{"id":1749,"date":"2014-09-01T12:54:10","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T20:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/?p=1749"},"modified":"2023-08-12T09:44:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-12T17:44:51","slug":"ebola-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/01\/ebola-anyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola, anyone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bring<\/a>Out of the rainforests of Africa, came Ebola. Out of the rainforests of Washington State, comes the Neah Virus!<\/p>\n

With awful news coming out of Africa on a daily basis lately, it seems I crafted a very timely story when I wrote my medical thriller, The Neah Virus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Almost daily someone asks what it would be like if such a deadly virus broke out in America. Well, no need to speculate further. Just pick up a copy of The Neah Virus and find out!<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>As in all my mysteries and medical thrillers, I follow the exploits of Dr. Peyton McKean, a vaccine researcher and sometimes medical miracle worker.<\/p>\n

In this story, a virus breaks out at the farthest tip of the Olympic Peninsula and spreads lethal contagion on a crash course for Seattle and every big city beyond. McKean is dispatched by the Centers for Disease Control to try to identify the source and find a cure. Along the way, his own life comes under mortal threat.<\/p>\n

The Neah Virus<\/a> is available in all popular ebook formats and in paperback at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other outlets. Here’s a sample of an early moment as events are just beginning to unfold:<\/p>\n

\u201cRabies!\u201d I exclaimed. \u201cSo that\u2019s what made Pete Whitehall go mad!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat makes some sense,\u201d McKean allowed, \u201cgiven Whitehall\u2019s violent behavior. But this is not exactly rabies virus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat makes me all the more nervous,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would conclude that this virus is indeed a member of the lyssavirus family,\u201d McKean said, \u201cbut the DNA probes say it\u2019s not authentic rabies. Maybe it\u2019s a distant family member.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily member? You mean there are other rabies viruses?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, most assuredly,\u201d said McKean. \u201cRabies belongs to a large group of related viruses, the mononegavirales, which include the rabies-like animal viruses Mokola, Duvenhage, and West Caucasian bat virus, as well as more distant cousins like measles, mumps, and Ebola.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEbola!\u201d I exclaimed. \u201cNow you\u2019ve got me scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janet added, \u201cWe didn\u2019t test for all those viruses because we didn\u2019t have the full set of virus microchips.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can get more?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly,\u201d she replied. \u201cAnd we can keep looking until we find a set of viral DNA probes that match this virus exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if none match?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we\u2019re looking at a previously unknown virus,\u201d said McKean. He put a hand on Janet\u2019s shoulder and his eyes lit with inspiration. \u201cImagine discovering a whole new member of the lyssavirus family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janet smiled. \u201cWe could co-author a paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA whole series of articles,\u201d McKean replied enthusiastically. \u201cOr publish a book!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut wait a minute,\u201d I said, interrupting their happy communion. \u201cIf it\u2019s related to the rabies virus, it might be deadly. It killed the Spaniard, didn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDeadly? Quite possibly,\u201d said McKean, his smile diminishing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it killed the Spaniard,\u201d I pressed him, \u201cand if it killed Pete Whitehall, then\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

McKean\u2019s smile disappeared and the light of scientific excitement faded from his eyes. \u201cThen,\u201d he concluded for me, \u201cyou and I may have been exposed to something dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Gordon Steel\u2019s claim of a Lost Souls disease\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMight have a basis in fact. But let\u2019s not get ahead of our data.\u201d He turned to Janet. \u201cYou can get microchips from Kay Erwin at Seattle Public Health Hospital covering every known mononegavirus. Let\u2019s rule them all in or out. After that, we can decide whether or not we\u2019ve got something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

My heart rate had kicked up several notches. \u201cAre we in danger?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

McKean thought for a moment and then murmured, \u201cAnswer: unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Out of the rainforests of Africa, came Ebola. Out of the rainforests of Washington State, comes the Neah Virus! With awful news coming out of Africa on a daily basis lately, it seems I crafted a very timely story when … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[317,318,226,240,5,211],"class_list":["post-1749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peyton-mckean","tag-ebola","tag-fiction","tag-medical-thriller","tag-new","tag-peyton-mckean","tag-the-neah-virus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1749"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2951,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions\/2951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}