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The Biohazard Message: Epidemics, Biological Accidents and Bioterrorism in Fiction (1969-1999) Albert Bacardit i Raluy The Biohazard Message: Epidemics, Biological Accidents and Bioterrorism in Fiction (1969-1999) Tesi Doctoral presentada per ALBERT BACARDIT I RALUY Dirigida per DR. PERE GALLARDO I TORRANO Universitat Rovira i Virgili Tutoritzada per DRA. MARIA VIDAL I GRAU Universitat de Lleida Departament d’Anglès i Lingüística Universitat de Lleida I would like to thank my colleagues in IES Guillem Catà for providing an inspiring work environment. I am also greatly indebted to the members of the Department of English and Linguistics at the University of Lleida for their inestimable support. The research process has been significantly enhanced by the wise advice of Dr. Antonio Montero, Head of the Anaesthesiology Department, and Dr. Fernando Barcenilla, specialist of the Nosocomial Infection Unit, at Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital in Lleida. The eventual written outcome is also thanks to the sensible guidance of Chris Boswell, Xavier Plazas and Michael Shanahan. I am most indebted to Dr. Pere Gallardo for his constant support during all these years. His committed encouragement to treating such an uncommon literary subject as infectious diseases has certainly been indispensable for the fruitful completion of this study. I am also grateful to Dr. Maria Vidal for her diligent resolution of whatever bureaucratic matters have appeared. But, above all, I want to thank my wife Mireia, who has devotedly walked this long road by my side and whose love has taken me this far. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix INTRODUCTION 1 GLOSSARY 7 CHAPTER 1: THE ROOTS OF A DISCOURSE 11 1.1 Man as the Apogee of Creation and the Ladder Metaphor 11 1.2 Puncturing the Hygienic Bubble 18 1.3 A Review of Biohazard Events 23 1.3.1 Great Epidemics in History 23 1.3.2 Recorded Biological Accidents 36 1.3.3 Historical Accounts of Biowarfare 40 1.3.4 Historical Accounts of Bioterrorism 50 1.4 Shaping the Biohazard Discourse 53 CHAPTER 2: THREE SCENARIOS 57 2.1 The Natural Scenario 57 2.1.1 Acknowledging Microbial Power 58 2.1.2 Resignation to Fate 61 2.1.3 Partial Findings: Defining the Natural Scenario 63 2.2 The Accident Scenario 63 2.2.1 A Foreseeable Resolution 64 2.2.2 Planning the Unplanned 67 2.2.3 Partial Findings: Defining the Accident Scenario 74 2.3 The Bioterrorist Scenario 74 2.3.1 Human Nature 75 2.3.2 The Sectarian Threat 82 2.3.3 Partial Findings: Defining the Bioterrorist Scenario 85 2.4 Scenarios: Conclusions 85 CHAPTER 3: THE PATHOGENS 89 3.1 Existing Unmodified Pathogens 89 3.1.1 Ebola 90 3.1.2 Plague 97 3.1.3 Psittacosis 101 3.1.4 Assorted 104 3.1.5 Partial Findings: On the Existing Unmodified Pathogens 110 3.2 Existing Modified Pathogens 110 3.2.1 Smallpox 111 3.2.2 Influenza 120 3.2.3 Partial Findings: On the Existing Modified Pathogens 129 3.3 Non-Existent Pathogens 130 3.3.1 Andromeda 130 3.3.2 Anonymous 135 3.3.3 Nanomachines 136 3.3.4 PZ9 Plasmid 137 3.3.5 Partial Findings: On the Non-Existent Pathogens 137 3.4 Pathogens: Conclusions 138 CHAPTER 4: A CHARACTER TYPOLOGY 143 4.1 The Biohero/-ine 143 4.1.1 The EIS Officer 144 4.1.2 The Researcher 147 4.1.3 The Law Enforcer 165 4.1.4 Other Bioheroes/-ines 170 4.1.5 Partial Findings: On the Biohero/-ine 173 4.2 The Aides 175 4.2.1 The Pathology and BT Teams 175 4.2.2 The Researching Team 187 4.2.3 The Law Enforcing Team 196 4.2.4 The Heterogeneous Team 199 4.2.5 Partial Findings: On the Aides 210 4.3 The Bioterrorist 211 4.3.1 The Revengeful Researcher 212 4.3.2 The Fanatic 221 4.3.3 The Conspirator 227 4.3.4 The Materialistic Villain 230 4.3.5 The Unwilling Villain 233 4.3.6 Partial Findings: On the Bioterrorist 237 4.4 The Crooks 238 4.4.1 The Bent Researcher 239 4.4.2 The Bent Law Enforcer 243 4.4.3 The Fanatic 247 4.4.4 The Capo 250 4.4.5 Minor Crooks 252 4.4.6 Partial Findings: On the Crooks 256 4.5 The Victims 257 4.5.1 Victims in a Materialised Threat 258 4.5.2 Victims in an Immaterialised Threat 278 4.5.3 Partial Findings: On the Victims 288 4.6 Characters: Conclusions 289 CHAPTER 5: SPATIO-TEMPORAL LOCATIONS 293 5.1 The Distant Location 293 5.1.1 Partial Findings: Defining Traits of the Distant Location 300 5.2 The Impending Location 301 5.2.1 Partial Findings: Defining Traits of the Impending Location 325 5.3 The Close Location 326 5.3.1 Partial Findings: Defining Traits of the Close Location 337 5.4 Locations: Conclusions 338 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 343 APPENDIX 1: A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE