Chimaera

By Navin Reuben Dawson

As the world continues to reel under the devastating effects of SARS CoV-2, the Director General of WHO receives a disturbing code in his inbox. He summons CBI officer Jake Stevens on a clandestine mission to China, who deciphers the code to unlock a trail of clues that leads him to Wuhan Museum, where he meets elegant museum docent Juan Liu. Together, they commit a heist of an uncanny museum exhibit that thrust them on a perilous quest to locate the antidote for the virus.

In a race against time, navigating the gloomy wet market to highly secured BSL-4 laboratory in Wuhan, they must evade a dangerous wildlife trade syndicate and ruthless Chinese police force, ultimately coming face-toface with a shocking revelation about mankind’s evolutionary past... that will not only rewrite the scientific history of the evolution of virus but also threaten the very existence of human race...

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Point Six Technologies Pvt Ltd
• Release date: Sep 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9789356107236

Navin Reuben Dawson

Based in Bangalore, Navin Reuben, a graduate in engineering works in a US based software firm. His keen interest to probe into the realms of the unknown and fiddle around with untold mysteries has led to the cornerstone for his first novel, The Lost Arcanum. In this second book, however, he has poured in sincere efforts to bring humanity as close to the truth as possible to the origin of the deadliest virus-SARS-Cov-2 and the events that transpired thereafter in Wuhan, China that wreaked havoc on an unprecedented scale the human history has ever known, thus bringing the world down on its knees.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

12.30 PM

30th December, 2019

International Conference for Environmental and Life Sciences,

Shanghai, China.

I t’s not the fittest of the species that survive. Nor the most intelligent of all. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

Dr. Zhu Leong quoted Charles Darwin’s popular adage from Theory of Evolution, as she opened her stirring speech from the podium confidently to a jam-packed audience that graced a massive oval-shaped hall.

If dear Darwin had known that the fittest species was not always the one that was adaptable to change, but one that transformed to let itself defeated in the race and later to resurface mightier, smarter, and to be most intelligent.

Being a topmost Chinese virologist and an expert on bat coronavirus, 55 year-old Dr. Zhu Leong had been extended the privilege to speak at this forum to discuss and share her expertise on novel ideas, results, and experiences including work-in-progress experiments to a massive audience of experts from Life Sciences.

This afternoon, however, using this occasion and the stage as an excellent opportunity, Zhu Leong was exposing her breakthrough experimental work to the international scrutiny of peers from different parts of the world, with the intention of opening up the scope for new research collaborations among the international community of researches and foreign delegates. And the topic was one of her favorite subjects.

Evolution of Viruses.

As she continued her speech, the spotlight shone over her face, illuminating her oriental features—a broad face with a short nose framed by shoulder-length jet black hair. A navy blue skirt-suit accentuated her lithe form gracefully.

She looked across the vast, crowded arena of experts. When the human genomic sequence was mapped two decades ago, they found something profound embedded in our DNA. She paused, letting the intrigue linger a bit. Inserts that had no previously known function but lie there buried like inert shards littering our DNA. Although scientists have termed them as Junk DNA, it wasn’t until the last decade that geneticists identified those bits to be entities that inhabited the planet as long as we humans have.

Folks, I’m talking about HERV’s. Her voice resonated across the arena. Human Endogenous Retroviruses. Viral fossils that integrated into the genomic sequences of our DNA in our evolutionary past.

As humans reproduced over generations, the virus-generated DNA continued copying itself and entered the human germ-line at some point in the evolution’s history, thus ending up in our DNA today.

It makes up to eight percent of our genome and it seems to have lost the ability to produce new viral copies and cause infection and hence, lies dormant in our DNA. The question now arises: how did these inserts of viruses ended up in our DNA? She broke off, gauging the reaction of the crowd that listened with rapt attention. Well, the answer, is not a great mystery. It’s just how life evolves on the planet where each species wages war against the other for survival. That being said, one simply cannot ignore Human symbiosis with the viruses.

She continued. It’s a constant battle that’s going on between humans and viruses for hundreds of thousands of years. An evolutionary cat-and-mouse game in which, if a human’s immune system has learned the hard ways of fighting back by changing its genetic make-up, in contrast, viruses turned to means of evasion, stealthily inserting a copy of itself into the genetic make-up of human DNA, staying put for a very long time, for millions of years.

