The glare from the office florescent lights washed out his computer screen. Adam Gates scowled and changed the position of the monitor. The cramped room, scarcely large enough for a desk, smelled slightly of rotten eggs as the odor of sardonic sulfoxide infiltrated from the connecting lab.
He logged onto the Internet--the "Outbreak" site. Rapid castanet clicks from the keyboard kept tempo with his fingers, that danced over the keys. The blue screen suddenly filled with words:
"Similarity to Other Strains: Scientists are keeping a close eye on the new influenza virus found in Hong Kong, that is similar to strains that killed more than 22 million people this century.
'I do not think it is a serious threat, not at this moment,' said Albert Osterhaus of the National Influenza Center of the Netherlands. 'But these viruses have, in principle, the potential to be pandemic viruses.'
More than 20 million people died in the worst global flu epidemic, the Spanish flu of 1918. Nearly 40 years later one million succumbed to the Asian flu, and in 1967 the Hong Kong flu claimed about 700,000 lives.
The H1N1, H2N2, and H3N3 combinations caused the previous three major outbreaks. The new strain, identified as H5N1 (bird flu), has a similar structure. Source: Hong Kong Standard
Adam logged off and shut down the computer. An angry crucible of frustration boiled within him. People were dying in Hong Kong and the virus had begun to spread rapidly. As a scientist at the National Institutes of Health, Adam knew H5N1 (bird flu) provided a link for the mosquito-borne West Nile virus.
Both had the lethal potential to become pandemic and erase a civilization. He also knew it was biological warfare, and although he held the keys to a cure in his lab, NIH had forbidden him to go public with the simple answer.
It had begun in 1999...
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