Chapter 2: Epidemic

I looked across to my mother and brother, both looking like they'd been pole-axed by the news release we'd just seen. Clearing my throat, I made some excuses and fled upstairs, seeking solace in solitude. Driven to distraction, I decided to try and find out what I was up against, so I logged on to the Internet, surfing the World Health Organisation's website and some other Infectious Disease sites I had found useful during my immunology courses at Uni. Hard data was frustratingly scarce, but the Google-powered advertising banners had responded to the frequency of searches for information about the epidemic, including a link to Oprah Winfrey's home page, which featured a special interview with her pet medical adviser, the irritatingly smug Doctor Oz.

If only he wasn't such an ass, I thought, eyeing him as Oprah delivered a no-children-allowed disclaimer to her Internet audience before unleashing the bore on the unsuspecting. Although his dumbed-down explanation made me grit my teeth, he was more willing to provide information about what was going on than the official channels, so I resisted the urge to close the browser tab, focusing on his handsome features instead to help get me through the rambling dialogue.

From what he was saying, the medical community had more or less settled on the infectious agent being a mutated variant of Toxoplasma Gondii, more commonly known as cat-scratch fever. The basic strain was something I had studied before, intrigued by its life cycle and the different effects it had on its hosts.

In cats, T. Gondii did very little, with the mature form of the organism infecting the intestinal tract, undergoing sexual reproduction, and being excreted in the cat's faeces, where it would typically come into contact with and then infect rodents. In this stage of its life cycle, it would invade the tissues of its new hosts, creating cysts as each cell divided in two, multiplying rapidly. As the infection progressed, it would suppress the risk-detection part of the brain dealing with cats, encouraging the host to approach them and be eaten, beginning the cycle again.

The infection could be passed to humans, typically through scratches. Cats dug holes to defecate in, and that combined with their cleaning habit sometimes left faecal matter on their claws, which would enter human skin if the cat lashed out. Whilst most often such infections would just result in cysts and 'flu-like symptoms, it was suspected to contribute to a number of behavioural changes in its hosts.

In women, the infection would make them prone to flirting and much less inhibited about sex, more willing to take men to bed. Any offspring that resulted from their increased sexual desired ran the risk of being born with an infection, and due to the weak state of a newborn's own immune system, could cost the baby its life. In men, the organism would increase susceptibility to baser instincts- including sex drive- and overblown jealousy over potential mates. In an ironic twist, women with the infection were usually found more attractive, more likely to bat their eyelids at men and then let them take it further, whilst infected men grew aggressive and less attractive, more prone to violent outbursts.

Turning back in as the video buffered back to Doctor Oz explaining the new strain, paid close attention to his explanation. Hands waving about like a Jazz dancer in a campy Broadway show to emphasise his points, he set about breaking down the epidemic.

"OK, so now you know how the basic type of the infection works. Well, this one is a little bit different. Remember how the original made rats go looking for cats? Something similar happens here. People who have the infection go looking for other people to mate with. Now, there's a theory amongst geneticists that human attraction is based on a number of factors, and one of them is the amount and type of immunities their prospective partner has."

Yawn, I thought. One of my lecturers had been a big fan of genes determining all aspects of human behaviour, as though we were all unthinking hyper-complex virii whose sole purpose for existing was to propagate our own genetic codes, in some kind of bizarre reverse Pyramid scheme for world domination.