"The results are already in, and by separating the sample tissue with nanorobots, we didn't find a variant of Escherichia coli in the sample fragmentation, but we did find something smaller. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"What's that?" Zhou Chen hurriedly asked.

"It is a unit composed of PRP-type precursor proteins." Cai Xiaoxi said as he took out a picture scanned by the electron microscope from the printer and handed it to Zhou Chen.

Zhou Chen took a look and found that the monomeric structure of the thing on the picture was a bit like a capsule pill, with a size of about 40 nanometers, and this thing was the unit composed of PRP-type precursor proteins that Cai Xiaoxi said?

"This unit does not contain DNA or RNA genetic material, there is no heritability, so it can not be called a virus, we can not observe the structure of virions under the electron microscope, and after experiments have found that it does not show immune effects in the human body, does not induce interferon production, and is not subject to interference, but what is strange is that the content of this unit substance is extremely high, and has obvious potential to invade central nervous cells." Cai Xiaoxi carefully introduced.

Violating central nervous system cells and not showing an immune response, Zhou Chen was shocked when he heard this, and a word quickly came to mind - "mad cow disease".

Judging by all the indications now, the characteristics of this virus are somewhat similar to the mad cow disease virus.

Cai Xiaoxi said: "The absence of immune effects means that it either does not have the recognition determinants of the human immune system, or its structure is so simple that the immune system cannot recognize it through epitopes and then produce a strong immune response; Either it is a normal substance of the human body, and the body's immune system recognizes it as 'self' rather than 'non-self', and naturally it will not be encircled and suppressed. ”

"However, from a structural point of view, it obviously has some identification determinants, so the first may be ruled out, and it should be preliminarily determined that it should belong to the human body's own substance."

Zhou Chen nodded after listening, and now he could identify that it was a prion substance similar to the "mad cow disease" virus.

Prions are a very special substance, to put it bluntly, it is actually a simple protein, but it is just coincidentally pathogenic, so it is a bit far-fetched to classify it as a virus. Prion is a variant of a normal protein, there is originally a type C protein in the human body, this protein is not pathogenic, and is indispensable to the human body, but its twin "variant" is pathogenic, this variant is not different from the normal type in molecular composition, it is produced by the same piece of gene encoded, and the rehearsal of amino acid residues is naturally the same, the only difference is in the secondary mechanism of protein folding.

Normal C-type proteins have 55% A-helix and 4% β-fold on the secondary structure, while the variant has the opposite 4% A-helix and 55% β-fold, which is a very trivial difference for proteins, but the misfolding of the latter exhibits very different properties.

"Is it the culprit behind the epidemic in the United States?" Zhou Chen asked curiously.

"Yes, that's pretty much the case! Since no in vivo experiments have been conducted, the computer simulation results are 98% accurate. ”

Zhou Chen breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "98%, then it's basically sure that it's undoubted." ”

Cai Xiaoxi nodded: "Our life science research group named it PRP-C brain tissue virus, this virus cannot be filtered, nor can it be denatured and inactivated by simple high-temperature sterilization, and because this kind of substance exists in the human body, it is even more difficult to find it, if the existing scientific and technological means on the earth, the time to discover it will have to wait for another five years at the earliest." ”

Zhou Chen couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, and then sighed, wait another five years, according to the current infection rate on the earth, I am afraid that by the time it is discovered, the population on the earth will almost be wiped out.

The mode of transmission of this "virus" is "self-replication", that is, when a mutated protein meets a normal protein, the normal protein can mutate, and then it will have a divergent effect like dominoes, and it will be out of control. It can be transmitted in the air with droplets and air currents, and once the human body ingests a mutant "virus", it is equivalent to activating a time bomb.

"Now that we've found the cause, what can we do to cure it?"

"There are two ways to cure it!"

"Which two?" When Zhou Chen heard that there were two methods, his spirit couldn't help but perk.

"The first is to use nanorobots to clean up the PRP-C type brain tissue virus, which is the fastest and easiest method, with a success rate of 100%, but this method is too expensive and not suitable for large-scale promotion."

Zhou Chen nodded, agreeing with Cai Xiaoxi's statement.

"The second is to eliminate all the variant PRP proteins by means of special agents, but because there are only slight differences between the variants and the normal types in terms of spatial structure, the normal PRP proteins will also be completely eliminated while eliminating the PRP-C brain tissue virus, which requires us to artificially supplement the isoenzymes of the PRP protein to undertake the work of normal PRP proteins and other proteins with PRP proteins as precursors while eliminating prions."

"Wouldn't that be complicated?" Zhou Chen frowned and asked.

"It's not troublesome, through computer simulation, we can quickly get the synthesis map of all the proteins related to the PRP protein, and measure the content of these proteins in the human body, and then kill the normal and variant types of the PRP protein through lethal agents, and at the same time supplement those related proteins."

"According to the speed of protein replacement and the speed of action of the drug, patients only need to be infused for three days to remove all PRP variant proteins in the body, and then the infusion can be stopped."

"How long will it take to develop this potion, and when will we be able to come up with this potion in batches?" When will we be able to come up with a drug that can be used in clinical practice, which is the moment when the PRP-C brain tissue virus will be truly subdued.

"Three days at the earliest!" Cai Xiaoxi's brows frowned slightly, and her beautiful face was also a little embarrassed.

"Then as soon as possible, according to the current speed of the epidemic, in three days, it is estimated that the number of infected people in the world will exceed one million, and the deaths may be around 500,000."

