Influenza: Viral Virulence

by Ohliger, Steven

  Michael went to the door of the quarantine area where new drop-offs and strays were brought in. He had originally thought it was empty, but when he opened the door, he saw there was one occupant.

  The dog in the small cage looked like a border collie, but she was so dirty he wasn’t absolutely sure.

  “Hey, girl,” he called out softly. “What are you doing locked up in here?”

  At the sight of him, the dog started to get excited and wagged her tail furiously. She barked once and then stretched her legs.

  Not wanting to startle the dog, Michael slowly approached and read the clipboard attached to the cage. He was right. She was a border collie mix. It said she was about two years old and had been found running around alone in the woods. It also stated that she had a collar that identified her as “Sandy.” Someone had tried the contact number on the collar, but the number had been disconnected.

  Michael bent down to the level of the cage. “Hi, Sandy,” he said softly. “Are you hungry?”

  In response, Sandy barked one time and wagged her tail.

  Michael opened the cage door and let her out into the room. Rather than going straight for the door to escape like most other dogs would, Sandy came right up to Michael and sat down in front of him. She was so skinny that he could see her ribs through her dirty matted fur.

  He reached down to pet her head, and she accepted it gratefully. Before he took his hand away, she gave his fingers a kiss.

  He gave her a bowl of food, and while she inhaled it, he took her hastily scrawled paperwork and read it more thoroughly. He read that Sandy had just been brought in two days ago. He was shocked at the realization that these dogs had not been fed or cared for in two days.

  After attaching a temporary leash around her skinny neck, Michael led her outside so she could do her business. As he walked her, he marveled at how well-behaved she was. She knew how to walk on a leash and she didn’t pull or try to run away like most dogs. Going on intuition, he gave Sandy a few simple commands. She wagged her tail, obeyed each command, and then looked at him, waiting to see what he would do next. Still marveling at the dog, Michael knew that someone had spent a lot of time and energy to train her. He didn’t know how someone could do that and then just give her up.

  Leading her back inside, Michael bent over and picked her up in his arms. She let him lift her into the large tub. He then proceeded to give Sandy a bath using a flea-and-tick shampoo. As he shampooed her thick fur, she didn’t protest, but instead gave him a sorrowful look with her big, brown eyes. The dirt and forest bugs fled from her fur and fell into the tub, where they were rapidly whisked down the drain. As the dirt left, Michael saw that Sandy had a beautiful coat of white and rusty-red fur.

  Finishing with the bath, he let Sandy get out of the tub and then offered her a dog biscuit. Sandy looked at the biscuit, then looked at Michael’s face and gave him a wet kiss.

  Michael laughed as he wiped his face off, and Sandy chomped down on her treat. Once he had dried her as much as possible with a towel, he opened a little cabinet and took out a syringe and two tablets. The standard procedure was to deworm and give a rabies vaccination to all incoming dogs before they were put in the kennel. Michael hid the tablets in another treat, and Sandy gladly gobbled it up. As he injected her with the vaccine, Sandy flinched a little but remained still. Finally, he placed some flea preventative on her back.

  Standing back and looking at Sandy, Michael thought he had done a decent job of cleaning her up. She stood there looking up at him with her big, brown eyes.

  “Don’t do that to me,” Michael warned her.

  She wagged her tail and smiled at him. He had heard that some people thought that dogs couldn’t smile. This dog was smiling at him.

  He led Sandy to the last vacant cage in the kennel. As she passed by the other cages, the dogs inside went nuts. Sandy just ignored them and let Michael lead her to the last cage on the left. He shut her inside and then offered her one more dog biscuit before he left. She took the biscuit in her mouth and then dropped it on the floor of the cage. She looked up into Michael’s eyes and whimpered. It was as if she knew that Michael was about to leave. Take me with you, her eyes pleaded.

  Michael turned away with a heavy, sad heart and walked out of the kennel. He felt like he was abandoning the dogs just as he had abandoned Wilbur at the pharmacy. Above the clamor of all the barking dogs, he heard Sandy give one last bark as he closed the kennel door.

  As he drove away from the shelter, he was still thinking about Sandy and her big, sorrowful eyes.

  Chapter 9

  Michael, Brian, and Scott went back to class the next morning. With a little more concern, they all noticed that only a few students showed up to class. Michael had told them about his trip to the pound and how no one was caring for the animals there. He asked Brian if he would let him use the car to go back tonight to check on them. He hoped the manager had dropped by and whipped everybody for screwing up the schedule.

  After Brian threatened to punch him if he ever thought that he needed his permission to borrow his car, Michael left for the animal shelter once again. As he passed the gasoline station, he noticed even more cars backed up in a line to fill up. He was glad he had thought to fill up the car yesterday. He saw an attendant placing a large cardboard sign on the pumps that read, “Out of Gas.”

  Arriving at the shelter, Michael was once again shocked to see that the parking lot was empty. He went inside to the reception area and could tell that no one had been in since he was there yesterday evening. Disgusted with the lack of care, Michael went in and fed the dogs. When he got to Sandy’s cage, she seemed overjoyed to see him. She danced around in circles and barked happily.