Dr. Leong knew she had intrigued the audience.

Today, however, I take immense pleasure to usher you into a new era of breakthrough science. Sophisticated and advanced technology and innovative scientific tools have made it possible to shed light on the unchartered territory of these Human Endogenous Retro Viruses that have evolved with humans.

Let’s take a look at how these viruses infected our cells, and how, in response, our immune system has staved off its effects by changing its proteins.

She cleared her throat. Close investigations have revealed that many of these viral inserts are in proximity to genes significant for the innate immune response. Our body’s first line of defense.

A member of the audience raised his hand, and she stopped, though she was not ready for questions. It sounds like a Jew having an Arab as his neighbor, he said, My neighbor, my enemy.

The crowd broke into a hearty laugh over the anecdote that cited the long-standing battle between the Jews and the Arabs, in a conflict as God’s chosen people for claiming the Holy land of Israel.

Well, that’s quite a sensible yet hilarious comparison of two distinct findings, Zhu Leong said, taking control over the attention of the audience. We can draw parallels seeing Jews and Arabs as the human immune system and viruses. Immune system as the oppressor, and the virus as oppressed, but taking turns during the course of the evolution. Having chosen each other for a never-ending battle, where each would rise over the other and fall again only to defeat the other. She paused to take a deep breath. In this natural struggle for sustenance, however, it is confounding to discover that both humans and viruses have evolved together. And throughout millions of years, the virus has developed mutations that have rendered them inactive.

But what if our understanding of HERV’s was wrong? These bits of genetic code that we think are passive and lie dormant in our DNA suddenly wake up abruptly without notice.

This time she stopped and cast her gaze at the audience for an answer.

Then it could open a Pandora’s box of diseases and wreak havoc, God knows, of what intensity and scale, one person said, close enough to the podium to be heard.

A second person said, A potential threat much like the ancient viruses found frozen in the oldest glacial ice that is waiting to unleash horror once the ice sheets melt.

Sure enough, ancient frozen viruses pose that ability, Dr. Zhu Leong accorded, continuing, but the HERV’s don’t. They are just a part of human DNA and evolved within the host cells of humans. Although many HERV elements can still transcribe and translate under certain conditions, including embryonic development and diseases, they pose no such threat nor the ability to wake up on their own. Our body has developed a way to silence them, to prevent the adverse consequences of their presence.

Dr. Zhu Leong recalled how the melting of glacial ice because of global warming was unleashing the frozen ancient viruses buried millions of years ago back into the modern world.

In 2015, a team of researchers from the US and China conducted experiments on samples collected from fifteen thousand year-old ice sheet, the earth’s oldest glacial mass in Tibet and reported that 28 out of 33 virus groups discovered were unidentified.

With the rise in global warming, ancient viruses in the permafrost and the glacial ice trapped for centuries were now being gradually released into the atmosphere with the melting of polar ice caps. Besides diseases induced by high rates of pollution, impending danger to humans was also from these ancient viruses. Scientists have warned about the significant possibility of a deadly pathogenic virus escaping from these viral archives from the permafrost and glacial mass.

If we can find out a means of reviving these ancient virus inserts in our DNA, it can open up the gateway to many scientific breakthrough discoveries and inventions, Dr. Zhu Leong said, including the door to cross-species transmission crucial for gain-of-function research.

Madam, the conference coordinator hurried to her side, interrupting her talk. Dr. Zhu Leong turned to him, as if he was the next speaker on the agenda.

He leaned closer and spoke in a hushed tone. Sorry for the interruption, but you have an important call.

Call? She was puzzled, wondering what could be more important than the talk she was delivering at this international conference that had to stall her midway through her speech.

The coordinator whispered, From Director. Wuhan Institute of Virology.

She was baffled.

The Director was her boss. He was aware that she was at the conference.

Then what’s the matter that he couldn’t wait until it was over?

She remembered the Director of WIV was someone who wouldn’t bother her, unless there was something very disturbing and serious weighing on his mind.

