“It’s been a hell of a lot better than looking at sore throats and clogged ears,” said the Colonel.
“Don’t tell me you were in pediatrics!” exclaimed Marissa. They laughed when they realized they had both trained at Boston’s Children’s Hospital. Colonel Woolbert went on to explain how he’d ended up at Ft. Detrick. He told Marissa that there had been a history of movement between Detrick and the CDC and that the army had come to him with an offer he couldn’t refuse. He said that the lab and the equipment were superb, and best of all, he didn’t have to grovel for funds.
“Doesn’t the ultimate goal bother you?” asked Marissa. “No,” said Colonel Woolbert. “You have to understand that three-quarters of the work here involves defending the U.S. against biological attack, so most of my efforts are directed at neutralizing viruses like Ebola.”
Marissa nodded. She’d not thought of that.
“Besides,” continued Colonel Woolbert, “I’m given complete latitude. I can work on whatever I want to.”
“And what is that just now?” asked Marissa innocently. There was a pause. The colonel’s light-blue eyes twinkled.
“I suppose I’m not violating the confidentiality of the military by telling you, since I’ve been publishing a string of articles on my results. For the last three years my interest has been influenza virus.”
“Not Ebola?” asked Marissa.
Colonel Woolbert shook his head. “No, my last research on Ebola was years ago.”
“Is anyone here at the center working on Ebola?” asked Marissa. Colonel Woolbert hesitated. Then he said, “I guess I can tell you, since there was a Pentagon policy paper published on it in Strategic Studies last year. The answer is no. No one is working on Ebola, including the Soviets, mainly because there is no vaccine or treatment for it. Once started, it was generally felt that Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever would spread like wildfire to both friendly and hostile forces.”
“But it hasn’t,” said Marissa.
“I know,” said Colonel Woolbert with a sigh. “I’ve read with great interest about the last two outbreaks. Someday we’ll have to review our assessment of the organism.”
“Please, not on my account,” said Marissa. The last thing she wanted to do was encourage the army to work with Ebola. At the same time she was relieved to learn that the army was not fooling around with the virus just then.
“I understand you were part of the international team that was sent to Yambuku in 1976,” she said.
“Which makes me appreciate what you’re doing. I can tell you, when I was in Africa I was scared shitless.”
Marissa grinned. She liked and trusted the man. “You are the first person to admit being afraid,” she said. “I’ve been struggling with my fear from the first day I was sent to L.A.”
“And for good reason,” said Colonel Woolbert. “Ebola’s a strange bug. Even though it seems it can be inactivated quite easily, it is extraordinarily infective, meaning that only a couple of organisms have to make entry to produce the disease. That’s in marked contrast to something like AIDS, where billions of the virus have to be introduced, and even then there is only a low statistical chance that the individual will be infected.”
“What about the reservoir?” asked Marissa. “I know the official position is that no reservoir was discovered in Africa. But did you have an opinion?”
“I think it is an animal disease,” said Colonel Woolbert. “I think it will eventually be isolated to some equatorial African monkey and is therefore a zoonosis, or a disease of vertebrate animals that occasionally gets transmitted to man.”
“So you agree with the current CDC official position about these recent U.S. outbreaks?” asked Marissa.
“Of course,” said Colonel Woolbert. “What other position is there?”
Marissa shrugged. “Do you have any Ebola here?”
“No,” said Colonel Woolbert. “But I know where we can get it.”
“I know, too,” said Marissa. Well, that wasn’t quite true, she thought. Tad had said that it was in the maximum containment lab, but exactly where, she did not know. When they’d made their covert visit, she’d forgotten to ask.
7
April 17
THE PHONE MUST HAVE been ringing for some time before Marissa finally rolled over to pick up the receiver. The CDC operator instantly apologized for waking her from such a deep sleep. As Marissa struggled to sit up, she learned that a call had come through from Phoenix, Arizona, and that the operator wanted permission to patch it through. Marissa agreed immediately.