  “Hi, Sandy!” Michael said and patted the top of her head. Her tailed swished back and forth furiously.

  Michael then went down the corridor and pulled the chains to open the gates to the outdoor runs. Most of the dogs went running in and out between barking at Michael and enjoying the outside air.

  Going back into the reception area, he took down the contact list of names and numbers from the wall. He went through the list and dialed each number. No answer. Frustrated, Michael dialed the manager’s number, again with no result.

  He sat there at the desk with his head in his hands. What was he going to do? He couldn’t come back to the shelter every day, especially with what was going on in the rest of the world. Everything was unraveling outside the walls of the kennel. What was happening was not the dogs’ fault, so why should they have to suffer if humans decided to be negligent in their duties? He would not be able to take care of all of these animals by himself, yet no one had shown up to help. What to do? What to do?

  He picked up the contact list and dialed all the numbers on the sheet again. Part of him was getting more frustrated and angry each time he dialed a number and it just rang and rang. He knew that some people were sick, but he also wondered how many had simply given up and were staying at home, hiding like mice. Did they really even care about these animals? They had just left the dogs here to starve and die in their own filth.

  Coming to a radical decision, Michael slammed the phone down after calling the supervisor one final time and not receiving a response. He went back into the kennel, where the chorus of dogs greeted him. Storming out the back door into the yard, he went over to the fence and swung the gate wide open. He came back inside and filled up the food bowls one more time.

  After they ate their fill, Michael walked down the aisle and opened the cages one by one. Sensing freedom, the dogs happily ran out into the backyard. They barked eagerly at one another as they ran. Michael watched them go with a glad heart. He knew that if things got back to normal, he would have hell to pay for what he had just done. But in his mind, it was more humane to let the dogs go free than to keep them locked up where they would starve to death. At least he had given them a chance to survive.

  When Michael opened Sandy’s cage, she walked out and sat down at his feet.
She looked up at him expectantly.

  “Well, Sandy,” Michael said, petting her. “It was nice to know you for such a short time. But now you’re free to go dig and run and do whatever dogs do.”

  He got up from stroking her fur and shooed her toward the open back door. Sandy just sat there looking at him like he was a crazy man jumping and flailing his hands around.

  Giving up, he went back into the storeroom and dragged the most of the remaining bags of dog food out. Sandy followed him. As she watched, he filled up all the dog bowls he could find and left them outside. At least if the dogs couldn’t find food, they could come back here.

  Satisfied that he had done all he could do, he left the building and went to Brian’s car. Sandy quietly trotted along behind him. Reaching the car door, Michael turned around and bent down.

  “You’re a good girl, Sandy,” he said, rubbing behind her ears.

  She looked into his face, and he pulled back just in time to miss getting another sloppy kiss.

  “I have to go home now,” Michael said as he opened the car door. “You need to run off and join your other friends…”

  Sandy squeezed beside him and jumped into the car through the open door. She went over to the passenger’s seat and sat down.

  “No, Sandy, I can’t…” he started to say. She looked at him and gave him one of her smiles. He felt his heart going out to this dog. He just stood there, amazed.

  From the other side of the car, Sandy looked at him and started to pant. If she could talk, she’d be saying, “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Brian’s going to kill me,” Michael muttered as he went back into the shelter. He took an extra leash and collar from the pegs on the wall and then carried a full bag of dog food back to the car. Opening the trunk, he deposited the bag and then returned to get the last bag from the supply closet. After placing the heavy, fifty pound bag on top of the other one, he closed the trunk and climbed into the driver’s seat.

  Sandy was still waiting expectantly for him. He drove back to the apartment while she watched the passing scenery out of the side window.

  Chapter 10

  “All classes have been canceled until further notice,” Brian announced.

  Michael asked Brian to repeat what he had just said, because the apartment door had squeaked so loudly when he entered that he didn’t understand what Brian was so excited about.

  Brian told him again that the university had unilaterally canceled all classes.

  “The campus is like a ghost town,” Scott added. “Everyone must be staying indoors.”

  Then, they both noticed the dog at the same time.

  “Who’s this?” Scott asked.

  “Her name is Sandy. She was left at the pound. No one is coming in to feed the dogs.”

  “No one?” Brian asked, coming over to pet Sandy.

  Sandy wagged her tail as Brian petted her and gave him a big, sloppy kiss.

  “Ugh,” Brian said as he wiped his face, laughing. “You could have warned me.”

  “I called all the workers, and no one answered their phones. It’s ridiculous. All those animals have been left to die.”

  “So, what can you do?” Scott asked. “You didn’t just leave them locked up there, did you?”

  “I let them all loose,” Michael admitted.

  “Good,” Brian and Scott said together.

  “I’m going to be in big doo-doo when they find out,” Michael said. Then he rubbed Sandy on the top of her head. “This one decided all by herself to come with me.”

  “No one is taking care of them? What the heck is going on out there?” Brian exclaimed, indicating the world outside their little apartment.

