HOt zone part 3
Journal Entry #1~
Today is November 10, 1989. I'm becoming concerned about the amount of monkeys that are becoming ill and dying at our unit. One or two wouldn't be alarming, but finding one after another dead in their cages is a problem. I decided to take a closer look at the monkeys to see exactly what had happened to them, and what type of illness they happened to suffer from. I carried the dead monkeys into the examination room and using a scalpel, I opened them up and started the procedure.
I started with the appearance of the monkeys and stomach contents and saw that they showed signs of anorexia, which can cause a monkey to die very quickly. When I worked my way to the organs I noticed that the spleen was very swollen, there was dryness near incision areas, enlarged kidneys, and some hemorrhaging in the organs. Alarmed by the size of the spleen I decided to try to make an incision and look inside, but I ran into a problem. When I tried to cut into the spleen, the scalpel practically bounced off of it. This was highly strange since the spleen is usually extremely easy to cut into. Then, when I took a closer look I realized why the scalpel wasn't cutting into it properly. It was because the spleen was almost entirely a blood clot. I took a small sample of the spleen and a swab of the monkeys throats to preserve any virus until I can call Usamriid to take a look at everything to fully identify the disease the monkeys are suffering from.
-Dan Dalgard
Journal Entry #2~
It is Spring 1988, we are at Kitum Cave, this was the one place where Peter Cardinal’s and Charles Monet’s paths crossed. I was going to search that cave to see if it had Marburg and this time I had the proper equipment including Racal suits, cages with monkeys, dissection equipment, and euthanasia.
We stayed in the old lodge at the bottom of the mountain . The entrance of the cage was gray area and next to it was the staging area. Along the mountain we placed cages with monkeys to see if they get sick with any disease. We then went inside the cave to collect insects and other small animals for testing. We also talked to the natives and tested their blood for Marburg antibodies. But as the days went on we found nothing, and the natives showed no signs of Marburg. The monkeys were healthy and none of the other animals and insects we captured showed any signs, but we still continued our test. Eventually though we had to give up. This was the worst part because I knew none of those monkeys were sick, but part of the experiment involved euthanizing them at the end so there blood and tissue could be tested. In the end, I was right the monkeys showed no signs of any sort of disease in their blood or there body. The experiment had gotten us nothing except the guilt of killing these healthy animals. Marburg would continue to stay hidden, and this expedition turned out to be a waste of resources. However I did stash the supplies away for future use if they were needed.
-Gene Johnson
Journal Entry #3~
It's December 4, 1989. I left home at 4 o’clock to go to the monkey house. The procedure we were going to follow was to euthanize all the monkeys in the monkey house. I first briefed all of my team members and grouped them according to the buddy system. Me and my team dressed up in space suits and went in fed the monkeys biscuits so that they would quiet down. I instructed the others to fill a double dose of ketamine to euthanize the monkeys. There were a total of four hundred fifty monkeys. First, we went to each cage and pinned the money down. Then, we injected it with anesthetic. Lastly, we gave it a double dose of ketamine to euthanize the monkey. We then dissected the monkey to get samples. After the procedure was complete, we went through a deacon shower of bleach to kill any lingering virus particles. In the end, all the monkeys were killed!
-Jerry Jaax
Journal Entry #4~
Today is December 3, 1983. Colonel Anthony Johnson and I will be examining the monkeys we've injected with the Ebola strain along with their symptoms and health. We will try and discover exactly how the Ebola strain affects the host, and how quickly an organism will die after infected. The procedure we were going to follow was to change into all required safety materials, and enter the monkey room. From there we checked on the control monkeys and the monkeys infected with the Ebola strain. If there were dead monkeys found, then we followed a removal process. We take the monkey to the biohazard container and slide the monkey inside. Then we take the container to the autopsy room, and start an autopsy on the monkey to see how the strain affected the monkey. We then take the results and record our data, and finally dispose of the monkey. Johnson and I happened to find a dead monkey, so we performed an autopsy. We found that the monkey was filled with blood, and the liver, lungs, and other organs were ruined. We broke into the monkey's skull and found that his brain and blood vessels were severely congested. There was also evidence of a stroke due to blood clotting and severe blood loss. The cause of death was most likely the loss of blood and fluids, organ failure, and blood vessel decline in the brain.
-Nancy Jaax