ReGenesis s02e01 Episode Script
China
Previously: There's been a SARS-like case reported in Denver Colorado, the local doctors and public health officials can't identify the virus.
This is doubled in just the last two hours.
Can't be I went to Nunavut.
There was a body, frozen, buried.
A minor who died of the Spanish Flu in 1918 and I dug him up without permission.
I took a sample.
I'm really fucked up this time.
Other than the head trauma and a few fractured ribs and some other minor injuries, very lucky.
What's he doing here? He gets in a car accident, now he thinks he let out the Spanish flu.
How did a flu in Nunavut - end up in Denver, Colorado? - I don't know.
Beard, accent - Russian or Polish - mid-sixties.
Look, we drink and we talk.
He says I told him about Nunavut one night when we got drunk together.
You gave me the Spanish Flu.
You went and dug up the body, didn't you? Not interested.
- It's me, Bob.
- Go home, Bob.
- Are you okay? - Just dandy.
Then let me in.
Fuck just go, Bob! I have to go to the bathroom.
I lied.
David, I was so worried when you left the lab, I couldn't work.
- Where are you going? - Haven't a clue.
Well, how will you know when you get there? David, the outbreak in Denver wasn't your fault.
I got drunk and told a psychopath where to find a sample of the Spanish Flu so he could release it on the public, Bob.
Thirteen people are now dead because of me, got it? No.
Not because of you.
The Spanish Flu killed them.
Oh Fuck it! Passport.
Wallet.
Lock the door on your way out, Bob.
Bye.
Episode 2x01 - China SIX WEEKS LATER Why do you think you're here, Ms.
Morrison? - I have no idea.
- There's been a breach of protocol.
I honestly don't know.
This is because David was gone for a while.
He got in contact with us.
Then you were able to find where he was.
- I have no idea.
I'm with Homeland Security, my name's Agent Smith, and I want to ask you a few questions.
What what exactly would you like to know? Carlos Serrano, I am 39 years old.
I work for NorBAC.
I'm a geneticist and medical doctor.
I have not spoken to David in many weeks.
He needed a break.
He was burnt out.
I think he just needed to get away for some time.
It's appropriate for David to go somewhere like China.
Smooth.
Did you get that? All right.
All in, all in, all in.
Mayko Tran.
Head of Bio-informatics.
Yeah.
He's annoying.
He's stubborn.
He thinks he's the shit and he doesn't have room for very many people and don't get me wrong there's a fucking lot to dislike about David But, you know, he's got some really good positives that sort of outweigh the bads.
Jesus! English? I'm a fat man.
I'm a fat man.
He says he's Canadian.
Oh, fuck.
My name is Weston Field, I'm the lab manager here.
I've been getting scattered information.
Bits and pieces.
Nothing that I can form a cohesive whole out of.
And to be perfectly honest, I don't know what David's doing in China.
I don't know when David's coming in.
General Hung.
People's Liberation Army.
Dr.
David Sandstrom, NorBAC? No, Dr.
David Sandstrom, Canadian tourist.
We have a disease outbreak.
Well, I don't do disease outbreaks anymore, so Come.
This is one of 4 quarantine encampments.
Two more will be constructed today.
This disease is out of control.
Began 19 days ago.
Twenty-two dead yesterday.
Old, young, Well, congratulations, you got yourselves an epidemic.
What does World Health say? Oh, shit.
You didn't tell them, did you? What are you waiting for, Captain? A million dead? General, I am general! Come.
Samples.
From sick dead.
And here, best scientists in China.
Dr Xue, Molecular biology.
Dr Zhao, Microbiology.
Dr David Sandstrom.
They have failed to solve the problem.
You will show them how.
Ah! Dr Liu, Infectious diseases.
Work hard.
Solve problem.
Excuse me.
Coughing.
Blood in mucus.
We believe lung disease to be part of disease.
We do blood plates, we find normal flora.
So we know which bacteria group, but cannot identify specific bacterium.
Why is this outbreak a secret? Everything with Chinese military is a secret.
OK.
Tell me how you're treating it, what have you tried.
Everything : Cephalosporin, Quinolone, Cipro, penicillin.
Combinations of 2 antibiotics, 3 antibiotics.
OK, I get it, I get it.
You've tried everything that should kill a bacterium, and nothing did.
Where does that take you? A super-bacterium? Drug resistant.
How about, it's not a bacterium at all.
You know? It could be any one of these other things, right? Except we've tried antivirals, anti-fungus, anti-parasites.
Well then, maybe we need to find out where it's coming from.
Dr.
Liu, ahem Sorry, could you Hmm, is this what I think it is? Scarlet Fever.
This sure as hell isn't a scarlet fever outbreak.
These people must be co-infected.
Some have scarlet fever.
Others have TB, mono, hep.
A, hep.
B.
We're supposed to figure out what's making these people sick when they're sick with all these other diseases? Welcome to China, Dr Sandstrom.