Time waits for no one, Zhou Chen sighed in his heart, but this is fine, it is better to have hope than not to have any clue.

Back on Earth, Zhou Chen returned home directly.

The day after tomorrow is Chinese New Year's Eve, which was supposed to be a happy and lively reunion festival, but this year's Chinese New Year's Eve is obviously much colder than usual. Walking on the street, there is a scene of depression, everyone is hiding at home, and they don't even dare to go out.

The epidemic is like a tiger and a wolf, killing people regardless of their status, everyone is on the same starting line at this point, listening to the number of infections and deaths in the United States constantly broadcast on TV, and people are finally frightened.

"Xinhua News Agency's latest news, according to the WHO, the spread of the epidemic in the United States is further intensifying, in addition to the first case of Pennsylvania, the neighboring Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware have also found cases of infection, the U.S. government has declared a national emergency at noon local time today, as of 17 pm Beijing time on January 25, a total of 263,446 confirmed cases of infection in the United States, including 79,000 cases in critical condition, 153,000 deaths! ”

"The latest news from the Ministry of Health, my country found the first case of infection in Guangzhou, and 643 contacts have been isolated, please pay attention to the news channel for follow-up reports."

"In an interview with reporters, the European Commission's Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Andreuke Itis, revealed that the European Union has confirmed cases of infection in Paris, France, and Berlin, Germany, respectively, and the relevant countries are looking for and isolating people who have been in contact with the patients."

As soon as he entered the door, Zhou Chen saw his father Zhou Chuming, his mother Yang Xiying, and his sister Zhou Luo watching TV together.

"You're emptying the supermarket?" Zhou Chen asked incredulously.

"Brother, where have you been, I went to the supermarket with my parents this afternoon, and you don't know how to help, the three of us are very tired of moving so many things!"

As soon as Zhou Chen came back, Zhou Luo immediately threw him a big roll of his eyes and said with a dissatisfied face.

Zhou Chen smiled wordlessly, "I'll go upstairs first, and call me at dinner." ”

"Oops, I was patronizing the news and forgot to make dinner." Mother Yang Xiying reacted suddenly.

……

……

Zhou Chen still underestimated the virus's ability to infect, he thought that the number of infected people in the world would only exceed one million at most in three days, but in fact, this number was reached one day after he returned to Earth.

This is because China, India, and Europe, which have huge population bases, have all found the virus at almost the same point in time, China coincides with the Spring Festival of population migration, India is limited by the backward local medical system, and Europe has too loose borders, and the inspection is a mere formality, which facilitates the virus to be driven by the crowd, and then spread along the river and strong winds, and soon there will be a situation where the spread trend can no longer be controlled.

Over the next two days, the numbers continued to climb and doubled in almost half a day.

One million, three million, seven million!

By this time, the statistics were no longer accurate, and more of a health department statistician sitting in his office full of pessimistic estimates. They even knew in their hearts that breaking through 10 million would be very easy, and they might be able to reach it when they woke up tomorrow morning.

This year's Spring Festival, Chinese New Year's Eve is destined to be spent in an inexplicable tension, and the whole country is shrouded in a white virus shadow.

There is no roaring firecrackers, no brilliant fireworks displays, and the Yaxing that visited each other on Chinese New Year's Eve in previous years is gone, and no one wants to move around at this time.

Zhou Chen's Chinese New Year's Eve was spent with his family in front of the TV to watch the Spring Festival Gala program, several people have not gone out for several days, watching the programs that have begun on TV, always feel that the laughter of the performers on the screen is a bit like bitterness.

The hands cross the 12-o'clock scale and the New Year's bell rings.

At this time, the sound of fireworks rising into the air could be heard sporadically outside the community.

……

United States, White House.

Stanley has received the news that a new vaccine has been successfully developed but has not been effective against this epidemic, and he can't believe that the previous experts are working in the wrong direction, and the Escherichia coli variant is not the culprit, so what is the culprit of this epidemic? Could it be that this catastrophe was predestined by God?

Thinking that more than a million people in the United States have been infected, and hundreds of thousands of people are struggling on the verge of death and may lose their lives at any time, he is extremely powerless.

At this time, his advisers and assistants were silent, and they did not have any good solutions.

As for the experts involved in epidemic control and pathological research, they can't count on it now, and they are also confused!

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that the virus has evolved into a global pandemic, the trouble is that we don't know anything about it." Stanley looked up, a helpless expression.

"Your Excellency, the University of Washington School of Medicine is extracting pathogens, and they suspect that this virus may be a prion, and their lab is currently working on the ......isolation of tissue samples," the president's security adviser whispered.

Stanley was taken aback, then smiled wryly: "Prions? Mad cow disease? How long has BSE been discovered, we still can't do anything about it, and if the culprit of this epidemic is prions, that's a bad thing, and we can only pray for God's blessing. ”

When the security consultant thought about it, he also felt that powerlessness, and couldn't help but fall silent.

Stanley actually has a guess that he didn't say, could this virus not be a natural occurrence, but a weapon for aliens to attack humanity? This topic is so scary to think about, if it is really the work of aliens, then can humans hold on? One prion today, tomorrow it could be another, how many rounds can humanity last in its current state? What a nightmare! Stanley only wanted it to be his own delusion.

Just then, the phone on the desk rang suddenly, and the ringing startled the nervous decision-makers.

Stanley picked up the phone, and after saying a few words, his expression changed suddenly, and he hung up the phone, the joy on his face could not be suppressed: "Good news, there is a biomedical company that has found a solution to the epidemic!" They have a practical cure! ”