“Dr. Blumenthal!” cried a diminutive oriental man, jumping up from his desk. She took a step backward as the man relieved her of her suitcase and enthusiastically pumped her freed hand. “I’m Dr. Harold Taboso,” he said. “I’m the medical director here. And this is Dr. Peter Austin, the Missouri State Epidemiologist. We’ve been waiting for you.”
Marissa shook hands with Dr. Austin, a tall, thin man with a ruddy complexion.
“We are thankful that you could come so quickly,” said Dr. Taboso. “Can we get you something to eat or drink?”
Marissa shook her head, thanking him for his hospitality. “I ate on the plane,” she explained. “Besides, I’d like to get directly to business.”
“Of course, of course,” said Dr. Taboso. For a moment he looked confused. Dr. Austin took advantage of his silence to take over.
“We’re well aware of what happened in L.A. and we’re concerned that we might be dealing with the same problem here. As you know, we admitted one suspicious case this morning, and two more have arrived while you were en route.”
Marissa bit her lip. She had been hoping that this would turn out to be a false alarm, but with two more potential cases, it was difficult to sustain such optimism. She sank into the chair that Dr. Taboso proffered and said, “You’d better tell me what you have learned so far.”
“Not much, I’m afraid,” said Dr. Austin. “There has been little time. The first case was admitted around 4:00 A.M. Dr. Taboso deserves credit for sounding the alarm as soon as he did. The patient was immediately isolated, hopefully minimizing contacts here at the hospital.”.
Marissa glanced at Dr. Taboso. He smiled nervously, accepting the compliment.
“That was fortunate,” said Marissa. “Was any lab work done?”
“Of course,” said Dr. Taboso.
“That could be a problem,” said Marissa.
“We understand,” said Dr. Austin. “But it was ordered immediately on admittance, before we had any suspicion of the diagnosis. The moment my office was alerted we called the CDC.”
“Have you been able to make any association with the L.A. outbreak? Did any of the patients come from L.A.?”
“No,” said Dr. Austin. “We have inquired about such a possibility, but there has been no connection that we could find.”
“Well,” said Marissa, reluctantly getting to her feet. “Let’s see the patients. I assume that you have full protective gear available.”
“Of course,” said Dr. Taboso as they filed out of the room.
They crossed the hospital lobby to the elevators. Riding up in the car, Marissa asked, “Have any of the patients been to Africa recently?”
The other two doctors looked at each other. Dr. Taboso spoke: “I don’t believe so.”
Marissa had not expected a positive answer. That would have been too easy. She watched the floor indicator. The elevator stopped on eight.
As they walked down the corridor, Marissa realized that none of the rooms they were passing were occupied. When she looked closer, she realized that most weren’t even fully furnished. And the walls of the hall had only been primed, not painted.
Dr. Taboso noticed Marissa’s expression. “Sorry,” he said. “I should have explained. When the hospital was built, too many beds were planned. Consequently, the eighth floor was never completed. But we decided to use it for this emergency. Good for isolation, don’t you agree?”
They arrived at the nurses’ station, which seemed complete except for the cabinetry. Marissa took the first patient’s chart. She sat down at the desk and opened the metal cover, noting the man’s name:
Zabriski. The vital-sign page showed the familiar complex of high fever and low blood pressure. The next page contained the patient’s history. As Marissa’s eyes ran down the sheet, she caught the man’s full name: Dr. Carl M. Zabriski. Raising her eyes to Dr. Taboso, she asked incredulously, “Is the patient a physician?”
“I’m afraid so,” answered Taboso. “He’s an ophthalmologist here at the hospital.”
Turning to Dr. Austin, she asked, “Did you know the index case in L.A. was also a doctor? In fact he was an ophthalmologist!”
“I was aware of the coincidence,” said Dr. Austin, frowning.
“Does Dr. Zabriski do any research with monkeys?” asked Marissa. “Not that I know of,” answered Dr. Taboso. “Certainly not here at the hospital.”