{"id":2722,"date":"2021-05-08T15:44:46","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T23:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/?p=2722"},"modified":"2023-08-12T05:53:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-12T13:53:21","slug":"eek-i-dreamed-up-deadly-mutant-viruses-long-before-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/08\/eek-i-dreamed-up-deadly-mutant-viruses-long-before-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Eek! I dreamed up deadly mutant viruses long before COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Just as you get nice and immunized with COVID-19 vaccine, along comes a new terror\u2014the viral variant! Deadlier strains of COVID are cropping up with alarming frequency. Such mutational shifts allow the new viruses to circumvent the immunity you acquired with your hard-won vaccination. So, are we doomed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it\u2019s any consolation, this \u201cvariant\u201d phenomenon is nothing new. Virologists have studied it for decades. Variants were first described among the influenza viruses of the great pandemic of 1918, in which they played a role in drawing out the pestilence for several years. And they\u2019ve cropped up in every epidemic since. So even the frightfully named \u201cEek!\u201d variant of COVID is not an entirely new concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as we watch with dismay, this and other variants are arising around the globe with increasing frequency. So, it\u2019s a cold comfort to know that they\u2019re nothing new under the sun. Somehow, even the knowledge that humanity survived not just each new pandemic, but all the variant strains that piled onto previous plagues, is not entirely satisfying. Not when the virus threatens you and yours on a daily basis. Histories and statistics of mankind\u2019s recovery from previous epidemics can\u2019t help you shake the fear that, well, you might not be counted among the living when all is said and done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what\u2019s this got to do with my fiction? Well, quite a bit, really. I anticipated this phenomenon in both of my epidemic novels, The Smallpox Incident<\/a> and The Neah Virus<\/a>. In each story, I laid out realistic scenarios based on my career-long studies of viruses and vaccines. My intent both times was to dramatize the social upheavals and desperate responses of medical and government agencies trying to avert catastrophe. Unsurprisingly to me, many events I portrayed have come true in the present emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also addressed the dire question, \u201cDid this virus arise out of nature, or is it an escaped laboratory monster?\u201d Without giving away too much let me just say, in one book the answer is \u201cyes\u201d and in the other the answer is even more unnerving. But one nice thing about fiction is that such questions can be examined carefully, and then answered clearly. No lingering doubts remain in the last pages of The Smallpox Incident<\/a> or The Neah Virus<\/a>. Don\u2019t you wish life could imitate art in present circumstances?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Might I suggest you grab a copy on one or both of these now classic books, so you can read and reflect on the notion that nothing happening today is so terribly unheard of by scientists like me, who study viruses and vaccines? An added bonus is that my stories have relatively happy endings given the dire circumstances\u2014and that\u2019s the sort of outcome we all hope for in these trying times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just as you get nice and immunized with COVID-19 vaccine, along comes a new terror\u2014the viral variant! Deadlier strains of COVID are cropping up with alarming frequency. Such mutational shifts allow the new viruses to circumvent the immunity you acquired … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2722","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=2722"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2896,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2722\/revisions\/2896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thomas-hopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}