“Can anybody tell me what type of therapy ZMapp is?”

A voice called out, “A monoclonal antibody.”

“Correct. ZMapp is a monoclonal antibody or mab. In fact, it has three mabs. They’re grown in tobacco plants, strangely enough, and they bind the Ebola protein as if they were antibodies made by the patient’s own immune system. So, how might that impact future treatments? Anybody?”

Peyton paused and looked around the group. When no one answered, she continued. “Survivors. Studying the antibodies that survivors produce could offer clues about new therapies and ways to fight the virus. So it’s incredibly important that we document those survivors. In fact, there’s research in progress right now that’s doing just that: studying the immune systems of people who survived a Marburg outbreak years ago. In a worst-case scenario, we could also try using convalescent blood or plasma from survivors to treat critical personnel in Kenya.

“Survivors could also offer clues that would help in the development of a vaccine. In fact, Merck already has trials underway for an Ebola vaccine. Thus far, it appears to be incredibly effective, but we don’t think it offers lifetime immunity. It hasn’t received regulatory approval yet, and it doesn’t protect against every strain of Ebola, so identification will be key here. Nevertheless, if this is Ebola, the Merck vaccine could get fast-track approval and end up saving a lot of lives in uninfected populations.

“Bonus question: can anyone name the other type of therapy in trials to treat Marburg and Ebola?”

Peyton scanned the group. When, once again, no response came, she said, “Small interfering RNA. Shows great promise, but it’s a long way from the market.

“All right, let’s discuss containment. What’s the key?”

“Contact tracing,” Hannah said.

“Exactly. Our goal is to find patient zero and build a tree of everyone they had contact with and everyone those people had contact with. It can be overwhelming. Some days you’ll go out and it’ll feel like the contact list is exploding—you’ll be adding hundreds of people each day. But have faith and keep working at it. Eventually the list will start shrinking—if we’re winning.

“Okay. What do we know about Ebola’s transmission?”

“It’s spread by bodily fluids,” said a physician in the second row.

“Good. What else?”

“It’s zoonotic,” Millen said.

“Yes. Very good. Ebola and other filoviruses are all zoonotic—they jump from animals to humans and back. Zoonotic infections are a huge issue in central Africa. In fact, seventy-five percent of all the emerging infectious diseases here are zoonotic in nature. We can’t just focus on human-to-human transmission to stop the spread.

“Now, raise your hand if you’re a veterinarian.”

Four hands went up. Three were Commissioned Corps members in tan khakis; the fourth wore civilian attire.

“Each of you will be assigned to one of the teams in the field doing contact tracing. What are you looking for?”

“Bats,” they all said in unison.

“Correct. And what are bats?”

“Mammals,” said one vet.

“Reservoir hosts,” said another.