The World of American Drama: From the Los Angeles Patrol

Chapter 311 Still a Familiar Taste
"Jack? Why are you here?" The female medical doctor in her 40s recognized someone at a glance.

Obviously, in the biochemical terrorist attack using the hemorrhagic fever virus in Los Angeles, the scene where Jack went mad at the end and went straight up and knocked the female terrorist unconscious with a head hammer left a deep impression on her.

"Wow, have you become the FBI?" Dr. Morgan offered to shake hands with Jack.

Jack didn't expect to meet acquaintances in Maryland, so he greeted her very warmly.

Jiejie led everyone into a conference room, closed the door and closed the blinds, thus blocking out the noisy people outside.

"This is Linda Kimura, the director of our CDC Special Pathogens Department." Dr. Morgan introduced a middle-aged Asian woman beside her to everyone.

He is not tall and unattractive. He is probably in his early forties. He looks smart and capable, and he does not wear the stereotyped Asian makeup that is common in European and American workplaces.

A person of Japanese descent, if you don't judge from her surname, probably only Jack among the people present can tell her origin at a glance, which is also a special skill of the Siris people.

After the simple greetings, Dr. Kimura was introduced to everyone, and Dr. Morgan left in a hurry, looking very hurried. Jack didn't know her current position, but it seemed that she was obviously higher than the director.

"I'm sorry to meet you under such circumstances." Dr. Kimura is obviously an immigrant of more than two or three generations, and he doesn't have the stinky habit of bowing every now and then in his childhood.

"So what's the situation?" Reid put on his small satchel again today, probably because he had to catch a plane overnight, looking haggard with sleepy eyes.

"Let's start quickly." Hotchina urged, his face a little ugly, obviously he was one of the first to see some reports.

Jiejie took out a stack of information and began to perform her duties, starting with a general introduction to the situation and the progress of the case.

"A total of 25 people were admitted to the emergency department last night in and around Annapolis after 2:[-] p.m. yesterday, all around the local quiet hill park."

"In less than 10 hours after that, there was No. 1 dead person. Now it's only 9 o'clock in the morning of the next day, and there are already 12 dead people."

"Are you sure it's anthrax?" Jack flipped through the pathological photos one by one in the file. Black gangrene on the skin is a typical clinical symptom, but experts have the final say on the specific situation.

"Anthrax is not so lethal." Reid said with a frown.

"This strain is OK." Dr. Kimura confirmed concisely.

Jack raised his eyebrows, knowing in his heart, what the hell is the weapon-grade strain from the laboratory, and the anthrax bacillus in nature is not difficult to deal with.

The treatment of ordinary skin anthrax infection is not difficult, especially if antibiotic treatment is intervened in the early stage, a series of antibiotics such as penicillin can deal with this thing.

Even for anthrax, a relatively serious direct lung infection, there are a lot of mature treatment options, and it is impossible to have such a high mortality rate.

With so many deaths and such rapid development, there is only one possibility. This anthrax bacillus is not extracted from nature, but has been artificially optimized. It is not only immune to most antibiotics, but also reproduces at an astonishing speed.

Because Bacillus anthracis kills by the toxins it produces during its reproduction, the speed of reproduction determines the speed at which toxins accumulate in the human body.

The death case occurred within ten hours, and nearly half of the 25 infected people died in less than 24 hours, which is a proper level of biological and chemical weapons.

"Since the victim was infected in an open place like a park, it shows that the attackers most likely used the method of dry powder dispersal."

"Usually, the lethal dose of inhaled anthrax is between 1 and 2 spores, and every 1g of Bacillus anthrax powder contains more than 1 trillion anthrax spores."

Reid conducts science popularization for everyone every day, but this time the content of his science popularization makes people shudder.

"If 50 pounds of anthrax spores were sprayed along a two-kilometre line upwind of a city of half a million people, it would eventually sicken 112 people and kill 12, including livestock and wild animals. "

He paused, and then said, "According to the toxicity shown by this strain, the probability of this number may increase several times."

"Is there no vaccine?" Emily rubbed her arm.

"Yes, but a certain level of protection can only be produced a week after vaccination, and it will take at least two weeks to fully reach the level of protection." Dr. Kimura replied very quickly.

"Also, we can't confirm whether the original anthrax vaccine is still effective against this strain."

"Have you tried all the commonly used antibiotics?" A forensic doctor is also a doctor. Although Jack talks about it every day, he still knows the basic medical principles.

"After confirming that it was Bacillus anthrax, antibiotic treatment was given for the first time, but it had no effect. The surviving patients have been transferred to the special ward of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center."

Dr. Kimura glanced at Jack and gave an affirmative answer.

Jack silently rolled his eyes, didn't ask further, and turned to look at Hotchner, "So what does Fort Detrick say?"

"We'll be working with military scientists at Fort Detrick," Hochner replied.

"Is General Whitworth coming here?" Rossi obviously knew the door.

Hotchner nodded, "Yes, he and his people will be responsible for the control and elimination of the infected areas and the analysis of the strains."

There are some things that everyone knows well, not all of them are here, so they are much more cautious when speaking.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Emily changed the topic, "So, what is our current coping strategy?"

"Those potential large target sites, airports, shopping malls, bus stops, etc., how should we deal with them?"

"Block information and keep the media strictly confidential." Hotchner meant not to deal with it.

"Keep the public informed?" Emily's eyes widened.

"This is Maryland." Jack, who had already experienced a biological crisis, explained for Hotchner.

Many people may not know Annapolis, but they know that this place is only 50 kilometers away from Washington, D.C. It’s just a matter of kicking the accelerator.

The threat of directly spreading dry powder of Bacillus anthracis spores is much greater than the method of mailing in 01. Once it is announced by the media, there is a high probability that it will cause large-scale exodus of surrounding residents.

Then, riots and zero-dollar purchases would naturally follow. Maybe the number of people who died in the riots would be much more than the casualties caused by one or two small-scale biochemical attacks in this area.

(End of this chapter)