General.
- Yes.
- We got a problem.
All your scientists have gotten nowhere.
I got to the same nowhere.
Now SARS was beaten by all the labs in the world collaborating.
When China got blamed, SARS killed more careers than people.
Go back.
You can solve it.
You solved Miranda Virus.
No see, that was a group effort.
The Spanish flu outbreak in Denver.
That was NorBAC, which is why we have to contact them.
I promise I won't tell them where we are.
No, no, no.
General, how can you speak English and not understand it? There's too many complications.
We've got patients with multiple illnesses.
Some of them have got worms and parasites.
There's experts from 3 different countries at NorBAC.
- No, no, no.
- Listen to him.
He's right.
Look, I'm gonna make this perfectly fucking simple for you, OK? You're on the verge of a major goddamn epidemic.
If you don't start asking for more help now, you are seriously, seriously fucked! I am not fucked! Now, go back work! Go! Go! All right.
Nobody knows you're here.
Twenty people a day, die.
What's another dead man?! Epidemic like this, Hung.
You are looking at one, two million dead, easy.
You may know science, but you do not know China.
- No! Don't you have enough dead? - After him, I'll kill you too! - Dead, he will be of no use.
- He can't help us anyway! Ping, stay out of this.
I had to save face, or he would have shot you.
Any luck on the pathogens? There are so many bacterial and viral species in the blood work.
That's where we were hours ago.
We've got to speed this up.
OK, that's it.
I want to contact World Health.
They are the experts on developing world medicine.
- You can't.
- Would you look around you.
How the hell are we supposed to solve this on our own.
You're feeling a little better, aren't you? This is my good friend, La Jiao.
Hello, La Jiao.
His parents died in the outbreak, and his sister.
Ping.
We need help.
This program allows you to access any computer - outside the military network.
- Fantastic.
So you can get into your computer at NorBAC.
Please hurry.
Okay.
Just write what you need to, we mustn't get caught.
Yeah I don't need another gun to my head.
Hey Mayko.
Yeah, is there, like, a logical reason in the universe for me to get an e-mail from David's computer in Chinese? I don't know.
OK, well can you look into it? Sure, I've just got to do a couple of things for Caroline, - Forward it to my desk.
- Thanks.
People's Liberation Army is famous for cuisine.
Really? Dr Sandstrom, I hear you in Tokyo.
"Spanish Flu: There will be a sequel.
" Yeah, I got that one right, eh? Where'd you guys learn to speak English? Johns Hopkins post-doc.
Four years.
Mayo clinic.
Two year fellowship.
University of Oxford.
Infectious diseases residency.
Pretty impressive credentials.
But we suck at this outbreak.
Twenty-four new patients this morning.
And that's just here.
Well, that was the only way I would do this, small and fast.
I mean, we can be responding while the big government labs are still planning their intake meeting.
So how many scientists work here? Twenty-four PhDs and 30 techies.
David handpicked everyone.
Genomics, proteomics, biotech Caroline.
Excuse me, I've got Senator Jackman on line 6.
I'll call back.
This is biochemistry.
Bob Melnikov, our department chief.
Audrey Graves.
American Drug Industry Council.
Hi.
Bio-informatics is back there.
Can I get you a coffee? - Yes.
Decaf.
- Of course.
So tell me, what areas of research are you most interested in funding? Well, Caroline we need to show Congress that some of our money is going towards basic research.
So you tell us how our money can be best spent.
Oh my God, do I need a coffee.
Ahem! Oh sorry Shit I mean, excuse me.
I've been up working all night.
Not complaining, just not functioning.
Hi, Mayko Tran.
Pleasure.
Carlos, I'd like you to meet Audrey Graves.
American Drug Industry Council.
Carlos Serrano, our chief geneticist.
You're in Toronto for the AIDS conference? - I'll be speaking - About Africa? - Yes.
- Then I will be listening.
How's David Sandstrom's recuperation? It's going great.
- I found bacterium in water.
- What kind of bacterium? Same as in blood of sick people.
Cannot identify.
- Antibiotic resistant? - Yes.
The same.
Here's our guy.
OK, morphology? Right water.
Left, from patient.
Like the Olsen twins, don't they? The DNA gels.
Tell me about the water around here.
Water from lake, rivers and wells.
It doesn't make any sense.
Why would you find a drug-resistant bacteria in lake and well water? The only bacteria that are drug resistant develop in hospitals.
MRSA.
C-difficile.
Exactly, we need to sequence a gene or 2 for each sample.
We already got the genomic sequence from Beijing.
OK, what's this? I mean where's the analysis I can't-- - General Hung won't let-- - No, look.
We need a bioinformatician, okay? Mayko Tran is the very best I've ever seen.
Satellite phone.
Hung will kill us if he finds out.
One phone call for one watch.
Only 3 minutes.
I'll barely have enough time to send all the data.
- Cappuccino.
- Wow, thank you.
