Sympatico Syndrome (Book 1): Infection (A Pandemic Survival Novel) Read Online Free Page B

he remembered Cole was retired from that job. “Or, well, it used to be your job.”
    Cole stabbed his hands through his hair. “Shit, Sean. Give me a little credit. Did I panic during the whole Ebola scare? No. I was the voice of reason. I remember you were worried that Jenna would catch it at work. Did I laugh at you?”
    Sean shrugged. “So? I was right to be worried. Two other nurses caught it.”
    “And they were over a thousand miles away. I told you as long as she was cautious, the chance of her getting it was minuscule. Remember? Just coming into contact with someone who had the disease was improbable, but even if she had, with correct precautions, the risk could be minimized. I know. I dealt with the disease in West Africa.”
    Jenna nudged him with her elbow. “You called Cole about me?”
    Sean slanted a look at his wife. “Hey, I was worried. I’ll admit it.”
    Jenna rolled her eyes but turned her attention to Cole. “I’ve heard some rumors at work that there was some new virus, but we haven’t had any official word on what’s going on.”
    “Here’s what’s happening.” Cole pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down. “Do you have a pen and paper?”
    Sighing, Sean opened a kitchen drawer and pulled out a yellow legal pad and dug around for a pen that worked. He tossed both on the table in front of Cole. “Here you go.”
    “Thanks.” He started drawing circles and labeling them. “This is the chain of infection. The top of the chain is the infectious disease itself. Could be a virus or bacteria, even a fungus, but in this case, it’s a virus.”
    “So antibiotics won’t kill it?” Sean felt stupid. This wasn’t his realm at all.
    “No.” Jenna worried her bottom lip. She did that when she fretted, and now Sean was worried, too.
    “Jenna’s right. Antibiotics won’t touch this. They might help with a secondary infection, but we don’t know if that will be an issue.” He tapped the next circle in a clock-wise rotation. “This is the reservoir where the virus sets up housekeeping before heading out to find other hosts. At this point, it’s probably too late to worry about that right now. We need to worry about the next parts of the chain—portal of exit and mode of transmission. I’m guessing it’s respiratory tract. It’s the only thing that makes sense for such a rapid transmission.” He jotted some words down, but Sean couldn’t read them from where he stood.
    Cole continued, “But, is it airborne? Droplet? What about contact? Does it require direct contact with an infected host? Or does it remain infectious for an extended period of time on surfaces?” He rapped on the tabletop. “Like furniture and doorknobs—that kind of thing. And it may also be blood borne although that has the least chance of spreading so it’s not my concern right now. It’s something to think about later when survivors are over the initial illness.” He crossed out blood borne .
    “What kind of precautions do you think we need to take?” Jenna moved closer to the table and peered at the diagram.
    Cole pointed with the pen to what he’d written. “I would guess it’s airborne for sure, and probably lingers in the air for quite a while. There’s no other explanation for how it’s spread so quickly. Regular masks won’t keep it out. You’d have to wear an N95 mask.” He pointed to Sean. “You probably have some of those in your work truck for keeping out fumes and such. I have some also, but we need a hell of a lot more to get through this. Jenna, do you have any around the house? Or could you get some from work? Time is of the essence. Once others realize what is going on, those masks will be hard to come by. It has to be our chief priority.”
    Jenna’s eyes widened. “I suppose I could find some in the storage closet at work, but I could get fired for taking them.”
    Cole set his pen down and pinched the bridge of his nose then rubbed his eyes. He sighed and spread his hands.