She turned to the audience. I beg your pardon for the interruption. I have an important call to attend. She hesitated. Please excuse me for a moment. I will be right back.

She accepted the cell phone from the coordinator’s hand and hastened out of the hall, remembering to pull her throat microphone before raising the phone to her ear.

The Director’s news made her heart skip a beat. Fine. I’m leaving right away, she said.

She disconnected and handed the phone back to the coordinator, blurting, There’s an emergency. I must leave right now.

Before the coordinator could protest and remind her about the audience and her unfinished talk, Dr. Zhu Leong had grabbed her belongings and rushed for the exit.

CHAPTER 2

Dr. Zhu Leong had never done things in great haste.

Especially not at the drop of a hat. Exiting the forum, flagging a taxi to the nearest railway station, hopping on the fastest train back to Wuhan in the nick of time. That was a close call. Even a split second of delay would have left her stranded at the station for hours until the next train to Wuhan, which would cost her God knows what, considering the urgency of the matter.

Now, ensconced at the window seat, Zhu Leong let her gaze drift beyond the train window at a panoramic view of the mountainous range that shifted in a swift blur. She tried to calm herself. Yet, she felt increasingly nauseous as she played the conversation with her boss, the Director of Wuhan Institute of Virology, in her mind over and again.

Glad I could get in touch with you, the Director spoke with great urgency when she took his call.

I’m sorry, she said. I was in the middle of….

Dr. Zhu, there is a state of emergency that needs your immediate presence at the facility.

Immediate? She sounded perplexed. Director, I’m delivering a seminar at the moment...

I don’t care, the Director cut her off, bluntly. Take a flight or train or anything right now that can get you here at the earliest.

But what is this about?

You would not like to hear this. There was a long silence before the voice returned. There’s a surge of patients reporting to city hospitals with typical pneumonia-like symptoms.

What’s the big deal? It could just be a seasonal flu, not a pandemic.

What are the numbers like?

144. All infected with an unknown virus. Sixty of them are in serious condition. Health officials are still clueless about the origin and nature of the outbreak. But there’s talk among medical professionals that the symptoms are like the SARS outbreak of 2002.

She absorbed the information quietly with no hints of panic since the history of diseases appearing in intermittent pockets in China was not exclusive. Bubonic plague, H1N1, SARS, and others were common, occasionally thriving here and there.

But what about this new one?

Did you receive the samples?

Yes, we did. His voice turned grave. From the initial analysis of the samples, adenovirus, influenza, and Avian flu are ruled out.

Not any of them? It beguiled her.

I suspect we’re dealing with a contagion. His voice carried a hint of terror. Human-to-human transmission, which is showing projections of an epidemic.

She cupped the phone closer to her mouth. What do you think is happening?

I’m afraid there’s something you have failed to recall.

What? Dr. Zhu Leong took a moment to process his words before she knew what he was indicating. Wait a minute, you think it could be….

It’s highly probable.

She had to fight through her terror that threatened to render her speechless. I… I don’t understand how this happened. Her voice trailed off as her mouth went dry. I just…

Drop whatever you’re doing and return now. His voice was clear and commanding. And deal with it as soon as you can.

Before she could acknowledge his orders, the line went dead.

She reclined her head against the headrest of the seat and tried to calm her nerves.

Only a while ago, she was expressing her deep concern over the impending danger the ancient viruses posed to the world. But she never imagined that her warning would turn into a prophecy.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology housed the largest virus bank in Asia, preserving over 1500 strains of viruses for research, including deadly pathogens that caused MERS and SARS. Could it be possible one of the viruses from the archive had leaked from the laboratory and caused the outbreak? The Director insisted it had.

Inadvertent virus leaks in the Bio Safety Level labs had occurred in the past. It was too early to make assumptions without solid proof - which was the reason the Director wanted her back at the laboratory at the earliest to run a thorough investigation. That being said, this was not the only possibility they needed to explore. They also had to investigate other avenues to trace the origin of this infection.