Carlos? Check this.
It's coming in at 2,400 bps, but everyone streams at 45,000.
One of your lunatic friends at sciencesucks.
com.
No, hackers don't use Is it Chinese or Japanese? Chinese.
Oh, shit, interrupting.
OK, I don't know if this is a coincidence, but this came in on the tip line.
It was sent from David's computer.
David's? What do you mean? Well, I mean it came from David's computer.
I don't know what's going on.
It was all in gibberish, even in Chinese.
This is what it says : Held by PLA.
Outbreak.
Many dead.
I need help.
Are you there? I'll get in touch with the Canadian Ambassador of China.
I'm on the e-mail address.
- Is David Okay? - He's fine, Bob.
How do you know? Because I know David.
OK, it got interrupted right here.
It came in at 2,400 bps.
Satellite phones transfer at 2,400 bps.
OK.
Wes? Try to trace this transmission if you could.
He said something about an outbreak.
We only got part of the information.
- I'm doing database searches to ID it.
- Okay.
Beijing line 6.
Canadian ambassador, her name is Lise Goyer.
Mrs.
Goyer, good evening.
We lost a Canadian citizen.
He's the head scientist at NorBAC, yes.
Because I know David.
OK, it got interrupted Hi! Hi, Jill.
Dr.
Melnikov, you look fabulous.
Come here.
- Welcome home, Jill.
- Thank you.
- How was Oxford? - It was good.
It was good.
I missed you, though.
How are things going around here? I don't know.
Something's going on.
Something with David.
- Where is he? - China.
What? Why? I don't know.
Hmm.
Well let's go find out.
We hear nothing from David for 6 weeks and now it looks like I'm going to have to save him from the Chinese Army.
Nothing ever changes, does it? - Hello, welcome back.
- Thank you.
So the word in the U.
K.
is that NorBAC stopped the Spanish Flu in Denver.
We did.
- But David started it.
- Jill welcome back.
So what's he into this time? I'll explain.
I've got to figure out a genome, I think it's bacteria.
Are you too jetlagged or can you pitch in? Oh, no, no.
I'm in.
Yeah, send me a copy.
I've just got to caffeine up.
This just got here.
So the data stream from David didn't come from one of the global sat.
systems.
Chinese military.
Nice work.
- I'll get through to David.
- Okay.
Connor McGuinn.
Connor, it's Caroline.
Hey, Caroline, how's it going? We heard from David.
Yeah? That's good news.
Is he coming back? I'm sure he will.
We got a call, we think it may have come from a PLA sat.
phone.
Got friends in the Chinese Army, Caroline? Just one.
What am I looking at? We're going to figure this out.
Come on.
We'll figure this out.
Well, there's some really weird klebsiella kinda thing.
A bacterium.
Yeah.
Klebs in your colon.
It's crucial to natural body functions, but if ingested or inhaled klebsiella can kill you.
- So maybe that's it? - Or not.
I also found bacillus cereus DNA.
Food poisoning's not a killer.
That's a weird combination.
Yeah, I'm thinking they were trying to sequence - 1 organism but got 2 by mistake.
- That happens.
Or this could all be one big transmission screw-up, because I also found one gene that repeats itself over and over again 100 times.
Like in cancer.
- But this isn't cancer.
- No.
OK, so a bacterium has about four thousand genes, right? And David sent us about a third? Can we do anything? Well if this is a freak combination of bacteria, I wouldn't mind trying to figure out how it happened.
And see if we can't find out what's missing.
I'll help.
Have you tried doxycycline? What's left? I've been trying some new anti-microbials we just got from Beijing.
He's got a wife and daughter.
I can't even make a phone call to let them know he's dying.
Is there anything else new I should know about? It's growing, we're getting more and more sick people every day.
And from farther afield.
Still, when I first came here, I thought this would spread a lot quicker.
This isn't the only hospital camp, David.
There are now 12 others, and hundreds are dying.
Oh fuck, what are we doing wrong? Why can't we figure this out? Why 1 in 3? What are we missing? Hello La Jiao.
David.
Da-wid.
Daaa-vid.
Daaa-wiiid.
Excellent.
Excellent.
The 16 S ribosomal DNA seems to fit in there.
Granulomatous over there.
Citrobacter.
Older, yeah.
Right there.
Is this making any sense? It would help if we had all of its genes.
It's a big puzzle with most of the pieces missing, right? Well what are we missing? Hey Bob, what you doing? Reduces fatigue, it sparks creativity.
Oh.
Yeah.
Okay.
Mayko's got something.
OK, so there.
Right there, that's a splice.
Right.
So that's klebsiella and that's the bacillus cereus.
So it's not a mistake.
Oh, no.
It's a mistake, only it's nature's.
And the repeating gene? I'm still working on it.
- Hmm, OK.
Thank you.
- Okay.
OK, so Mayko says Bob.
Bob.
Look at it upside down.
What if it belongs like that? See the top is at the bottom.
