The Perfect Pathogen (3 page)

Terman’s Termites

Just a couple of years after one of
the most devastating wars in human history, with the Spanish Flu close on its
heels which killed untold millions, an unassuming psychologist at Stanford
University in California began a ground breaking study that would be, in the
end, supremely ironic. In late 1921, Dr. Lewis Terman wanted to learn what
factors in a child’s life and environment qualified them for later success.
What began as a modest effort to identify key attributes in children that lead
to a successful life, the study instead became a well-documented, longevity
analysis by three generations of doctors and scientists, following over 1,500
children born around 1910. The goal of the larger study, one that would long
outlive Dr. Terman himself, was to determine what aspects of health, biology
and lifestyle contributed to a happy, productive and long life. Terman’s
Termites, a name the children of Dr. Terman’s study eventually coined for
themselves, would become the first thoroughly documented cohort of human
beings, many of whom would enjoy full, productive and long lives compared to
all humans who preceded them.

In hindsight, humans born in 1910
were indeed a very special group. At no better moment in the history of the
Homo sapiens species could one ask to be born. Improving sanitation, clean
water, effective vaccinations and a dependable food supply had begun to take
effect around the globe, and as these children passed through childhood and
entered adolescence, more improvements would take hold.

The historic milestones were
astonishing: 1922, the first insulin treatment for diabetes; 1927, the first
tetanus vaccine; 1928, Penicillin, the first true antibiotic, is discovered;
1937, the first typhus vaccine; 1945, the first influenza vaccine; 1953: the
first polio vaccine; 1964, the first measles vaccine.

Indeed, in spite of two world wars
that wiped out over 100 million humans, the war against disease and premature
death in every corner of the globe was being decisively won in humanity’s
favor.

Year by year the average life span
of humans climbed ever higher. Fewer women would die in childbirth because of
vitamins, improvements in pre-natal care, and something as simple as midwives
using soap and pure water during the delivery of babies. Billions of humans
would be born and, most decisively, live.

Out of this unprecedented surge in
humanity Terman’s Termites would enjoy a wonderful life at the top of the food
and opportunity chain, riding the crest of history’s largest human population,
industrial and information wave, ensconced in the protective cloak of the most
prosperous state of the most powerful, wealthy and stable nation the world had
ever seen—or would ever see.

Time passed by and as humanity
entered the 21st century some of Terman’s Termites survived with long and
healthy lives to cross over into being centenarians. These lucky few would look
back over a lifetime of comparative prosperity and opportunity that no other
group of that size had seen in the history of mankind. Their extraordinary
journey, so well-documented by researchers through the years, would, for a very
brief time, serve as a model for all to learn from and look forward to
emulating. Indeed, in the early years of the second decade of the 21st century,
Dr. Terman’s surviving children, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren
were just beginning to appreciate the wonderful gift this valuable research
provided to mankind. The general public was also beginning to fully grasp the
lessons learned from the study. More and more people took the salient
principles to heart and optimistically looked forward to long, prosperous lives
themselves, thanks to the good pathways pointed out by Dr. Terman and his
special children.

CHAPTER 4

Rob returned home from work and was immediately
greeted by his children.

“What’s
for dinner,” they all asked.

“Oh,
I don’t know,” replied Rob. “What do you guys have in mind?”

“Since
mom’s not home, how about chicken nuggets and fries?  She says they aren’t that
healthy, so she won’t let us have them very often,” said Brett.

Hope
and Sam agreed, so chicken nuggets it was. Twenty minutes later they were all
sitting around the table chowing down.

“Anyone
heard from your mother,” asked Rob.

“Oops,”
said Sam. “I forgot to tell you. Mom said she’d be a little late because she
had to stop by the hospital to see one of the ladies from the conference who
got sick. She said she’d be home by about 8 p.m. and that she’d call when she
left the hospital.”

“Sounds
good,” said Rob. “Anybody got homework to do tonight?” 

There
were moans all around. It was the beginning of the school year and the teachers
had been piling on the homework. The kids seemed to complain every evening. Rob
thought back to when he was in school and it seemed there just wasn’t as much
homework back when he was a kid. But maybe that was just his mind forgetting
the bad parts and remembering the good parts, as our memories seem to do.

