SWNOVELS Chapter 86: The Diagnostic Kit (3)
Chapter 86: The Diagnostic Kit (3)
Mosquito was a word that actually referred to the unit of family, meaning that the mosquito family was as big as the felidae, the cat family, or canidae, the dog family. Just like how lions and cheetahs were part of the cat family, there were a huge variety of insects in the mosquito family. They were divided into forty-three different genuses and were then divided into about three thousand five hundred species. Of course, these genuses and species could change with the development of genetics as the classification of insects was ambiguous and every scientist had different arguments. One thing that was for certain was that there were only about ten species that sucked on human blood.
“There’s actually less than I thought.”
—Yes. Humanity already made countless species go extinct after the industrial revolution. Nothing will change even if you add ten more species to that. I do not understand why humans are worrying about the disruption of the ecosystem when they are killing mosquitoes.
“Because the impact of extinction can be larger when the organism is at the bottom of the ecosystem.”
—Of course, if you wipe out an organism like bees, humanity will not be able to overcome the repercussions and will collapse. But not mosquitoes. There are countless insects that can replace its role.
This was an extremely polarized problem between scientists who studied insect ecology for decades. In fact, they actually did a mass debate at Silver Spring, and it had totally gone to the dogs. The incident where Doctor Legion, one of the greatest experts in the field, yelled at the people with a flushed face, calling them dumb idiots who didn't have a basic understanding of trophic levels that even undergraduate students knew, was a legendary story in the ecology field. However, the issue was too difficult since it was something that no one could be confident in. Rosaline, who could firmly say that there would be no problem, was the unique one; it wasn’t that the scientists were lacking.
“Then I guess it is worth trying if there isn’t anything wrong with it,” Young-Joon said.
—That’s right. The mosquito eradication project that Google or the Gates Foundation is doing is inefficient in many ways. And I have much more effective methods.
“How does it work?”
—Use Cas9 to create a mutation in Kpaf2, one of the genes of the mosquito’s seminal vesicles.
“Then what happens?”
—Only male mosquitoes will be born from the eggs laid by the female mosquitoes that mate with them. The males who are born from those eggs will also have that mutation, so they will only have male offspring. After a few generations, the sex ratio will be completely destroyed.
“Holy...”
—You can destroy the sex ratio and make the ratio of males increase exponentially. For Jeju Island, if you make ten million mutant male mosquitoes and release them into nature, the percentage of females after six generations will fall under 0.01 percent. They will be extinct in a few years.
“...”
As Young-Joon was frozen in shock, Rosaline sent him another message.
—I just explained a more stable method at the expense of efficiency.
“What do you mean?”
—If I could, I would manipulate the dengue virus and infect mosquitoes. The fact that the dengue virus can multiply in the stomach and spread to their salivary glands means that it can also spread to their reproductive organs.
Rosaline said.
—If you manipulate it a little, you can make it into a sexually transmitted infection for mosquitoes. You could make a deadly epidemic like AIDS for mosquitoes. And if you let it threaten their lives, the virus will spread in an instant and mosquitoes will go extinct.
“But if I try to use that method, people will oppose it, worrying about what would happen if that deadly dengue virus is transmitted to humans.”
—I calculated that in advance and recommended a more stable method.
“... Yeah, thanks. I guess it might be faster to collapse the sex ratio balance to actually carry it out,” Young-Joon said. “But we can’t do this project in Jeju Island this summer. It will take a long time just to get the mosquitoes ready.”
—Two or three weeks is enough for mosquitoes to hatch from their eggs and become an adult. Even if you consider the gene manipulation stage... contemporary romance
“How long do you think it will take for the Ministry of Health and Welfare to approve of this insane project? It will take at least three months for them just to go through it.”
—Ughh...
Rosaline groaned without sending him a message.
“They will need dozens of documents until it is approved, and it will take a long time.”
—It is really frustrating. I feel like I am going to get cancer.[1]
“You can’t get that.”
—It’s an explanation at your eye level. A type of metaphor.
“We can catch the dengue virus in Jeju Island without any damage if we use the diagnostic kits well because it isn’t very infectious,” Young-Joon said. “We have to use a big knife like mosquito eradication to kill something big, like a cow. We have to prepare it more carefully and take it to an international project.”