We're trying to see how it evolved.
But it's not a leaf.
It's a root.
It's not new, it's ancient.
That's why we can't see how it evolved.
It didn't.
Everything evolved from it.
He was right.
We suck at this outbreak.
OK, we're getting somewhere.
- It's old klebsiella.
- Old? Very old.
Caroline.
Sorry.
Connor McGuinn, line 1.
Hey Connor.
That number you wanted Pretty interesting, Caroline, what's going on? What do you mean? Just let me know how that call turns out.
General Hung on the phone.
Hello, I'm Caroline Morrison from NorBAC in Canada.
Dr David Sandstrom, Madame Caroline Morrison, NorBAC.
- Hello.
- David? Caroline, what a surprise.
- David we're all here.
- Yeah.
Are you okay? Where are you exactly? Sorry Morrison.
That's classified.
- Any idea what this bacterium is? - It's a freak.
It's got pieces of bacillus cereus and an old klebsiella.
- David.
- Hey Bob! It's like the great grandfather of today's klebsiella.
- Why is it drug resistant? - Ahem, not a clue.
Any idea how it's getting around our natural defenses? Well this species predates human life in China.
So our bodies would have no memory of it.
The receptors in the white blood cells don't recognize it as dangerous.
David, it's got over a hundred repetitions of one gene.
Really, why? Don't know yet.
How many dead, David? Fourteen hundred.
David, where are you exactly? We need to alert-- What's the rush General? It's their nickel.
Explain.
How 2 bacteria mix? Horizontal transfer.
Which is a fancy way of saying the bacteria were promiscuous little bastards.
They trade genetic material all the time.
Even in cross-species barriers.
OK, really simple.
Let's say I had a bact Let's say I have a bacterium.
We'll call him David.
And David is a happy little bacterium he's just bopping along through life until he runs into a nasty piece of work called Hung.
They trade DNA, and now, even though they look like they're the same bacterium, they're actually 2 new species.
Havid and Dung.
So Havid, he gets into your body, but your body doesn't recognize him as being bad, because he still looks like David.
And Havid divides every 20 minutes.
And after a day there's 10 million Havids and another 8 hours there's 83 trillion.
And because of what he got from Hung, all those Havids are pricks and they're trying to kill you.
The End.
We send a sample to NorBAC, they help us figure out how to fucking kill it and we all live happily ever after.
Oh Jesus.
Ah, Caroline! I'm going back to the AIDS conference.
Are you still interested in coming? Yeah, later, I just want to stay on this China thing.
Mmm.
Anything new or I'm not sure.
We did make contact with David, - I just want to stay on it.
- Of course.
I'll catch up with you later for Audrey's speech.
Absolutely.
It's a hybrid of klebsiella and bacillus cereus.
Those bacteria are not drug resistant.
Right.
Antibiotics should be killing them, but they're not.
There's something else.
They found a gene that repeats 100 times.
- What's it for? - They don't know yet.
Could be 100 flagella, a 100 cell membranes, These are simple bacteria, simple cells.
What do they need 100 of anything for? Hey, who let you out? I get camera.
Have a seat.
- Carlos Serrano, NorBAC.
- Sean Macpherson.
You're an AIDS doctor? I was.
Now I just do science.
I just got back from Malawi.
I worked in an MSF camp, near Lilongwe.
I was there about 3 or 4 months ago.
Volunteering at an AIDS orphanage in Mizuzu.
- That's tough.
- Yeah.
A lot of kids.
Really alone.
What do you think about handing out syringes and condoms to addicts? It seems to be working in the US.
The HIV/AIDS incidence rate has been slowly decreasing in the IDU population since the 1980's.
The operative word is slowly.
- Better than not at all.
- Yeah.
It's Stephen Lewis.
Ever hear him talk? - Not in person.
- Wanna go? Let's go.
the pandemic has such an irreversible grip.
It is simply beyond belief.
So, when we're done here, where are you off to? Maybe my lab, back in Beijing.
And you? Back to NorBAC? I don't think I can, really.
Why not? I did something, and a lot of people You know what, it's a long story.
I was a first year student at Beijing University.
One day I asked 5 of my friends to join a protest.
We rode on our bicycles and we demanded freedom of speech, and an end to corruption, and we felt like we were making something good happen.
But then 3 of my friends died, instead.
Tiananmen Square? I'm sorry.
I spent 6 months sleeping and crying until I realized I didn't have to act dead just because my friends were.
Stop.
Forget it.
No antibiotics are going to work.
Here's why.
Here's our klebsiella/bacillus cereus hybrid.
Those 100 repeating genes: membrane pumps.
Membrane is porous.
So whatever gets into the bacterium, if the bacterium doesn't like it just pumps them right out.
But why would it need 100 pumps? Because it must be living somewhere with lots of things it doesn't like.
Exactly.
Some place with a lot of salt or chemicals, but this bacteria is amazing at spitting things out.