“Well,
you can all take thirty minutes off and then it’s down to work, which means TV
goes off and you go to your desks.”

They
all agreed reluctantly, but they knew dad wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Better to just agree than to suffer the consequences, ridiculous as the
consequences may be.

At
about a quarter past seven, Rob received a call from Katie. “I should be home
in about forty-five minutes. Do you need me to get anything?”

“Only
if you want something special for dinner. I don’t guess you want to have
chicken nuggets and fries, like we had.”

“No,
I think I’ll just stop at Subway and pick up a sandwich.”

“How
is the lady in the hospital?”

“Not
too good. I am a little concerned. We can talk about it when I get home. I have
about a thousand emails I need to go through also, so I expect to be up late.
Luckily I don’t have any lecture to prepare for tomorrow.”

“How
did your presentation go today,” asked Rob.

“Pretty
well. I got a lot of positive comments and only about half of the audience fell
asleep. Not bad for this group, if you know what I mean.”

“Well,
you can tell me more when you get home,” Rob said. “See you in a little while.
Love you.”

They
both hung up and Rob thought it was time to check on the kids’ progress on
their homework. He went into Hope’s room to see how she was doing. He was
always amazed at the diligence with which she did her work. She was busy
working on an assignment to design a presentation that would explain the
advantages and disadvantages of doing business with a make believe company. She
liked to show her work to her dad, and she hoped that someday she would be a
successful business person like him. Based on his quick review of her homework,
Rob felt she was well on her way. It seemed there was nothing she couldn’t
master, given the opportunity and time. Indeed, Rob had designed his work and
life around giving Hope every advantage that a normal kid has, and it was
paying off.

Rob
and Katie were planning on moving Hope into the new independent living facility
at the Center as soon as it was finished. It was actually Hope’s idea to build
the living units on the site of the training Center. She hoped to move into an
apartment in the Center of Prince Frederick early next year. This would give
her access to the stores, library, theater, and swimming pool facility. It was
her dream to live on her own. Well sort of. She didn’t want to actually be on
her own completely, for she had a friend in a wheelchair who was paralyzed
below the waist and the two of them wanted to share an apartment. Rob thought
it was a good idea for her to have company and they both could help each other
out. They each had their own strengths that complemented the other’s
weaknesses.

Rob’s
musings were interrupted by a phone call. He thought that maybe Katie had
forgotten to tell him something.

“Hi,
this is Doctor Howard at University Hospital. I would like to speak to Dr.
Katie McMann. I promised I would call her if the patient’s condition changed.
Please have her give me a call at her earliest opportunity.”

“Any
message?” asked Rob.

“No,
just have her give me a call. Thank you. Good bye.”

The
doctor hung up the phone and Rob was left holding the receiver in his hand,
assuming that the lady from the conference had taken a turn for the worse.

A
few minutes later Katie walked in. “What a busy day,” she said. “I thought it
would never end.”

“Well,
it hasn’t,” said Rob. “Dr. Howard at the hospital called. He would like you to
call him back at your “earliest opportunity”. It sounded urgent, but he didn’t
want to leave a message.”

“I
think I’ll eat first, I’m starved. Would you mind pouring me a glass of
Chardonnay?  I need something to take the edge off.”

“Certainly,”
said Rob. “I’ll join you.”

They
both sipped at their wine while Katie devoured her tuna sub. She was wondering
what the doctor had to say. She hoped it wasn’t bad news, but then why else
would he have called?  She expected the lady, Therese Espland, would require a
lengthy stay, but had tried to push the doctor to release her so she could at
least attend the last day of the conference.

After
finishing her sub and glass of wine, Katie picked up the phone. She dialed the
doctor’s number, waiting several moments for the doctor to come on the line.

 “Dr.
McMann. Where are you, are you sitting down?”

“Yes,
I am at home. Why?”

“Ms.
Espland died about forty-five minutes ago. When you left the hospital, the
prognosis was that she could possibly leave the hospital in several days, but
shortly after you left her vital signs degraded and it seemed that she just
gave up. A few minutes later her heart stopped. Attempts at resuscitation
failed. I am sorry, Dr. McMann.”