—An international project?
“If you list the diseases that mosquitoes transmit, the dengue virus will have to wait in line for a long time. There are several diseases like malaria, yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya lined up in front. Most of them are infectious diseases that are going around in least developed countries,” Young-Joon said. “It means this project is something we have to do with the World Health Organization. We have to get support from the Gates Foundation and Google, which started before us, and do it as an international collaborative project.”
Young-Joon was going to start preparing it now and start it as the next project after HIV eradication.
He got up from his seat and went to his secretary’s office next door.
To Yoo Song-Mi, who was organizing a few documents, he said, “Song-Mi-ssi, please contact the WHO.”
“The WHO?”
“Yes. Tell them I would like a meeting about a mosquito extinction project.”
* * *
At the Next-Generation Hospital, Ardip was catching up with the prostitutes at Kamathipura through email.
—Hey Ardip. Are you doing well? Are you better now? After your interview, the International Relief Organization and the Indian government are intervening. The gang and the police who were in charge of this place were either arrested or fled. When we said that we knew you, they gave us a computer so that we could send each other emails. They asked us to tell you to say something good if you do another interview.
Ardip read the email with a smile on his face. The person who sent it was the person who raised Ardip like his mother. She went to school and learned to read and write, but she was sold off to Kamathipura when she was fifteen. She lived in that hellhole for thirty years, but it was coming to an end now. Kamathipura was being freed.
The UN intervened as international attention was drawn to Kamathipura, and the Indian government began cracking down on sex traffickers. Many corrupt police and gangs who were covered up got arrested or disappeared.
The only enemy left there now was disease. But truckloads of the HIV cure produced from Karamchand Pharmatics began flying in. And the International Vaccine Institute selected this region as a subject for the HIV vaccine clinical trial and carried out vaccinations. Many people volunteered for the clinical trial thanks to Young-Joon’s powerful performance of using himself as a test subject on TV.
The vaccine was extremely effective. The spread of HIV was being severely hampered. On top of this, major hospitals in India were conducting bone marrow transplantations with the help of A-Bio. They began curing patients one by one with the bone marrow that the technicians sent from A-Bio. Of course, the price of this treatment was not something that the poor could afford, but the WHO was supporting this project. This international project, which was based on sponsors from all over the world, allowed the poor to get a turn slowly but surely.
Kamathipura transformed quickly.
—And Ardip, the diagnostic kit from A-Bio that you mentioned before is being supplied here, too. The supply for India is being supplied by Karamchand. They are using that kit to quickly diagnose patients and treat them.
The diagnostic kit was useful for citizens in developed countries to check their health every day, but its true value was seen in at-risk regions for infectious diseases.
Affordability, precision, and swiftness: these three qualities showed indescribably enormous potential in finding infected patients in a short amount of time and isolating them.
—From what people are saying, the reason why the cure, vaccine, bone marrow transplant, and the diagnostic kit are being primarily supplied to us is because of Doctor Ryu Young-Joon. Apparently, he asked the people high up when he came to India.
Ardip kept reading the email.
—You said you were in the stroke clinical trial, right? I hope it goes well and you can come back to India. I miss you.
Ardip felt his eyes tear up.
He clicked on the reply button and wrote an email. Tomorrow was his flight back home. This was the last email he was sending from Korea.
* * *
Ardip, who arrived at the airport, faced a huge crowd of reporters. He was linked to the demise of Schumatix and the take over by Conson & Colson, A-Bio’s new technology and an explosive rise in brand value, the first generation patient of the first stem cell therapy, and the most unfortunate man in the world who was born in Kamathipura and suffered from a stroke, glaucoma, and eye cancer.
But it was different now. His paralysis in his left leg had disappeared as his brain nerves were all reconstructed. He could see well now because his glaucoma had been cured. His unbalance in nutrition had been taken care of as he was intensely cared for at the Next-Generation Hospital. Everyone could tell even without a medical examination; they could see that he had become healthier just from his eyes and complexion.
Ardip had transformed into a completely different person from when he first came to Korea. He was now the luckiest man in the century who had overcome all those hardships.
Numerous reporters had gathered at the news that he was flying back home. Half of them were foreign press.