  “Let’s sit down, and I’ll tell you what I know,” Michael said to them. He then told them about his conversation with his parents and that they were heading out of the city. Since they had been preparing for a possible economic collapse, they were also well prepared for any major incident. He also told them about his real reason for going to the grocery store and that they all should conserve their food.

  When Michael finished, Brian looked at him and asked bluntly, “Are you crazy?”

  “I don’t think so,” Michael answered back. “If I am, please let me know. I would feel a lot better if I was going crazy and this was just paranoia. Look at it this way. Best-case scenario, this is all over in a couple of days. People are no longer sick, and classes start up again. But on the other hand, worst case…” He trailed off.

  “Look at this,” Scott called. He had just turned on the TV. The national news station was on. Scott hit the remote several times to turn the volume up. On the screen, an official-looking man dressed in a white lab coat was at a podium reading a statement. Bold red letters streamed across the bottom of the screen that screamed “Alert…Alert…Alert.” The caption just above identified the man as Dr. Jacobson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  Michael walked around to the recliner and sat down. Sandy followed him and lay down quietly next to the chair.

  Dr. Jacobson was speaking as Scott turned the volume up.

  “…has undergone a major antigenic shift.”

  “Please explain what a ‘major antigenic shift’ is, Dr. Jacobson,” a reporter from the audience called out.

  “Every year the flu virus undergoes what we call a ‘minor antigenic shift.’ This is quite common and is the reason why we have to modify the flu vaccine slightly each year so it will be effective against the new strains.”

  “Okay…”

  “When a major antigenic shift occurs, that means the virus has changed radically and that a whole new vaccine has to be produced. A past example of when a major antigenic shift occurred would be when the commonly called ‘swine flu’ broke out. The influenza virus changed so radically that we had to adapt to the whole new strain for the following year’s flu season. Now, the probability of a major antigenic shift occurring is small and…”

  “Dr. Jacobson,” another reporter broke in. “Are you telling us that the flu virus has had a ‘major’ change, and the current flu vaccine given to everyone in the nation is not having any effect on the virus?”

  “Well,” the doctor started hesitantly, watching his words carefully, “the current influenza vaccine being used is not effective at halting the virus.”

  “So, you’re telling me that all of us who have had the flu vaccine this year are not protected from this current flu strain?” the news reporter pressed.

  “That is correct.”

  “So, in conclusion, the flu vaccine has no effect at all on the virus?”

  Dr. Jacobson squirmed at the podium and stuttered an inaudible reply. His forehead was starting to perspire.

  “What was that, Dr. Jacobson?” the reporter pressed, sensing that the poor doctor wasn’t telling them everything.

  Dr. Jacobson now looked like a deer caught in approaching headlights.

  “What did you say?” the news anchorman repeated.

  “Not exactly,” the CDC scientist finally said.

  “What do you mean, ‘not exactly’? You just said the flu vaccine doesn’t protect against the influenza virus. So, what effect does it have?”

  Dr. Jacobson appeared to be distressed. He stuttered again and then finally blurted out, “It appears from the tests we’ve done on the virus that it has a chemical structure having an affinity for the antibodies produced by the vaccine. We’ve never seen this effect before. This particular affinity has never happened before and is quite interesting.”

  The reporter looked lost. “Please, Doctor. In plain English.”

  “Normally, administering the flu vaccine causes the body to produce antibodies. These antibodies recognize and then attack the influenza virus when the virus enters the body. That is how the flu vaccine works. In the current cases we have studied in the California pandemic, these antibodies actually help the influenza virus spread throughout the infected person’s body. We don’t know how or why.”

  A cl
amor of voices erupted in the background. One voice, however, seemed to rise above the rest. “Are you actually telling us that the flu vaccine is helping the influenza virus spread?”

  “It appears that way. Yes,” the doctor answered into the microphone. “Not only is it helping the new influenza strain reproduce throughout the body, but it also seems to make the person more susceptible to becoming infected.”

  Michael, Scott, and Brian looked at each other in total shock. Then, they stared back at the news broadcast. Now, the red letters scrolling across the screen read, “Alert…Do NOT get the flu vaccine…Alert…Do NOT get the flu vaccine.” The scene devolved from a normal interview to complete chaos. People started running around in front of the camera, and the helpless CDC doctor looked completely distressed.

  The caption now read, “CDC states Influenza Vaccine puts people at Risk.”

  Some unknown men dressed in military uniforms quickly appeared from off camera and whisked Dr. Jacobson away from the podium. There was a multitude of voices shouting in the background as the television screen suddenly went dark. Someone at the controls in the news room must have hit the switch. After a few seconds, a regular commercial started playing. It was something about car insurance.

  Scott hit the TV remote mute button, and all three of them just sat in stunned silence. Scott was the first to speak. “Glad we never got the flu shot, I guess.”

  “But look how many people have already gotten the shot,” Brian said. “And think about all of those people who were required to get the flu shot as part of their job. I’m talking about the police, the military, government workers, and most companies that require their employees to get immunized. I bet they all had to get the flu shot.”

  “And all medical personnel,” Michael added. “That means that all these vaccinated people who are trying to treat all the infected people…”