Contagion Page #3

Someone's ready to blow themselves up|at a pizzeria or the local market...

...the thought of getting themselves sick|with smallpox...

...and walking through a crowded casino|must have crossed their mind.

What did they die of, the three?

Reports are vague. Seizures, comas.

We've reached out to the WHO,|see what they know.

If you were gonna plan it,|can't think of a better time.

- Plan what?|- An attack.

Is there any way|someone could weaponize the bird flu?

Someone doesn't have to weaponize|the bird flu.

The birds are doing that.

Government officials are reporting|the closing of Mondale Elementary School...

...in suburban Minneapolis...

...in response to the recent outbreak|of a still-unknown disease...

...that has so far taken the life|of a school nurse and three students.

Other schools in District 281|will remain open...

...but parents have been notified|to keep home any children with symptoms.

The Department of Health|is awaiting confirmation...

...but sources say these new cases|may be connected to the sudden death...

...of a 34-year-old|AIMM Alderson executive...

...and her 6-year-old son|this holiday weekend.

Hello. I'm Dr. Mears.

I'm an Epidemic Intelligence Service|officer...

...and I'm here from Atlanta to find out|what happened to Beth Emhoff.

Okay, I'm gonna ask you some questions|and see if...

There was a package she messengered|from Hong Kong.

- I opened it with scissors. I'm not sure if...|- No. It shouldn't be an issue.

Virus can't live for days on a box.

We did Pilates together.

I called her after she got back.|I never heard from her.

- So you had no contact with her?|- No.

- Did she go to the class?|- I didn't see her there.

We had coffee the day she left.

I think she might have moved my cup|because it was on some papers.

- I can't remember.|- How many days ago?

About 10 days.

That's okay.|The incubation period is less than that.

Is there anyone else|who might have had contact with her?

- This was everyone.|- Aaron Barnes did.

Barnes? He worked on another floor.

There were documents she needed.|He picked her up from the airport.

He picked her up from the airport?|Where is he?

Hello?

- Hello? Mr. Barnes?|- Hello? Yes.

This is Dr. Mears|from the Centers for Disease Control.

- I believe...|- Hi.

Hi. I believe you may have had contact|with Beth Emhoff last week.

Yeah, I picked her up at the airport.|What's this about?

- And how are you feeling today?|- Pretty cruddy, to be honest.

My head is pounding.|I probably picked up some bug.

- Where are you right now?|- I'm on the bus, heading to work.

- I'd like you to get off immediately.|- What?

- He's on a bus.|- Where?

Where? Where's the bus, Aaron?

- Lake and Lyndale. What's going on?|- Lake and Lyndale.

I really need you to get off that bus.

It's possible you've come in contact|with an infectious disease...

...and you're highly contagious.|Do you understand?

I want you to get off now.|And stay away from other people.

Now what do I do?

Don't talk to anyone, don't touch anyone.

That's the most important thing.

- We'll send somebody to meet the bus.|- Okay.

I'm on my way to you now, Aaron.

What about my kids? I touched them.

It was a groundbreaking ceremony|for a new factory.

She traveled a lot for work.

Did her work involve contact with livestock|in any way?

- Did you keep any pets at home?|- No.

No.

Did she mention seeing anyone|who was sick?

Anyone on a plane?

No.

She went through customs in Chicago|at 11:15 a.m...

...and then took a flight to Minneapolis|at 6 p.m.

Any idea what she did in Chicago|during that layover?

Did she have meetings?

Is there any reason|she might have left the airport?

Why? I mean, is there|someone sick in Chicago?

Before we were married,|my wife had a relationship...

...with a man in Chicago named Jon Neal.

Is Jon Neal sick?

Did we get this from him?

- We're investigating all the possibilities.|- No. I think I have a right to know.

Look at where I am here.|Look at where I am here.

- I can't disclose that information. I'm sorry.|- No, I'm just... I'm just trying to understand.

I know.

We're getting the same results as Sussman.

We've sequenced the virus,|determined its origin...

...and we've modeled the way|it enters the cells of the lung and the brain.

The virus contains|both bat and pig sequences.

The dark green is pig,|and the light green is bat.

And here you can see|the crossover event.

Bat, bat, and pig, bat.

And here is a model of the virus|and how it attaches to its host.

The blue is virus, and the gold is human,|and the red is the viral attachment protein...

...and the green is its receptor|in the human cells.

These receptors are found in the cells|of both the respiratory tract...

...and the central nervous system.

And the virus attaches to the cell|like a key slipping into a lock.

Somewhere in the world,|the wrong pig met up with the wrong bat.

- You ever seen anything like this before?|- No. And it's still changing.

It's figuring us out|faster than we're figuring it out.

It doesn't have anything else to do.

So we have a novel virus|with a mortality rate in the low 20s...

...no treatment protocol,|and no vaccine at this time.

That is correct.

From here on out, I want no one working|on this except at BSL-4.

Last thing we need is for this to walk out of|the lab on the bottom of someone's shoe.

Dr. Sussman's office.

Ian, hi. Ally Hextall.

We need to shut you down.|This thing's too hot.

- BSL-4 only at this point.|- I think that's a mistake.

Cook your samples.|Destroy everything.

- We can't risk it.|- We're making progress.

You limit this to government-run BSL-4s,|it'll take forever.

I can do this.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Sure, Ally.

Can you repeat the affected cities so far?

Again, the affected cities are...

...Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles,|Boston and Salt Lake.

We expect that list to grow...

...as people return home|from their holidays.

Yes?

Dr. Cheever,|how many people are infected...

...and how many have died?

Those numbers are changing as we speak...

...so any figure I give you|is likely to be low.

We're still calculating the mortality rate|at this time.

Dr. Cheever, are you concerned...

...that the CDC faces|a credibility issue here...

...after the perceived overreaction|to H1 N1?

I'd rather the story be|that we overreacted...

...than that many people lost their lives|because we didn't do enough.

That's why we're here.

It's also why the World Health Organization|is sending an epidemiologist to Hong Kong.

Hard to know what it is|without where it came from.

Our first job with these things|is to find ground zero.

Figure out how it jumped|into the population.

We do know that a patient in Minnesota...

...traveled to that part of the world.

We believe that there are|approximately 89,000 cases at this point...

...and that we are heading|toward 267,000.

And from there, using our model,|based on an R-nought of two...

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