Help me almost kill one of my heroes with plague

[Lady Legira]

The scene is thus

It's about 50 odd years in the future.

A, B and C are in isolation in a high tech medical centre. The have the plot plague which they know they have caught and A and B will die (they get better, damn immortal types). C on the other hand can come close but not die.

Plot Plague is a bio engineered version of the plague Y. Pestis (pneumonia) without a current cure since the lab that it was acquired from was researching for it.

Question A

How can they cleanse the bodies of A & B?

Question B

What can I do to save C, I have a antibiotic on standby that may or may not save him but that could run a tad obvious.

Throw ideas at me, give me things I haven't thought of please?

[csquared]

Why do the bodies need to be cleansed? Is that how the "damn immortals" recover?

1. You're in the future. Create a new method.
2. Irradiate them. Maybe irradiating them "kills" them and the plague. Once the plague is gone, they can regenerate or whatever it is that these "damn immortals" do to stay immortal.



As for C,
1. He defeats the plague on his own and becomes the source of the vaccine.
2. Last minute the lab finds a cure.
3. Immortals become cure for C.

It will probably be "deus ex machina" no matter how you slice it. As for the antibiotic, they will probably hit him with everything they have and hope. The lab has probably already tested the antibiotic.

[PepperElf]

the first thing that comes to mind ... comes from a john ringo book. The last centurion.

In his book, there was enough cure but ... most of it was destroyed because of mishandling. government declared county medical offices would issue the meds and had the cure shipped out in refrigerated trucks without checking to see if they could even handle it (iirc). Most county medical offices didn't have enough storage on hand and the trucks had already left, so by the time they figured it out... the cure had been warm for too long. I think NYC was one of the few places where it didn't happen, but only because people blocked the truck from leaving, until they had the meds stored in proper coolers.


Perhaps that's an idea? a cure that your hero gets but... by the time he or she gets it the cure is useless?
or your hero could be self-sacrificing and give the dose to someone else

[Lady Legira]

Why do the bodies need to be cleansed? Is that how the "damn immortals" recover?

It will probably be "deus ex machina" no matter how you slice it. As for the antibiotic, they will probably hit him with everything they have and hope. The lab has probably already tested the antibiotic.

The immortals both came to their immortality by unique means but work in a similar manner. Good ideas though making me think which what I wanted.

Yeah, might go with the self recovery helped by landslide of antibiotics they are throwing at C. They will be fairly healthy given the are part of a world enforcement team

[AccountingDrone]

Hm, manufactured? Plot bunny ripped off from NCIS but DiNozzo got Y Pestis that was manufactured but it had a 36 hour reproductive lifespan, so it was all dead 36 hours after he was exposed to it.

And we have a vaccination against Y Pestis, I was given it as part of the overseas innoculation package. Not that I was planning to go to Mongolia, just Rob was taking EMT1 and they needed a shot training dummy and he volunteered me for it when I got a cut and needed to get a tetanus update. Wasn't that helpful of him, bless his heart.

How about a variant of Valley Fever? It responds to third generation just fine, but a genetically tweaked version? The 2 immortals could have lived in the Central Valley of Ca and each had it, and are thusly partly immune to it and only get a light case? C having grown up in Western NY never got exposed and got it worse, but the antibiotics worked on him. ?

[Lady Legira]

Hm, manufactured? Plot bunny ripped off from NCIS but DiNozzo got Y Pestis that was manufactured but it had a 36 hour reproductive lifespan, so it was all dead 36 hours after he was exposed to it.

Actually my plot bunny is older I've been writing this story on and off for years (and I didn't see much of NCIS until about 2-3 years ago) actually more of plot bunny from Captain Scarlet episode City of Angels.

Haven't entirely settled on Y. Pestis but it fit the symptoms I wanted so far. Need to go back to the CDC site and peruse the diseases again. Useful to know about the inoculation against Y. Pestis though might help with and super powered version and weaken it enough for C to survive. Hmmm *thinks on it*

Valley Fever does fit the bill in many respects and I shall research further given I've never heard of it before.

[42_42_42]

Um. Yersinia pestis is the bacterium that causes pneumonic, septicimic, and bubonic plague, not pneumonia.

Y. pestis suppresses and avoids normal immune system responses such as phagocytes and antibody production. It initially enters the human population via bites from infected fleas (in fleas, the bacteria lives in the gut). Infected humans pass it on to other people through sneezing, coughing, or direct contact with infected tissue.

For more info on the way the bacteria operates in the body see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yersinia_pestis The article includes symptoms and treatment as well.

Pneumonia, on the other hand, is the name of a condition, not a specific infection. It is an inflammatory condition of the lungs. A bacterial infection may be the cause, but viruses, fungi, and parasites can also cause the condition. Pneumonia may arise due to an infection directly to the lungs or to other parts of the body. Pneumonia can also arise due to aspiration.

Hope this helps!

[BlaqueKatt]

C on the other hand can come close but not die.
What can I do to save C, I have a antibiotic on standby that may or may not save him but that could run a tad obvious.

Throw ideas at me, give me things I haven't thought of please?

Haemochromatosis, usually a genetic condition that confers some resistance to Y. pestis-maybe an induced version of it?

[AccountingDrone]

Valley Fever does fit the bill in many respects and I shall research further given I've never heard of it before.

It is actually pretty freaking nasty, Rob had it when he was growing up so he now has immunity to it, though from what I understand he could still get a very mild case of it. I think the whole fungal infestation being misdx as cancer causing unneeded surgery is pretty nasty. They did consider weaponizing it, but since it is frequently lethal they decided to stop the research. This might me a good plot bunny, someone finds a vial of the experimental weaponized form - A&B having had it are mostly resistant to the harsher forms, C needs lots of antibiotics to deal with it.

[Sparky]

As for saving C:

1. People who have had cowpox are immune to smallpox, yes? Perhaps C had some uncommon disease in the past which gave him resistance to your Supercrud. Maybe it was Valley Fever?

2. People who carry the sickle-cell gene are resistant to malaria, yes? Perhaps C has some genetic anomaly which gives him partial immunity to your Supercrud.

3. 95% of people are naturally immune to Hansen's disease (leprosy), yes? Perhaps the numbers are reversed for your Supercrud. Maybe only 1 or 2% of people have natural immunity, but C is one of them.

4. Perhaps physical proximity to your immortals worked in C's favor? They die, then recover? Maybe after doing so, they are able to touch C and cure him?