But a man more famous than him suddenly appeared and stole the reporters’ attention.
“It’s Ryu Young-Joon!”
When someone shouted, the reporters’ all turned to him.
“Doctor Ryu!”
As the reporters were flustering, Young-Joon approached Ardip with the protection from the K-Cops security guards.
“Hello, Ardip,” Young-Joon said with a friendly smile.
“Hello,” Ardip said in Korean with an accent.
There happened to be a translator who the reporters prepared to get an interview from Ardip. Their conversation was translated on the spot and articles were written right away.
“Are you flying back?” Young-Joon asked.
“Yes. Where are you going, Doctor Ryu?”
“I am going out for a little bit because I have a meeting with the WHO. I didn't expect to run into you here.”
Young-Joon tapped Ardip’s shoulder.
“How are you feeling?”
“I am all better thanks to you. I don’t have paralysis in my leg anymore, and I can see well. I am completely healthy.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Um... When I get my compensation from Schumatix, I would like to donate all of it to the A-Bio Foundation,” Ardip said.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“No! Please. If I don’t do that... How can I repay all this debt?”
“Then please use it to take care of patients when you go back to Kamathipura. And...”
Young-Joon went on.
“Our legal team has already sued Schuamtix and is getting it to an international trial. We will get our share ourselves, so you don’t have to worry about us. The stroke treatment was a clinical trial, so we should actually be the ones to compensate you.”
“...”
Ardip was going to say something, but thought for a bit. Now that he was facing Young-Joon, his gratitude deepend.
Ardip’s life was in complete despair. He didn’t have anything but two incurable diseases, and the people he called family were all AIDS patients. He cursed his own life multiple times, saying that if there was a God, he wouldn’t have put him in a place like this.
But everything changed because of Young-Joon. He had predicted the nasty sabotage from villains like Schuamtix and prepared more than a simple cure. He was the one who had rescued him from his life, which was trapped deep in the valley of despair, and let him see light. He even fought against AIDS, the worst infectious disease that was taking over Kamathipura. The life there was changing enormously; he could tell by the email he received yesterday.
Ardip couldn’t thank him enough. As his heart filled up with gratitude, he felt like he could give Young-Joon his life. Now that he was facing Young-Joon before going home, his emotions became even more intense and made him choke up.
“Thank... you,” Ardip said with a trembling voice. “Thank you... Doctor Ryu, thank you so... so much.”
Ardip covered his face with his hands.
“I heard that you are supplying the vaccine and the cure... to Kamathipura first... Thank you so much...”
Cameras flashed from all over. Ardip did not care one bit. He could not bear the weight of his emotions that had overflowed here. He felt like the presence of Young-Joon was a reward for a lifetime of pain.
“All I did was supply Kamathipura first because it is an at-risk region for AIDS,” Young-Joon said as he comforted Ardip.
“... I will never forget this debt,” Ardip said as he hugged Young-Joon tightly. “I will live thinking that I was given the gift of a different life... I will always be grateful...”
“Haha, don’t be indebted to me. I hope you are happy and healthy when you get back. Oh, and this is a present.”
With a smile, Young-Joon handed Ardip a diagnostic kit.
“I actually brought it for myself, but you should go back and try it.”
Click! Click!
The reporters took photos continuously. The most famous scientist in the world and the patient who was rescued by his new technology were together in one frame.
* * *
Young-Joon hadn’t planned it at all, but him meeting Ardip at the airport was quite a dramatic scene. As the meeting with Young-Joon was revealed in the World Health Organization’s schedule, the dramatic feeling of their accidental run-in became stronger.
Young-Joon, who arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, stopped by the convenience store on the way to the World Health Organization building. On the front page of the morning paper on the newsstand, there were pictures of Young-Joon and Ardip.
“What is this? What does this say...?”
He couldn’t read any of it because it was in French, but it seemed like it said something about how touching it was or something.
Science, which was going forward at Rosaline’s speed, did not forget humanity. The historical moments that emerged from the cold and thorough advancement of science were surprisingly humanistic.
‘No...’
As Young-Joon checked his phone in anticipation, all sorts of online communities and his fan club had blown up.
1. This is a common way to express deep frustration in Korea. ?
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