BOOKS 353 APPENDIX 2: FACTSHEETS 379 APPENDIX 3: AVAILABLE FIGURES OF BEST-SELLING BIOHAZARD BOOKS 389 WORKS CITED 391 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Method of Study 5 The Ladder of Divine Ascent by Saint John Climacus 13 The Tree of Life by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 14 Frequency of Occurrence in Fossils from the Precambrian 15 Era until the Present Time by Stephen Jay Gould The Tree of Life by Stephen Jay Gould 16 ix INTRODUCTION In the late eighties and early nineties, the western world was greatly shocked by the deaths of Rock Hudson and Freddie Mercury, and Magic Johnson’s announcement that he was HIV positive. Suddenly, a new microbial scourge had awakened the numb occidental mind from a smug dream that had lasted for over five decades. In fact, I was born and raised in a society which was supposed to counteract whatever pathogenic menace was posed. Of course, people in third-world countries were still dying of typhus, cholera, and tuberculosis but that was because they had not been vaccinated. Given economic and material resources, each and every pathogen could be defeated. At least, that was what we were taught at the time. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a fallacy. The unexpected advent of the HIV virus revealed the truth. About two decades later, over 6,800 persons become infected with HIV and more than 5,700 persons die from AIDS every day all over the planet. The estimated number of people living with HIV globally has grown unstoppably from around 8 million in 1990 to 33.2 million in 2007 (Unaids 2007). What is worse, the younger generations do not have the aforementioned celebrities as valid references and there is a high risk of them contracting the disease through sheer ignorance of the means of contagion. In this context, it seems only logical that those who know about the danger should be doing something to warn them. Yet, as of today, it truly seems that few people have really understood the AIDS message. It is a fact that fiction has a greater market penetration than non-fiction, mainly due to its entertaining purpose. Thus, this means that a great deal of its potential to illustrate current biological threats is being missed. From time to time, there are certain scares about the Mad-Cow Disease, its human variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease, Bird Flu, SARS, or the current Novel Flu but overall they are quite ephemeral and soon vanish from the media in a sea of ever-changing news. Only occasionally do we get to know that people are dying in a remote part of central Africa from a strange haemorrhagic fever. However, there have to be hundreds dying in a most gruesome way to make the story hit the headlines. Without gore, there is no news and the danger goes unnoticed. The same concept is pertinent to accidents, warfare and terrorism involving biological agents. While we are afraid of Iran's – formerly Soviet– nuclear missiles, we do not conceive that scientists may be developing a bioweapon as infective as influenza and as lethal as Ebola. Even 1 terrorist organisations like Al-Qaeda could have access to such power. These are questions that the average citizen would perhaps not ask without the help of biothrillers. Certainly, some of the information supplied in these books is inflamed but the greatest part of it is close to fact. Also, it is evident that an ordinary person does not get interested in biohazards through the scattered items of news in the media and definitely does not then seek answers in medical journals. However, the sales of biothrillers1 prove that it is gripping literature, which can be very illustrating as long as fiction is clearly ascertained as being according to fact. This kind of narrative seems to abide by the standards of the so-called Entertainment-Education Strategy. The notion was set in the late seventies, developed in the eighties and nineties and chiefly analysed by Shingal, Rogers and Cody (1999 and 2004). Certain mass-media productions with a high audience share were used to promote behavioural change. This was mainly applied to soap operas, talk shows, music concerts and feature films in underdeveloped countries, which mostly targeted groups with a high-risk of contracting AIDS. In fact, the concept is not new, as it could be contended that fables and morality plays, which covered a much wider range of themes, fulfilled a similar task in the Middle Ages. Yet, the idea of using an all-encompassing scheme to reach the population in as many ways as possible has only become viable with the flourishing of the mass-media.