‘That could take months. I’d have to postpone everything else I could work on to assist in your project’

‘It has to be done. Once you isolate the antigen or viral enzyme responsible for contaminating the bacteria, we’ll omit the water sample containing it and see if it makes any difference. It’s the only way to be certain. Otherwise, our entire Pseudomodrine program is in jeopardy. If the samples aren’t free of harmful viruses, the series may not reproduce reliably. We could lose it all. Nothing is more important.’

So I began isolating the viruses from each original sample, testing the bacterial amalgamate that had succumbed against each group. I isolated the airborne viruses by completely evaporating drops of water from each sample in an air stream in a sealed compartment to prevent escape of the viruses. We tested the waterborne viruses by allowing rats to drink the water and the airborne ones by releasing them into the glass compartments containing other rats. The work was slow and tedious, but I felt it would eventually produce the culprit. During research, the deadly virus finally showed itself when one of the water samples from the Congo river was evaporated. The virus turned out to be airborne; It killed every bacterial cell on the plate. When we tested it with mice, rats, and guinea pigs, more than 80% died within 24 hours of inhalation in their isolation tanks. Had the animals not been isolated, the fatal disease might have spread to the laboratory staff. I reported to Dr. Borden that it was from the Congo specimens, but could have originated anywhere in Zaire or even from the tributaries of southern Central Africa or northern Angola, as many of them ultimately flow into the Congo.

‘Some of our best species are from Congo samples. We can’t eliminate them. We’ll have to determine the geographic limitation of the virus by sampling farther upriver.’ He told me. Within a month, samples collected upriver from the confluences of the Ubangi river in northern Zaire, and the Kwa river in southern Zaire with the Congo were obtained. We determined that Borden’s prized species were present in the Ubangi samples. After further testing, I determined that the offending virus was not. It originated somewhere in the basins drained by the Kwa river. Thus, the Bordens were able to continue the Pseudomodrine program without further viral setbacks.”