- Like antibiotics.
- And so it's drug resistant.
And it's ancient.
It's probably been disturbed so tell Hung he's got to look for it in some shithole of a place full of, I don't know, tar or acid.
- Probably someplace underground.
- Right.
So where are we now? Well, now we know no drugs can kill it, so there's not much left.
What does La Jiao have that Dr Zhao did not? How can La Jiao's body fight klebsiella when two-thirds can't? Maybe maybe, it's not the klebsiella he fights.
It's the bacillus cereus.
He must have been exposed to it once and now he has the antibodies to kill it.
- And when he kills the bacillus cereus - He kills the klebsiella.
Uh, bacillus cereus.
It's a bacterium that causes food poisoning in rice.
You know, vomiting, diarrhea that sort of thing.
But the thing is, our bodies can beat it.
We think people who have had it are the same people who survived the hybrid klebsiella we found.
Why? Horizontal transfer.
Havid and Dung.
See klebsiella, it picked up some bacillus cereus DNA.
So anyone who has had a bacillus cereus infection will probably develop an immunity.
Because body knows it's bad and kills it.
Yeah, so in theory, we inject people with bacillus cereus they get sick, they recover, their bodies can fight it.
Clever.
Clever! She nailed it.
We need some guinea pigs.
We need mammals.
To test our hypothesis.
First we give them the food poisoning, and then the bacterium that's causing the outbreak.
I will give you human mammals.
Uh General, I don't think so.
General! General! general! General, you can't try this on people until we know it works.
People die more and more.
I cannot wait.
Well what are you going to do grab somebody off the street and load them up with bacillus cereus? - I do not see volunteers.
- General, I volunteer.
- Good! - No, no Don't even go there.
Wait, wait.
What are you saying? This is my choice.
I don't care.
Ping, if we're wrong you've got a two in three chance of dying.
How can we be wrong? Don't do this.
David, if it was your country, you would do the same.
Doctor thank you for your assistance.
No, no, Hung.
I'm not finished here yet.
David Go home.
Ms.
Graves, can you tell us what the American Pharmaceutical Council is doing on the issue of AIDS? Well, we have for the first time over one hundred new AIDS drugs in development.
We are on the verge of a new generation of AIDS medicine.
Injectable fusion inhibitors, gene therapy, inhibitory RNA - Are any pediatric drugs? - Of course.
How many? - I don't have that exact number.
- None.
Half a million kids die in Africa each year and you do no research whatsoever.
Cause only a handful of kids in the West get AIDS.
- You make drugs for markets not people.
- What about patents? We have given up our rights for patents in Africa.
That's not the issue.
African kids are given adult drugs.
No one knows the proper dosage.
They're told to cut them up.
Sometimes the active ingredient isn't even spread out in the pill.
It is a nightmare.
Hey, I have a question for you.
How come there are hundreds of anti-depressants but not one pill for kids with AIDS? - Listen to me.
- Sean! This has AIDS.
It's from Africa.
It's a new strain.
Children are dying.
Fourteen hundred a day, every day.
Four million Africans go without any treatment whatsoever.
They won't even see the drugs you're talking about.
Besides, drugs are useless if there are no doctors to prescribe them.
They're useless if children are going hungry.
Police! Don't move! Sean! Sean! Carlos, what do I do? Pull it out.
Next on ReGenesis Are you having a boy or a girl? Boy or girl? Why are we doing this? Audrey Graves has given us I had to leave Africa.
We're trying to trace back the strain to Patient Zero.
- Simon Jessup.
- You know I've read about a British neuroscientist who's been working with people exposed to Mad Cow.
He's developing out there tests with MRIs.
Nobody knows I quit.
NorBAC would have been finished.
What were you going to do if I didn't come back? You did.
David, we've been infecting the cells in culture with Audrey's HIV.
Yeah.
Bob, what's the matter? It's what we call an escape mutant.
So what then, should I just get on a plane to a lab that will do something for me? Only you know the whole story.
Join us on regenesistv.
com.
This is doubled in just the last two hours.
Can't be I went to Nunavut.
There was a body, frozen, buried.
A minor who died of the Spanish Flu in 1918 and I dug him up without permission.
I took a sample.
I'm really fucked up this time.
Other than the head trauma and a few fractured ribs and some other minor injuries, very lucky.
What's he doing here? He gets in a car accident, now he thinks he let out the Spanish flu.
How did a flu in Nunavut - end up in Denver, Colorado? - I don't know.
Beard, accent - Russian or Polish - mid-sixties.
Look, we drink and we talk.
He says I told him about Nunavut one night when we got drunk together.
You gave me the Spanish Flu.
You went and dug up the body, didn't you? Not interested.
- It's me, Bob.
- Go home, Bob.
- Are you okay? - Just dandy.
Then let me in.
Fuck just go, Bob! I have to go to the bathroom.
I lied.
David, I was so worried when you left the lab, I couldn't work.
