They exchanged pleasantries, and Rhonda made sure to drop the word ‘Laptev virus’. She was trying to help make things clear for Sarah in a subtle manner, in case she had not yet understood. Then Rhonda asked if it would be all right if they sat in on the meeting. Sarah froze for only an instant, then recovered and forced herself to smile. She graciously ushered her illustrious guests into the lab. Since they usually just sat around on lab stools, Sarah experienced a moment of panic, thinking it might be better to move the meeting to the conference room where everyone could sit in a proper chair, but her visitors immediately rejected that idea.
“Well then, your timing is impeccable,” said Sarah, struggling to regain her composure. “We only just got started a few minutes ago with our weekly progress meeting. Let me present my team to you.”
Once lab stools had been found for the visitors, Sarah introduced her investigators and asked them to say a few words about themselves and their role in the Laptev virus project. Then Sarah recapped last week’s meeting briefly, explaining Tally’s working hypothesis about humans living in the Laptev Bay area all those thousands of years ago as they followed the mammoths around, and perhaps succumbing to the virus in that location.
Then, crossing her fingers that her team would respond well, she motioned to Tally and Drew, and said, “All right, let’s get going here. Would you mind starting over and telling us all what you two found out about the ice core sample analysis this past week? I believe you had some more specific information about how the virus suddenly became virulent again after lying dormant for 30,000 years?” It was as good a place as any to begin, and she felt fairly confident Tally and Drew would respond well.
“Okay,” said Drew, taking the lead in the presentation they had planned. “Our first question, following up from our presentation last week was regarding whether the appearance of the Laptev virus at the site where they took the ice core sample was an isolated incident or whether the virus was present in other locations nearby.”
At this point Angela nodded and Sarah guessed that she must have also wondered about that question.
“We were able to get an audience with a geologist from Riesigoil,” said Drew, glancing quickly toward Angela.
Sarah’s eyes widened slightly as she realized that this meant that her researchers had paid more attention than she had to the company who was sponsoring their investigations. Well, she thought, good thing they weren’t oblivious like me.
“He’s a guy named Russ Morrison,” continued Tally, taking up the story, “and he was assigned to the Laptev Bay drilling area. He turned out to be instrumental and had some interesting things to tell us. First off, in regards to that ice core sample taken on the day the bears attacked: it turns out that part of the reason it slipped out of the bore and broke so easily was because the ice was already softening. Russ said that they had done some geological sound wave analyses earlier in the week in that area, and they found that the ice shelf above the area where they were expecting to hit land and drill for oil had been melting, and apparently it was melting at a faster rate than they had expected. I don’t think that the research team that was sent out to get the ice core sample that day was aware of that, or otherwise they would have perhaps taken extra precautions in handling it.”
“Like making sure no bears were around?” asked Shane ironically.
Sarah felt mortified and noticed that Angela blanched.
“Perhaps,” said Tally, clearly not taking the bait. “But there’s another thing which no one mentioned earlier, that Russ thought might be important, and that is the fact that they had already drilled exploratory wells only a kilometer away.”
Angela nodded, but made no comment. Sarah realized that she, too, must have also known this.
“Now why is this important to us?” asked Drew, rhetorically. “It’s important because if the Laptev virus was also present in those samples, it would mean that its prevalence is more widespread and that it wasn’t just bad luck that the ice core sample was drilled at that particular spot on that day. Russ was able to have the labs in Alaska do some quick tests, under tightly controlled conditions, and sure enough, they were able to confirm that there are virus particles present in samples taken from all over the Laptev Bay area, although the viruses are far less concentrated than they were in the ice core sample that was taken on that fateful day.” Everyone was silent while Drew paused and shuffled through his papers. Angela’s face was grave but otherwise unreadable.
“Since there were virus particles in the other samples, we wondered why more groups working in the Arctic have not become ill. The short answer seems to be what Tally suggested last week: normally when an ice core sample is removed, it is much more solidly frozen, and it is immediately wrapped in strong plastic and insulation to reduce its contact with the air. This is so that there is no contamination of the inside with our outside atmosphere. Upon reaching the lab at the barracks, the ice core samples are kept in protective cases, and are never exposed to the open atmosphere of the barracks, even when they are analyzed. These precautions, which were created for an entirely different reason, must have also served to protect the workers. However, that doesn’t entirely answer the question of why no one ever fell sick before.”
Angela removed a pair of glasses from a red leather case in her purse, as well as a small notebook, and began taking notes.
“Now, before we continue, let’s back up and talk about something else. We sent some e-mails to Dr. Haldor Aamodt, a Norwegian scientist whose team of researchers are the world’s leading experts on Megaviridae. They were obliging and informed us that after a virus has been dormant for a long time, thousands of years in this case, lying buried under a lot of weight, its capsid can become hardened and thickened with layers of hydrocarbons. If this happens, then it is not likely that it will suddenly become virulent the moment it’s removed from its icy tomb.”
Sarah felt a spark of pride flicker in her chest. It was a small thing, really, but it made her feel good. When Drew had asked her that question almost two weeks ago, about whether the capsid might have undergone a biochemical change, she had suggested that he not try to re-invent the wheel by doing a lot of experiments, especially since time was such a limited commodity, but rather that he should reach out to other scientists who might have some answers. He had obviously taken her advice. She had not known about Dr. Aamodt, but she was glad that this kind stranger had responded to Drew’s questions.
“Dr. Aamodt explained that in the other parts of the world where Megaviridae and Giant viruses have been discovered, it had taken some time to ‘bait’ the virus to draw it out. All of the virus particles found had massive capsids, so it made sense to assume that our Laptev virus may have also had a thicker coat at one time. Russ Morrison, the geologist, put us in contact with the labs at Riesigoil-Alaska that still had ice core samples from other sites that had been maintained at -70°C, and they were able to ship us a few samples in which they had detected viral particles.
When we received the ice core samples we were able to confirm that the number of viruses per sample was much lower than the number of viruses found in the ice core sample which infected everyone. But most importantly, the virus particles found in the other ice core samples do have a thicker capsid with multiple overlapping layers of hydrocarbons over them. This means that unless there is something else present which would eat away at those hydrocarbons, thinning the layer that was formed around the capsid, these frozen viruses were not going to be imminent threats to anyone.”