Chapter 18 16. Sincere neighbors

Professor Chen Dazhong's experimental aircraft is parked at the Schucht Barracks.Acting Prime Minister Becker goes there four or five times a day.In the aseptic cargo hold of the Boeing 757, experts from various countries are working day and night, their faces are tired and their eyes are red.Every time Becker went in, the professors would look at the acting prime minister apologetically, as if it was their fault that the vaccine hadn't been tested yet.But Becker still had a hard heart and urged them over and over again, because on the computer screen, 340,000 people in the urban area of ​​the capital Kuwait and its surrounding areas had been infected with smallpox.What is even more frightening is that the small red flags marking the outbreak point of the epidemic are almost all over Kuwait. If the vaccine cannot be vaccinated in time, none of the 2 million people in Kuwait will be spared.

In fact, the speed of vaccine cultivation has been doubled. Professor Chen Dazhong has been working on vaccines for 30 years, and his actions are like a well-coordinated precision machine.He took out the ampoule sealed with human diploid cells from liquid nitrogen, melted it in a water bath at 37°-40° within one minute, cut the ampoule on the ultra-clean workbench, and suspended the cells in it. inoculated into the culture medium.These cells grow rapidly in microcarrier culture tanks and quickly connect into sheets.At the same time, they extracted the smallpox virus from the first sick Prime Minister Shaukard, cut its gene with the restriction endonuclease of Escherichia coli, recombined with the E. coli gene, and selected the variola virus from the recombined hybrid. The new bacillus, which has the reproductive characteristics of bacillus and maintains the antigenic determinant of smallpox virus, is cultured on the cells in the microcarrier culture tank.

The growth of Neobacteria is exceptionally fast, multiplying one generation every 25 minutes.After three days, there were networks of neobacterial colonies all over the tank.They quickly extracted the smallpox antigen and attenuated the virus with high temperature. From 3 pm on October 18, new vaccines were continuously produced. The vaccines are loaded into vehicles immediately after coming off the production line, and distributed to various places in the order in which the epidemic was discovered.Becker shook hands with the weary professors after watching the first military helicopter fly away with the vaccine:

"Thank you, thank you very much." Chen Dazhong's face was gloomy: "You're welcome, Your Excellency Prime Minister, I'm still not at ease." "why?" "The time is too short to conduct rigorous pharmacological experiments. We only conducted experiments on monkeys, but not in time for human experiments. We must act urgently. If we complete the experiments step by step, I am afraid that Kuwait will no longer be needed. Of course," he said. And to comfort the Prime Minister, "Based on our years of experience, I am 100% sure of the safety of the vaccine, and 80% sure of the effectiveness of the vaccine. You don't have to worry too much."

"I trust you." "It's a pity that the vaccine is basically ineffective for those who are already sick. How is Prime Minister Shawkard's condition?" The Acting Prime Minister said with a heavy heart: "Very bad. He is the most ill." Mr. Samadhi, director of the International Health Organization, came over and said to the Acting Prime Minister: "Mr. Prime Minister, countries other than Iraq and Kuwait have closed their borders, but for absolute reliability, we also want to use vaccines to set up a quarantine zone at important checkpoints, which requires taking a batch of medicines that are urgently needed in your country , Prime Minister, please understand."

The Prime Minister hesitated for a long time before reluctantly agreeing.Samadi's words reminded him of that troublesome neighboring country. According to intelligence, smallpox is only prevalent in the Kurdish region in Iraq these days. Of course, it was caused by the piece of meteor ice that was given as a gift. It is not surprising.In addition, there was also an outbreak near the capital Baghdad, but it seemed to be brought under control quickly.Salami was the first to touch the meteorite ice. How is his condition? As if to answer his thoughts, the secretary hurried over and told him that Iraqi Vice President Aziz had called.