Seventeen years ago, Serious Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic struck Foshan city in the mid-south of Guangdong province of China. It spread across the world, killing eight hundred people and leaving as many as eight thousand infected worldwide. But the MERS and SARS were containable, although there was no treatment for the diseases till date. Now the question was, how serious was the present outbreak? Did it have the potential to escalate to an epidemic? Or something beyond it? Answers to these questions had to wait until she reached the laboratory.

With a deep sigh, she shifted in her seat and closed her eyes, praying desperately that her fears remained in her imagination without manifesting into a reality.

CHAPTER 3

BSL-4 Laboratory,

Wuhan Institute of Virology,

Southern Suburbs of Wuhan,

Hubei Province, China.

Back at the Wuhan Institute, Dr. Zhu Leong was met by her junior virologist in the facility’s ground floor lounge with the data she had asked from the medical authorities in the city.

Good to see you, the junior virologist greeted her.

It’s great seeing you, darling. But never thought I would be back so soon. Right today.

You wouldn’t, had it not been for the crisis.

What is the situation?

More serious than it was first thought to be, the junior virologist said grimly as she kept up with Dr. Zhu Leong in the corridors. The medical experts report a new coronavirus behind this pneumonia-like outbreak.

And the numbers?

Infected patients have crossed over 300 with over eighty more cases reported in the last four hours alone with severe respiratory complications.

That’s an alarming surge in numbers, Dr. Zhu Leong said in surprise. Any casualties?

Going by the reports from government health officials, 23 are dead and those who are serious are in isolation. They quarantined symptomatic cases, while most of the numbers have mild symptoms.

I don’t trust the reports from these health officials, Dr. Zhu Leong said flatly. I know they fudged those numbers. I’m expecting more casualties. She paused, and continued with her questions. And the complications?

The infected patients are showing all the symptoms of flu, but the medical reports link the fatality rate to the out-of-control cytokine response.

That’s cytokine storm, Dr. Zhu Leong blurted out, a common complication reported in patients of flu, SARS, and MERS.

The junior virologist nodded.

They are expecting these numbers to surge exponentially in the coming weeks.

Weeks? Dr. Zhu Leong raised her eyebrows, glancing at her as they turned a corner and wove their way through the maze of interconnecting corridors.

I see the surge happening in a day or two. There is a serious human-to-human transmission.

Do we have anything on the origin of the disease?

Not yet, but strangely, many of the infected patients have a history of visiting the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market recently.

That’s a wet market! Dr. Zhu Leong stopped dead in her tracks, and her junior tried hard not to bump into her. That place is a melting pot of viruses.

Yes. There’s a strong possibility that the strain behind this outbreak is of a zoonotic origin.

Yes. Dr. Zhu Leong agreed with her and they resumed their way down the corridor. But I’m glad we have a lead to start with.

As they pressed forward through the corridor, there were multiple locked doors between them and the main research laboratory that they passed through using card swipes. But the citation of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market as the probable ground zero for this pneumonia-like outbreak threw Dr. Zhu Leong into deep unease.

The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was the biggest wet market in the city of Wuhan, where exotic wild animals were brought into a poorly maintained environment and butchered on-site and sold. The wet market, she recalled, provided all the contributing factors for brewing deadly pathogens with the potential to jump from animals to humans. Like it had in the past decade, resulting in deadly epidemics like MERS and SARS.

The junior virologist veered in the direction of her lab, and Dr. Zhu Leong pressed onward alone towards the main research laboratory. Keep updating me on the reports, Dr. Zhu Leong called over her shoulder.

She took an elevator at the end of the corridor and reached the second floor of the facility. The control room and research laboratory required another scan, but a different authentication system.

An iris scan. Mounted on a wall next to the door.

Using her biometric credential, Dr. Zhu Leong passed through the door and walked into the control room with workstations overlooking the main research laboratory separated by a glass partition.

Several of her junior virologists turned from their workstations and greeted her, but the mood was sombre. She returned their gestures and arrived at one workstation, leaned in to see the GenBank sequence database displayed on the screen.

GenBank was a robust collection of DNA nucleotide sequences and their protein translations of over a hundred thousand distinct organisms made publicly available as open resource access system by laboratories across the world and maintained by National Center for Biotechnology Information Of National Institute of Health, US.

