Dr. Gloria Kenison's Journal

She wasn't expecting a message to be waiting for her when she got home. Judith had told her she had a call asking if she would like to go out to lunch the next day with a friend's friend. It sounded like a date and she and Judith giggled over a late meal while wondering what the morning would bring. She almost said no, but Judith prodded at her. Gloria hadn't been on a date since they stopped dating almost a year ago.

This was definitely a set up and when the morning came she and Judith spent the morning like teenage girls in the small university sponsored apartment they shared. Eventually, Judith convinced Gloria to wear one of Judith's flashier dresses. It was a date after all where she was going to be picked up in a limo. That was exciting.

They sat together later in the day, sipping coffee while they waited for the mystery date to arrive. Like all young women, speculating who the flamboyant person she had met a few weeks earlier might be sending to her.

Gloria had tried not to write notes for some time now because of the burglary but it just wasn’t working. After some careful consideration she purchased a small notebook made for addresses with nice, lined pages. It was small and perfect for what she had in mind. Into her favorite girdled garter belt she sewed an outside pocked which snuggly fit the little book. It wasn’t the best sewing for pretty edges but it was sturdy and ensured these notes were not to be stolen unless something extreme took place. She wore that girdle now as she sat down to write in her book. It was the only way she was going to be able to think through this disease, to think through a cure or vaccine.

(In the notebook. Written in mix of German and English)

Disease: unknown virus
Transmission: bite, fluids, blood
Method of bodily spread: Blood vessels, retrograde neuroplasmic flow?
Spreading inhibited by binding above infection site similar to snake bite but more efficient.
Some response to antibiotics.
Patient-disease progression:
- Bite/infection
- Neuronal plasma passage most likely
- Slowly inhibits cerebral function
- Body programing of brain stem and base mental functions intact after body death
- Body decomposition inhibited. (Chemical released from virus or viral loaded cells?)
- How does virus produce energy (ATP) for movement and other bodily products?
- Chemosynthesis?
- Skin responses seems slowed or non-existent (eg. Pain, pressure, touch, etc)
- Visual response?
- No total cerebral shut down as subjects still recognize sounds and shapes.
- Which parts of the cerebrum are effected?
- Motor cortex seems intacted. Movement compensation task tests needed.
- Seems that virus tries to “access” memories of the host. (Hunter’s apparent struggle to remember how to use a rifle)
- How can a virus coordinate memory retrieval or “know” that memories are needed?
- Does virus eventually lead to permanent body death? Does the body eventually become unusable by the virus?
- Are all animal types susceptible? Vector carriers? Animal immunity?
- Human immune system response to introduction? Are antibodies formed?
- Which human cell types does the virus target for particle production?
- Who/what is patient 0?
- Species/individual progression at introduction site?
- Are abscesses present on the CNS?
- Presence/Absence of encephalitis?
- Onset symptoms? Fever, headache, poor appetite,low energy, nausea/vomiting, stiffness of neck, confusion, disorientation, personality change, seizures, problems speaking/hearing, hallucinations, memory loss, drowsiness, coma?
- Affects to the myelin of CNS/PNS?
- Incubation period??
- Relationship to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or Kuru?
- Human genetic immunity?
- Which WBC are most aggressive toward the virus? Are the WBC infected by the virus?
Need to obtain mice/rats for study.