Azici!The same Azici who shouted "Avenge Salami with blood and fire" on the telecast!But this time his attitude was unusually cordial: "His Excellency Prime Minister Baker, may I ask whether the symptoms of His Excellency Emir and His Excellency Prime Minister have eased?" Becker was unwilling to tell him the truth, and said vaguely: "Yes. It is estimated that he will recover within a few days." "Has the epidemic situation in your country been brought under control?" "Not yet. But the smallpox vaccine has been produced. Thank you for your concern. What is the situation in your country and President Salami? Why didn't you appeal to the international health community for assistance?"

"President Salami has basically recovered, and the scabs on his body have basically come off." Azici said in a very reverent tone: "Salami is indeed our leader bestowed by Allah, and this time the entire Iraqi military and civilians have received his favor. .Did you know? The president’s immune system is very strong. He defeated smallpox with the antibodies in his body, and donated his blood to his people.” Becker asked suspiciously: "President's blood? How many people have you injected?" Azici laughed loudly: "This is a complicated medical process, not only you, but even I don't understand it very well. To put it simply, if a patient is resistant to a certain virus, there is a virus in his blood. Some kind of antibody. The active ingredient in his white blood cells can be extracted by freezing and cracking method, which is called transfer factor, and then the transfer factor can be used to inject other people, which can pass on the resistance of this person. Of course, what a patient can provide The amount of transfer factor is very small. But it happens that our outstanding scientists have discovered a genetic engineering method: as long as there is one sample, it can be replicated indefinitely - the secret of producing this sample is still in the hands of Allah, the scientists It cannot be designed directly. President Salami provided this sample at a critical moment. Now, the entire city of Baghdad and the residents around the Kurds have been injected, forming an effective isolation zone.” He explained: “Only those who The Kurds still don't agree with us sending people to give injections, these suspicious and stupid guys!"

He raised his voice and announced beyond doubt: "Dear President Salami cannot bear to see the Kuwaiti brothers still suffering from illness and death. He has decided to send a medical team of 3,000 people and bring enough smallpox killers to give you injections." .Please do not reject the kindness of the Muslim brothers." Becker hesitated, not knowing how to answer.Azici said displeasedly, "You don't doubt our good intentions like the Kurds do." "No, we are very grateful for your country's kindness. But the matter is serious, and I have to discuss it with the Prime Minister and visiting medical experts."

Azici said angrily: "If you wait for half a day, you will lose 100,000 lives! Maybe," he said harshly, "you are afraid that the Kuwaiti people will have salami blood? Don't worry, we don't want to benefit report." He hung up the phone. Becker was very hesitant. If there is a way to save the lives of Kuwaitis (especially those who are already sick), it is of course a dream!But he couldn't trust his northern neighbor, who was cunning and capricious.He also knew nothing about this so-called "transfer factor therapy".He immediately called and consulted several famous experts from the World Health Organization, including Ben Guri of Israel, Semyonov of Russia, Dazhong Chen of China, and Kawao Yamaguchi of Japan, and gave him a safe answer:

"Political considerations aside, the transfer factor therapy that Azici refers to is a method that has long been used in practice. Scientists have invented a cloning method to replicate transfer factors (mainly interferon in them), but the cycle takes several months. It is far from being able to cope with a sudden virus epidemic. However, it is not impossible to make a breakthrough in the cultivation cycle in Iraq first. Iraq's biochemical science is very developed, which was achieved when Saddam Hussein developed biological and chemical weapons at the end of the 20th century. Foundation." Becker was still hesitating.It is a pity that the emir, the prime minister and the ministers are all ill and cannot discuss with them.He called Brigadier General Dillermi, the head of the military, but before he could speak, the Brigadier reported nervously: "Just got the news that the Iraqi army has forcibly crossed the border!" "how many people?" "About 3,000. But they are all medical staff and unarmed. They claim to be saving the lives of smallpox patients, and you have agreed." Becker smiled wryly: "Vice President Azici only spoke to me 15 minutes ago. I haven't agreed yet." The secretary rushed in, her face was full of tears, Becker couldn't help but her heart sank, the secretary said: "The Prime Minister...the Prime Minister has passed away!" Becker saw gold stars in front of his eyes.The secretary hastily stepped forward to support him.The fatigue of the past few days had worn him down, and the blow was too much for him to bear.It seems that the miracle doctor in China has no ability to bring the dead back to life.On the phone, the brigadier general was still shouting anxiously: "Prime Minister, how should our army act? Should we shoot to stop it?" The Prime Minister gritted his teeth: "Let them in, but watch out for their rear." Second Lieutenant Hamri is on duty today at checkpoint No. 1 on the Iraqi-Korean border.The border line has long been closed, and the usual busy highways are unusually quiet these days. Occasionally, a flock of wild ducks fleeing from the winter flies over from the other side of the border, but this year they seem to have come a little earlier.Second Lieutenant Hamri and the soldiers had been wearing gas masks, but fear still seeped into their hearts.From the TV, the entire territory of Kuwait has become an epidemic area. Out of a population of 2 million, 890,000 people have been sick and 87,000 people have died.Who knows if a gas mask can block smallpox virus at 250 nanometers?Who knows when the "faithful accomplice of death" will come secretly? At eight o'clock in the morning, he suddenly saw a convoy approaching rapidly in Iraq, so he shouted loudly: "Get ready for battle!" He quickly dialed the phone number of the regiment headquarters: "Commander, there is a train line in Iraq that is very long and can't see the end. Using binoculars, most of them are passenger cars or ambulances. There are no tanks or armored vehicles. They are approaching. Please support quickly! " He hurriedly jumped out of the watchtower and greeted the convoy with his flesh and blood.The convoy stopped before the crossbar.A female military doctor in a light blue doctor uniform jumped out of the car and walked over with a smile on her face: "Hello. We were appointed by President Salami to come to Kuwait for disaster relief. We have successfully developed the smallpox nemesis, and the epidemic has been eradicated in Iraq. This medical team has a total of 3,000 people and strives to complete the injection for all Kuwaitis within two days .Please let me go." The beautiful female military doctor smiled kindly.Ensign Hamri rarely sees anyone, let alone a woman, not wearing a face mask or respirator these days.So this beautiful female military doctor is like the sweet spring in the desert.Of course, he would not neglect his duties because of his beauty, he said seriously: "I'm sorry, we haven't been notified by our superiors, we can't let you go." The female military doctor pretended to be angry and said: "Don't you doubt our sincerity? You can check all the vehicles carefully. There will never be a gun or a bullet." "We believe, but as a soldier, you must obey the orders of your superiors." The female army doctor said angrily: "When those politicians finish discussing the thousand and one plans, there will be no one alive in Kuwait! As the saying goes, you can't put on a uniform first when you go to fight a fire in a neighbor. Please forgive me, we must pass it immediately." "no!" The female military doctor said sarcastically: "You don't want to shoot at a group of unarmed doctors and nurses who are eager to help you." She rushed straight past the checkpoint, and with a wave of her hand, the vehicles behind rushed across the crossbar. Second Lieutenant Hamri waved his hand, and the Kuwaiti soldiers immediately fired warning shots, but the female military doctor and the convoy behind her turned a deaf ear.The second lieutenant was more or less politically savvy, knowing that bloodshed must not be caused on such an occasion, so he directed the soldiers to retreat step by step, and at the same time hurriedly reported to his superiors through the radio. The smiling Iraqi military doctors advanced step by step towards the gun.It wasn't until the tug-of-war went 500 meters deep into the Keen territory that Brigadier General Dillermi delivered the order of the acting prime minister.Thus, the tense situation suddenly turned into a party, and the female military doctor unceremoniously took off the second lieutenant's gas mask: "Come on, I'll give you an injection first, and you won't need to wear this thing after the injection!" The medical army of 3,000 people was divided into 300 teams, and spread rapidly to Kuwait as planned.