- Where are you going? - Haven't a clue.
Well, how will you know when you get there? David, the outbreak in Denver wasn't your fault.
I got drunk and told a psychopath where to find a sample of the Spanish Flu so he could release it on the public, Bob.
Thirteen people are now dead because of me, got it? No.
Not because of you.
The Spanish Flu killed them.
Oh Fuck it! Passport.
Wallet.
Lock the door on your way out, Bob.
Bye.
Episode 2x01 - China SIX WEEKS LATER Why do you think you're here, Ms.
Morrison? - I have no idea.
- There's been a breach of protocol.
I honestly don't know.
This is because David was gone for a while.
He got in contact with us.
Then you were able to find where he was.
- I have no idea.
I'm with Homeland Security, my name's Agent Smith, and I want to ask you a few questions.
What what exactly would you like to know? Carlos Serrano, I am 39 years old.
I work for NorBAC.
I'm a geneticist and medical doctor.
I have not spoken to David in many weeks.
He needed a break.
He was burnt out.
I think he just needed to get away for some time.
It's appropriate for David to go somewhere like China.
Smooth.
Did you get that? All right.
All in, all in, all in.
Mayko Tran.
Head of Bio-informatics.
Yeah.
He's annoying.
He's stubborn.
He thinks he's the shit and he doesn't have room for very many people and don't get me wrong there's a fucking lot to dislike about David But, you know, he's got some really good positives that sort of outweigh the bads.
Jesus! English? I'm a fat man.
I'm a fat man.
He says he's Canadian.
Oh, fuck.
My name is Weston Field, I'm the lab manager here.
I've been getting scattered information.
Bits and pieces.
Nothing that I can form a cohesive whole out of.
And to be perfectly honest, I don't know what David's doing in China.
I don't know when David's coming in.
General Hung.
People's Liberation Army.
Dr.
David Sandstrom, NorBAC? No, Dr.
David Sandstrom, Canadian tourist.
We have a disease outbreak.
Well, I don't do disease outbreaks anymore, so Come.
This is one of 4 quarantine encampments.
Two more will be constructed today.
This disease is out of control.
Began 19 days ago.
Twenty-two dead yesterday.
Old, young, Well, congratulations, you got yourselves an epidemic.
What does World Health say? Oh, shit.
You didn't tell them, did you? What are you waiting for, Captain? A million dead? General, I am general! Come.
Samples.
From sick dead.
And here, best scientists in China.
Dr Xue, Molecular biology.
Dr Zhao, Microbiology.
Dr David Sandstrom.
They have failed to solve the problem.
You will show them how.
Ah! Dr Liu, Infectious diseases.
Work hard.
Solve problem.
Excuse me.
Coughing.
Blood in mucus.
We believe lung disease to be part of disease.
We do blood plates, we find normal flora.
So we know which bacteria group, but cannot identify specific bacterium.
Why is this outbreak a secret? Everything with Chinese military is a secret.
OK.
Tell me how you're treating it, what have you tried.
Everything : Cephalosporin, Quinolone, Cipro, penicillin.
Combinations of 2 antibiotics, 3 antibiotics.
OK, I get it, I get it.
You've tried everything that should kill a bacterium, and nothing did.
Where does that take you? A super-bacterium? Drug resistant.
How about, it's not a bacterium at all.
You know? It could be any one of these other things, right? Except we've tried antivirals, anti-fungus, anti-parasites.
Well then, maybe we need to find out where it's coming from.
Dr.
Liu, ahem Sorry, could you Hmm, is this what I think it is? Scarlet Fever.
This sure as hell isn't a scarlet fever outbreak.
These people must be co-infected.
Some have scarlet fever.
Others have TB, mono, hep.
A, hep.
B.
We're supposed to figure out what's making these people sick when they're sick with all these other diseases? Welcome to China, Dr Sandstrom.
General.
- Yes.
- We got a problem.
All your scientists have gotten nowhere.
I got to the same nowhere.
Now SARS was beaten by all the labs in the world collaborating.
When China got blamed, SARS killed more careers than people.
Go back.
You can solve it.
You solved Miranda Virus.
No see, that was a group effort.
The Spanish flu outbreak in Denver.
That was NorBAC, which is why we have to contact them.
I promise I won't tell them where we are.
No, no, no.
General, how can you speak English and not understand it? There's too many complications.
We've got patients with multiple illnesses.
Some of them have got worms and parasites.
There's experts from 3 different countries at NorBAC.
- No, no, no.
- Listen to him.
He's right.
Look, I'm gonna make this perfectly fucking simple for you, OK? You're on the verge of a major goddamn epidemic.
If you don't start asking for more help now, you are seriously, seriously fucked! I am not fucked! Now, go back work! Go! Go! All right.
Nobody knows you're here.
Twenty people a day, die.
What's another dead man?! Epidemic like this, Hung.
You are looking at one, two million dead, easy.
You may know science, but you do not know China.