Dr. Zhu Leong stared at the scale-model of GenBank exclusive to Wuhan’s BSL-facility holding a private collection of over 1500 nucleotide sequences of virus samples collected for private research. This included complete genomic sequences of deadly pathogens extracted from bats and several other species.

The Director suspects the virus escaped from this lab, the junior virologist at the workstation said.

It’s highly unlikely. But I want to rule it out not with denials, but with test results, Dr. Zhu Leong replied bluntly. The strain behind the current outbreak originated elsewhere. Certainly not here in this laboratory.

The virologist refrained from commenting.

Do we have any word from Yan? Dr. Zhu Leong inquired, recalling the junior virologist who had gone on a month-long vacation for personal reasons.

Nothing so far, the virologist replied. We tried reaching her on her cell phone, but with no success.

Dr. Zhu Leong raised her brows questioningly. She found it disturbing, considering Yan’s reputation for punctuality. She was always easily accessible, irrespective of time and occasion. And now her absence with no prior intimation was of serious concern.

Check with HR if she’s applied for a leave extension.

I will follow up.

Dr. Zhu Leong went back to the task at hand.

What about the samples?

Isolation of the pathogen is complete. We have run the PCR. The junior virologist glanced over her shoulder at Dr. Zhu Leong. Now the samples are being readied for sequencing.

That’s great, Dr. Zhu Leong said in an excited tone and gazed through the glass wall at two researchers in bio-suits inside the main laboratory handling the samples.

She remembered the Director’s orders.

I want the complete sequencing of the samples run under your guidance.

There were other virologists at the facility capable of performing the same task. But she realized the sensitivity of the crisis and the need to ensure no errors. Sucking in a deep breath, she glanced sideways at her junior virologist. Shall we begin?

CHAPTER 4

Established in 1956, Wuhan Institute of Virology was an integral arm of the Chinese Academy of Sciences among nineteen other biological and biomedical research institutes wi th speciali zations in virology, viral pathology, and virus technology.

The burgeoning human population and massive expansion of the Chinese landscape encroaching into wildlife habitats resulted in the emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases that became a major threat to human life. To counter new threats of bacteria and viruses that continually emerge naturally, Wuhan Institute of Virology underwent drastic changes, expanding its research scope into virology science. It used technology that included diverse areas of interest including molecular biology, etiology, and epidemiology, immunovirology, analytical pathogenic microbiology. With the prime focus on emerging infectious disease pathogens, WIV had 17 Biosafety level-2 (BSL-2) containment labs, one animal BSL-2, and two BSL-3 labs. However, for research on more deadly pathogens with the potential of an outbreak of pandemic scale, the institute added a BSL-4 laboratory in 2015, at a whopping cost of 300 million yuan ($44 Million USD) in collaboration with the French government’s CIRI lab and with strong ties with Galveston National Laboratory in the University of Texas and Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory.

About twelve kilometers from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, this newly constructed Biosafety Level-4 facility had the highest level of containment. Deadly pathogens like Ebola Virus, Nipah Virus, Hendra Virus, Lassa Virus, flavivirus, and SARS were researched at this site. The facility is so planned and constructed in a way to ensure maximum safety to the workers to carry out their research without jeopardizing their lives.

According to the BSL-4 standards, one of the precautionary and safety measures was to maintain negative pressure at each of the laboratory rooms to ensure that air entered the room but did not leave. Dr. Zhu Leong and her junior virologists paused before the entrance momentarily to ensure air pressure reading on the LCD panel was optimum.

They stepped inside the clothing room and changed into a pair of disposable underwear, surgical scrubs, and socks before entering the laboratory.

This was day 4 of Dr. Zhu Leong pacing back and forth from the control room to the research lab. Four sleep-deprived days. When she took a short break to refresh in the dorm at the facility, the virologists stayed over in turns and assisted her in the research laboratory.

The recent updates on the outbreak had left Zhu Leong stunned. The infection had spread like wildfire, with no signs of slowing down. If the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was the epicenter of the virus outbreak, then the virus could have evolved to its current pathogenic state through natural selection in a non-human host. From there, it could have jumped to humans like the previous epidemic outbreaks where humans contracted the virus after