Chapter 200: The Viral Symptoms
As the international media began focusing their attention on the pandemic in Africa, Chen Chen had long initiated a sequence of experiments on his side.
At that point, hundreds of BE-006 infected patients had already resided in his isolation wards.
These patients were volunteers from nearby regions who were handpicked by the company. They had signed personal declarations that would waive Blacklight Biotechnology from any legal liability even in the event of death.
Meanwhile, Bernhard and a group of professors who were in charge of managing the study of this virus stood on the other side of the gla.s.s window pane. They were monitoring the conditions of each patient and overseeing the flow of every treatment.
Then, the front door of the ward was opened as Chen Chen emerged from the other side.
“Boss, why are you here?”
The group of researchers turned around and greeted Chen Chen.
“This is a volatile situation, I just couldn’t stand and watch from the sidelines.”
Chen Chen waved his hand and spoke to Professor Bernhard, “Are the statistics for the viral symptoms ready?”
“After carrying out more than 30 post mortems and studying hundreds of infected patients, we’ve gained a certain understanding of the viral symptoms of BE-006.”
Bernhard confidently handed over a case file to Chen Chen and said, “All the basic information is doc.u.mented here.”
Chen Chen received the file and flipped it open.
The first page contained an image captured by an electron microscope. It looked like a strand of strings twirling into the shape of a b.u.t.terfly, similar to a clat of worms.
The t.i.tle was labeled below the image – Blacklight Ebola.
Bernhard explained aside, “Beautiful, isn’t it? It’s similar to its relative, yet these are a group of relentless killers.”
“n.o.body would dispute that fact.”
Chen Chen shrugged and flipped to the second page. It was a picture of an African man.
However, the man had blood flowing out from all his orifices, even his skin seemed to be mashed with blood. His expression was sluggish and not lucid at all.
“This is the standard symptom of a severe hemorrhage.”
Bernhard continued explaining, “The BE virus operates in a manner that’s similar to its relative, the Preston virus. It typically transmits from a host’s saliva to infect another person via their eyes, nose, mouth, and even wounds.
“Upon entering the body, I’ve categorized the viral symptoms into three stages.”
Bernhard then proceeded to lift a finger.
“The first stage, which is the initial stage of infection, the virus will first attack the white blood cells of the body. This damages its ability to sense foreign objects as well as lower the immunity it provides to the body. The infected patient’s blood will then turn more coagulated.
“Furthermore, the virus tends to attack the body’s connective tissues, which is composed mainly of collagen. The virus reproduces rampantly in the tissue, liquifying and damaging the bottom layer of the skin, which leads to blisters growing on the skin and subsequent oozing of blood...”
Chen Chen flipped to the third page and saw another infected African patient who had hundreds of blood blisters covering his face to a point where he was no longer recognizable.
“Then comes the second stage.”
Bernhard continued. “The infected patient will suffer from incessant bleeding from his oral cavity, gums, breast, eyes... Blood will start oozing even from various tiny pores of the body. After killing off the white blood cells, the red blood cells will also be destroyed. The cells will be disintegrated by the virus, causing its organelles to scatter all over the body. What’s left in the patient’s blood are the viruses...
“All these will happen within the short span of a few days. Such is the destructive capability of a virulent virus.”
Bernhard proceeded. “The third stage is also the final stage of the infected patient’s life.
“In this period, the oral cavity of the infected patient has started to rot. It’s also possible that he will start coughing out his tongue and other damaged organs. His liver will start turning into a mush as his intestines are filled with blood. It’s like the patient’s body is dissolving itself from within...
“Furthermore, their nerves have also been damaged, which causes the patient’s mental state to turn sluggish. Then, they’ll die a slow death.”
Chen Chen flipped till the end and saw various post-mortem dissection pictures.
“Indeed, it’s the cla.s.sical way to die of the Ebola virus.”
Chen Chen closed up the report and said, “Put this up on our company’s website and share it across the world. Let’s talk about something more uplifting. Have you managed to discover the incubation period and curative treatments for the virus?”
Bernhard shook his head and said regrettably, “According to our investigation, the incubation period can reach a maximum of 7 days. We suspect that the incubation period of the BE-006 virus is similar to other Ebola viruses. Its true maximum incubation period can reach 20 days.”
“This is truly a bad news.”
Chen Chen said solemnly. The longer the incubation period, the more effective the virus infectivity. This meant a large threat to human civilization.
“As for treatment methods, we’ve only managed to try two methods so far. The first is the NPC1 Blocker Therapy, the other’s the normal symptomatic treatment.”
Another professor explained, “The Ebola virus needed to enter the cell’s nucleus via NPC1 to undergo self-replication. Once the NPC1 proteins could stop the transportation of cholesterol, the patient’s condition would show visible improvements. We’ve managed to control the condition of a group of patients after injecting them with NPC1 blockers.
“However, the traditional symptomatic treatment yielded less impressive results. Such treatments include oral rehydration and intravenous infusion via electrolyte liquids, recovering blood platelets and maintaining patients blood oxygen level.
“As of now, the mortality rate of patients undergoing traditional symptomatic treatment is approximately thirty-five percent.”
Chen Chen did not probe further. He understood that the only reason the mortality rate for symptomatic treatment was still not high was due to most symptoms not reaching its final stages yet.
The longer they waited, the higher the mortality rate would be.
“It looks like the NPC1 Blocker Therapy is the most effective treatment method against the Ebola virus for now.”
Evans explained further, “The only shortcoming of the NPC1 Blocker Therapy is that the patient will eventually get Niemann-Pick disease, which is a high price to pay.”
“Well, there’s no other better ways.”
Chen Chen said solemnly, “By the way, when’s our company able to begin its research on a vaccine?”
“About one half to a month, when we fully understand the characteristics of the virus.”
Evans thought and provided further estimations. “After half a month, the true mortality rate of the pandemic will probably be out. A lot of international aids will also arrive by then. That’s when we can truly launch a counteroffensive.
“Furthermore, we’re also expecting to see some patients who’re able to naturally produce antibodies and recover from the virus themselves. By then, we’ll be able to use their blood to treat the virus. For now, our priority is on ensuring how to best contain the virus spread within this month.”
“Very well.”
Chen Chen nodded and said, “You can be rest a.s.sured here. Although I can’t guarantee that the virus won’t spread into Eco Science City, I can at least promise that once any case is discovered, the control measures will be immediate so that this research environment is safe.”
After encouraging his employees, Chen Chen then went to retrieve a sample of BE-006 live virus strain and left the research center.
Chen Chen had planned to initiate another research on the live virus strain in the Spire Experimental Base. After all, the advanced equipment in the experimental base had excelled even those of a level-4 biosafety lab.
Furthermore, many top scientists were in the Spire Experimental Base, which included Hannibal, Li Lei, and others. Chen Chen had also intended to have Little X join the research.
Although lacking in creativity, Little X’s calculative and micromanipulation abilities allowed it to easily a.n.a.lyze the gene map of the virus and performed complex genome editing techniques such as the CRISPR-Cas9.