- No! Don't you have enough dead? - After him, I'll kill you too! - Dead, he will be of no use.
- He can't help us anyway! Ping, stay out of this.
I had to save face, or he would have shot you.
Any luck on the pathogens? There are so many bacterial and viral species in the blood work.
That's where we were hours ago.
We've got to speed this up.
OK, that's it.
I want to contact World Health.
They are the experts on developing world medicine.
- You can't.
- Would you look around you.
How the hell are we supposed to solve this on our own.
You're feeling a little better, aren't you? This is my good friend, La Jiao.
Hello, La Jiao.
His parents died in the outbreak, and his sister.
Ping.
We need help.
This program allows you to access any computer - outside the military network.
- Fantastic.
So you can get into your computer at NorBAC.
Please hurry.
Okay.
Just write what you need to, we mustn't get caught.
Yeah I don't need another gun to my head.
Hey Mayko.
Yeah, is there, like, a logical reason in the universe for me to get an e-mail from David's computer in Chinese? I don't know.
OK, well can you look into it? Sure, I've just got to do a couple of things for Caroline, - Forward it to my desk.
- Thanks.
People's Liberation Army is famous for cuisine.
Really? Dr Sandstrom, I hear you in Tokyo.
"Spanish Flu: There will be a sequel.
" Yeah, I got that one right, eh? Where'd you guys learn to speak English? Johns Hopkins post-doc.
Four years.
Mayo clinic.
Two year fellowship.
University of Oxford.
Infectious diseases residency.
Pretty impressive credentials.
But we suck at this outbreak.
Twenty-four new patients this morning.
And that's just here.
Well, that was the only way I would do this, small and fast.
I mean, we can be responding while the big government labs are still planning their intake meeting.
So how many scientists work here? Twenty-four PhDs and 30 techies.
David handpicked everyone.
Genomics, proteomics, biotech Caroline.
Excuse me, I've got Senator Jackman on line 6.
I'll call back.
This is biochemistry.
Bob Melnikov, our department chief.
Audrey Graves.
American Drug Industry Council.
Hi.
Bio-informatics is back there.
Can I get you a coffee? - Yes.
Decaf.
- Of course.
So tell me, what areas of research are you most interested in funding? Well, Caroline we need to show Congress that some of our money is going towards basic research.
So you tell us how our money can be best spent.
Oh my God, do I need a coffee.
Ahem! Oh sorry Shit I mean, excuse me.
I've been up working all night.
Not complaining, just not functioning.
Hi, Mayko Tran.
Pleasure.
Carlos, I'd like you to meet Audrey Graves.
American Drug Industry Council.
Carlos Serrano, our chief geneticist.
You're in Toronto for the AIDS conference? - I'll be speaking - About Africa? - Yes.
- Then I will be listening.
How's David Sandstrom's recuperation? It's going great.
- I found bacterium in water.
- What kind of bacterium? Same as in blood of sick people.
Cannot identify.
- Antibiotic resistant? - Yes.
The same.
Here's our guy.
OK, morphology? Right water.
Left, from patient.
Like the Olsen twins, don't they? The DNA gels.
Tell me about the water around here.
Water from lake, rivers and wells.
It doesn't make any sense.
Why would you find a drug-resistant bacteria in lake and well water? The only bacteria that are drug resistant develop in hospitals.
MRSA.
C-difficile.
Exactly, we need to sequence a gene or 2 for each sample.
We already got the genomic sequence from Beijing.
OK, what's this? I mean where's the analysis I can't-- - General Hung won't let-- - No, look.
We need a bioinformatician, okay? Mayko Tran is the very best I've ever seen.
Satellite phone.
Hung will kill us if he finds out.
One phone call for one watch.
Only 3 minutes.
I'll barely have enough time to send all the data.
- Cappuccino.
- Wow, thank you.
Carlos? Check this.
It's coming in at 2,400 bps, but everyone streams at 45,000.
One of your lunatic friends at sciencesucks.
com.
No, hackers don't use Is it Chinese or Japanese? Chinese.
Oh, shit, interrupting.
OK, I don't know if this is a coincidence, but this came in on the tip line.
It was sent from David's computer.
David's? What do you mean? Well, I mean it came from David's computer.
I don't know what's going on.
It was all in gibberish, even in Chinese.
This is what it says : Held by PLA.
Outbreak.
Many dead.
I need help.
Are you there? I'll get in touch with the Canadian Ambassador of China.
I'm on the e-mail address.
- Is David Okay? - He's fine, Bob.
How do you know? Because I know David.
OK, it got interrupted right here.
It came in at 2,400 bps.
Satellite phones transfer at 2,400 bps.
OK.
Wes? Try to trace this transmission if you could.
He said something about an outbreak.
We only got part of the information.
- I'm doing database searches to ID it.
- Okay.
Beijing line 6.
Canadian ambassador, her name is Lise Goyer.
Mrs.
