Back to business
Coffee tasted as if it was real, but it lacked the most important component: caffeine. Under her obstetrician‘s instruction, Réka gave up having any form of caffeine. Old habits die hard, especially when she’d really needed to concentrate. The team of her biotech corporation was at the point of a major scientific breakthrough, which would mean not only fame but also impudently huge amount of money.
They got invitation to take part in a very special, top secret project two years before. And now, it seemed success attended their efforts on developing antidote against one of the most dangerous viruses of the world: Spanish Flu.
In 1918 and 1919, this exceptionally aggressive virus killed an estimated 500 thousandth people in the USA and 20-29 million people worldwide. Fortunately, as suddenly as it had appeared, Spanish Flu disappeared off the face of the world. Literally. Hidden in the graves of people had died in this disease, Spanish Flu is still exist.
US scientists led by a Pentagon pathologist recently began to genetically reconstruct this specifically dangerous 1918 influenza strain. Attempts to recover the Spanish flu virus date to the 1950s, when scientists unsuccessfully tried to revive the virus from victims buried in the permafrost of Alaska. A sample of lung tissue from a 21-year-old soldier who died in 1918 at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, yielded what the Army researchers were looking for: intact pieces of viral RNA that could be analysed and sequenced. Genetic techniques helped to isolate more Spanish flu RNA from a variety of sources. And of course, the project did not stop at sequencing the genome of the deadly 1918 strain. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology teamed up with a microbiologist from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Together, they started to reconstruct the Spanish flu. In October 2003 the scientists were successful in creating a virus with very similar genetic material to 1918 genes.
At this point, government drew a couple of companies into the project that had experiences on developing vaccines and antidotes and also owned maximum biosafety laboratory. It wasn’t that hard to guess why the government wanted an antidote that much that they were willing to let private companies into the project: arms control. Creating and controling one of the most dangerous pathogens of the human history.
Réka left Los Angeles for New York this April, after she found a way how to make herself fertile, and she barely had time for business since that time. Her upcoming maternity occupied her totally nevertheless new developments on the SF project were too promising to ignore them. As she couldn’t go back to LA, her team sent her test results so she could work on them. And they were promising... very promising. Lab tests would be finished within weeks and then the report would be send to government’s representative...
But no more test for today, with tired sigh, Réka shut down her computer. She needed to sleep and the babies too. She didn’t miss checking on the room adjoining to her quarters before going to bed. There were two cradles in it, one warm yellow for her daughter and bright green one for her son; there was also a changing table and tons of toys arranged with love and expectation... the room of her unborn children.
They got invitation to take part in a very special, top secret project two years before. And now, it seemed success attended their efforts on developing antidote against one of the most dangerous viruses of the world: Spanish Flu.
In 1918 and 1919, this exceptionally aggressive virus killed an estimated 500 thousandth people in the USA and 20-29 million people worldwide. Fortunately, as suddenly as it had appeared, Spanish Flu disappeared off the face of the world. Literally. Hidden in the graves of people had died in this disease, Spanish Flu is still exist.
US scientists led by a Pentagon pathologist recently began to genetically reconstruct this specifically dangerous 1918 influenza strain. Attempts to recover the Spanish flu virus date to the 1950s, when scientists unsuccessfully tried to revive the virus from victims buried in the permafrost of Alaska. A sample of lung tissue from a 21-year-old soldier who died in 1918 at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, yielded what the Army researchers were looking for: intact pieces of viral RNA that could be analysed and sequenced. Genetic techniques helped to isolate more Spanish flu RNA from a variety of sources. And of course, the project did not stop at sequencing the genome of the deadly 1918 strain. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology teamed up with a microbiologist from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Together, they started to reconstruct the Spanish flu. In October 2003 the scientists were successful in creating a virus with very similar genetic material to 1918 genes.
At this point, government drew a couple of companies into the project that had experiences on developing vaccines and antidotes and also owned maximum biosafety laboratory. It wasn’t that hard to guess why the government wanted an antidote that much that they were willing to let private companies into the project: arms control. Creating and controling one of the most dangerous pathogens of the human history.
Réka left Los Angeles for New York this April, after she found a way how to make herself fertile, and she barely had time for business since that time. Her upcoming maternity occupied her totally nevertheless new developments on the SF project were too promising to ignore them. As she couldn’t go back to LA, her team sent her test results so she could work on them. And they were promising... very promising. Lab tests would be finished within weeks and then the report would be send to government’s representative...
But no more test for today, with tired sigh, Réka shut down her computer. She needed to sleep and the babies too. She didn’t miss checking on the room adjoining to her quarters before going to bed. There were two cradles in it, one warm yellow for her daughter and bright green one for her son; there was also a changing table and tons of toys arranged with love and expectation... the room of her unborn children.