duty rubber boots. They donned hazmat hood assemblies.

They then grabbed the needle disposal box — a plastic canister with a special lid that allowed safely storing contaminated needles — a box containing 100 syringes, and two vials of Ebola vaccine. "This ought to be more than enough - there's only 15 people inside, and one vial should be enough for 50 people."

With that, they went inside.

February 14, 2034 4:30 PM, Merryman Labs, Monrovia, Liberia

Juliet didn't find what she expected when she went inside. She thought there would be chaos: some people wailing and cursing the universe for what had happened to them, others trying to force their way out of quarantine. What she found instead was a group of surprisingly calm, if clearly terrified people. She asked them to form a line.

As each person came forward, she grabbed a new syringe, filled it with 3cc of vaccine from the vial, and injected the concoction into their arm. She then deposited the syringe into the needle disposal box.

Once she did this fifteen times, she and Angelica carried everything back to the car. They removed each others' hazmat suits, and vaccinated themselves. She then called Beyan with her cell phone.

"Is there anything else you'll need from us, Dr Gballa?"

"Yes - please get with Mr Perry. He's our patient zero. We need to know where he caught this, and who he's had contact with for the past three weeks."

"Will do. When is he going to hospital?"

"The ambulance will be here shortly - I've just called them."

"Okay. May God help us."