Katie
sat for a moment in shocked silence.

“Dr.
McMann, are you there?” the doctor asked after about thirty seconds, prompting
a response from Katie.

“This
is all happening so suddenly. I don’t know what to say. Can you tell me what
the cause of death was?”

 “I
can’t be definitive without an autopsy, but it seems that she died of old age.
The progression of her death was not abnormal for a woman of her age, it just
seemed to happen quicker once it started. Normally with a stroke like this, the
person could recover and live for several more days, months or years. In her
case that was not to be. She went downhill rapidly.”  There was a pause and
then he added, “I must say, I haven’t seen that very often.”

Still
in shock Katie said, “Thank you for the call doctor.”  Katie said good bye and
hung up the phone, as a tear ran down her cheek.

Rob
came to her side and put his arm around her. She was visibly shaken. He had
never seen her like this before. “Honey, I know this is very upsetting, but she
was elderly.”

“That’s
not the point,” said Katie. “She was in great health, as was Margaret Smith.
They both died in a similar manner and, you know, I don’t believe in
coincidences. This is really unnerving,” she added. “I need to call my
assistant Beth at home to see if there are others who didn’t make it to the conference
because of health-related reasons.”

Katie
reached Beth and relayed her concerns; she had a bad feeling about this. She
asked Beth how many no-shows there were for the conference, and was told there
were around thirty. She asked Beth to contact each of the missing attendees to
find out why they hadn’t made it to the event. After hanging up she tackled her
emails.

Soon
enough, her initial shock, and that niggling concerns that had formed at the
back of her mind turned to fear. As she opened each email from colleagues
across the globe, she read reports of  the deaths of over twenty-five
centenarians in the last day. Whatever was happening wasn’t good, and it wasn’t
clear why this was happening now, and so suddenly. As she read the last account
of one of her fallen heroes, she decided it was time to alert her director.

Katie
tried to call Herb Simpson, her office director, but there was no answer. Next,
she would try and reach his boss. She had never called the Washington DC head
of the CDC before, but convinced of the immensity of this problem, she looked
up her number anyway and, tentatively, dialed.

“Hello,”
she heard on the other end of the line.

“Hello,
is this Dr. Lin?” Katie asked.

“Yes
it is. Can I help you?”

“Yes,
hi, this is Dr. Katie McMann. I conduct the aging studies.”

“Oh
yes, I remember we met when you briefed me on your latest conclusion regarding
the sustained increase in life expectancy. What can I do for you this late in
the day?”

“I
know it is late, but I have some disturbing news. I can’t reach my boss, but it
is important and I need to tell someone.”

Katie
explained what had happened, her hypothesis that something was killing the
elderly, and what her next course of action might be.

“You
did the right thing by calling me,” said Dr. Lin. “Looks like we’ll need to get
to the bottom of this. Meet me in my office tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. with any
new information you may have. I will call in Dr. Ben Shah, our leading expert
in viruses and pandemics. Whatever this is, it needs to be looked into and, if
true, needs to be stopped before it causes anymore damage. I will see you in
the morning.” 

Katie
hung up and tried again to call Herb. There was still no answer. She suspected he
was out for a late dinner with his wife. She would have to skip the conference
tomorrow morning and report directly to the office, making sure that she was
there in time to check her emails and prepare a brief before her boss arrived
at 7 a.m., and their meeting with Dr. Lin.

Rob
had been sitting and listening to all of the phone calls, and was also growing
increasingly concerned. “Say, it’s getting late. I have checked on the kids and
they’re ready for you to tell them goodnight.”

Even
though the boys were older, they still enjoyed the good night kiss from their
mom. Katie expected it was because of the extra attention she paid to Hope and
the desire for notice that is normal in the human makeup. She said good night
to all of the children and then joined Rob in their room.

“What
a night,” she said.

“Preceded
by quite a day,” said Rob.

Katie
put her arms around Rob.

“The
only way I am going to be able to sleep tonight is if you give me a sleeping,
pill, if you know what I mean.”

“I
was hoping I would be able to fulfil my manly duties and provide you with the
comfort needed to overcome your stress,” Rob replied.

Katie
gave Rob a long deep kiss and they fell into bed together.