On the other side of Africa, a copy of the New York Times had arrived in Larry’s office. It was a long read, but Larry had plenty of time to work through it, page by page.
What caught his eye was an article in the “Travel” section on holidays in Thailand and a very short sentence pointing out that there had recently been a flu-type scare. American tourists were warned to be careful.
What they should do in order not to catch the bug was not made clear, but if the American Embassy in Bangkok was issuing warnings, then perhaps, Larry thought, he could circumvent, as a persona non grata, what he was not able to get from the WHO.
He phoned the emergency number and was told to check the embassy website, but that was just a repeat of the newspaper article. Instead, he phoned the British Embassy in Bangkok.
“My name is Larry Brown,” he told the woman who answered. “I’m a US citizen, but my English girlfriend is on holiday in Thailand, and I’ve not been able to contact her for several days. The last time I spoke to her, she was in a place called Sukothai. She had a bad cold and was running a very high temperature. I’ve just read about the recent virus outbreak and was worried.”
“What is your girlfriend’s name Mr Brown?”
“Emily Sinclair,” said Larry.” In fact, I am a doctor, so it’s Dr Brown.”
“I see, Dr Brown. Hold the line while I check.”
Larry held for less than a minute. “Dr Brown, sorry to keep you waiting. There are two pieces of advice. Firstly, we suggest you talk to the American Embassy. The US Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS) is based at the embassy. They are apparently surveying influenza outbreaks with a Thai laboratory. Or you could speak directly to the Thai laboratory.”
Larry was given the phone number of a laboratory in Bangkok and called them. Yes, the person said that the laboratory was keeping a record of all recent respiratory infections from across Thailand.
Larry asked if the fictitious Emily Sinclair, a British national, was on the list. She wasn’t, but within half an hour, touting his status as an American doctor, he knew where the outbreak had started, that all the known deaths, except one, were males, and that they had all come from the city of Ayutthaya north of Bangkok. It was nothing new, but
one thing he’d learned was that saying he was an American doctor opened doors.
He asked more questions and was then put through to the doctor in charge, a Dr Vichai. Mark, he recalled, had mentioned Vichai. This was the man who’d spoken at the recent conference.
“Emily was in Ayuttaya a month ago,” Larry lied. “Could she have been in contact with someone with the infection?”
“They were all truck drivers,” Vichai said. “They all slept in the same building in Bangkok when making deliveries. We think this was where they contracted the infection.”
“So was one of them carrying the virus?” he asked.
“I cannot say for certain but my laboratory is concerned about something that was found outside the building where they were sleeping – a box of inhalers similar to those used by asthmatics. But the pressurised canisters were missing.”
“Are you suggesting they were infected through using an inhaler?”
“Probably not but people take narcotics in various strange ways. The fact is that amongst the hundred or so cases of respiratory infection we have tested since the outbreak, we have found no more trace of that particular virus. It’s good news, but we cannot explain it. We have, of course, reported it to the WHO as a matter of fact but have heard nothing.”
Larry thanked Dr Vichai and then checked out the US Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS), as the girl at the British Embassy had called it. Larry had no idea it existed, but according to its website, it collected epidemiologic data to protect soldiers and citizens from infectious diseases. It did clinical trials, had equipment for sample collections, and worked with Dr Vichai’s laboratory.
Feeling he’d got enough by talking to Vichai, Larry called Colin in London. Colin then emailed me, but I was still with Nagi.