Goyer, good evening.
We lost a Canadian citizen.
He's the head scientist at NorBAC, yes.
Because I know David.
OK, it got interrupted Hi! Hi, Jill.
Dr.
Melnikov, you look fabulous.
Come here.
- Welcome home, Jill.
- Thank you.
- How was Oxford? - It was good.
It was good.
I missed you, though.
How are things going around here? I don't know.
Something's going on.
Something with David.
- Where is he? - China.
What? Why? I don't know.
Hmm.
Well let's go find out.
We hear nothing from David for 6 weeks and now it looks like I'm going to have to save him from the Chinese Army.
Nothing ever changes, does it? - Hello, welcome back.
- Thank you.
So the word in the U.
K.
is that NorBAC stopped the Spanish Flu in Denver.
We did.
- But David started it.
- Jill welcome back.
So what's he into this time? I'll explain.
I've got to figure out a genome, I think it's bacteria.
Are you too jetlagged or can you pitch in? Oh, no, no.
I'm in.
Yeah, send me a copy.
I've just got to caffeine up.
This just got here.
So the data stream from David didn't come from one of the global sat.
systems.
Chinese military.
Nice work.
- I'll get through to David.
- Okay.
Connor McGuinn.
Connor, it's Caroline.
Hey, Caroline, how's it going? We heard from David.
Yeah? That's good news.
Is he coming back? I'm sure he will.
We got a call, we think it may have come from a PLA sat.
phone.
Got friends in the Chinese Army, Caroline? Just one.
What am I looking at? We're going to figure this out.
Come on.
We'll figure this out.
Well, there's some really weird klebsiella kinda thing.
A bacterium.
Yeah.
Klebs in your colon.
It's crucial to natural body functions, but if ingested or inhaled klebsiella can kill you.
- So maybe that's it? - Or not.
I also found bacillus cereus DNA.
Food poisoning's not a killer.
That's a weird combination.
Yeah, I'm thinking they were trying to sequence - 1 organism but got 2 by mistake.
- That happens.
Or this could all be one big transmission screw-up, because I also found one gene that repeats itself over and over again 100 times.
Like in cancer.
- But this isn't cancer.
- No.
OK, so a bacterium has about four thousand genes, right? And David sent us about a third? Can we do anything? Well if this is a freak combination of bacteria, I wouldn't mind trying to figure out how it happened.
And see if we can't find out what's missing.
I'll help.
Have you tried doxycycline? What's left? I've been trying some new anti-microbials we just got from Beijing.
He's got a wife and daughter.
I can't even make a phone call to let them know he's dying.
Is there anything else new I should know about? It's growing, we're getting more and more sick people every day.
And from farther afield.
Still, when I first came here, I thought this would spread a lot quicker.
This isn't the only hospital camp, David.
There are now 12 others, and hundreds are dying.
Oh fuck, what are we doing wrong? Why can't we figure this out? Why 1 in 3? What are we missing? Hello La Jiao.
David.
Da-wid.
Daaa-vid.
Daaa-wiiid.
Excellent.
Excellent.
The 16 S ribosomal DNA seems to fit in there.
Granulomatous over there.
Citrobacter.
Older, yeah.
Right there.
Is this making any sense? It would help if we had all of its genes.
It's a big puzzle with most of the pieces missing, right? Well what are we missing? Hey Bob, what you doing? Reduces fatigue, it sparks creativity.
Oh.
Yeah.
Okay.
Mayko's got something.
OK, so there.
Right there, that's a splice.
Right.
So that's klebsiella and that's the bacillus cereus.
So it's not a mistake.
Oh, no.
It's a mistake, only it's nature's.
And the repeating gene? I'm still working on it.
- Hmm, OK.
Thank you.
- Okay.
OK, so Mayko says Bob.
Bob.
Look at it upside down.
What if it belongs like that? See the top is at the bottom.
We're trying to see how it evolved.
But it's not a leaf.
It's a root.
It's not new, it's ancient.
That's why we can't see how it evolved.
It didn't.
Everything evolved from it.
He was right.
We suck at this outbreak.
OK, we're getting somewhere.
- It's old klebsiella.
- Old? Very old.
Caroline.
Sorry.
Connor McGuinn, line 1.
Hey Connor.
That number you wanted Pretty interesting, Caroline, what's going on? What do you mean? Just let me know how that call turns out.
General Hung on the phone.
Hello, I'm Caroline Morrison from NorBAC in Canada.
Dr David Sandstrom, Madame Caroline Morrison, NorBAC.
- Hello.
- David? Caroline, what a surprise.
- David we're all here.
- Yeah.
Are you okay? Where are you exactly? Sorry Morrison.
That's classified.
- Any idea what this bacterium is? - It's a freak.
It's got pieces of bacillus cereus and an old klebsiella.
- David.
- Hey Bob! It's like the great grandfather of today's klebsiella.
- Why is it drug resistant? - Ahem, not a clue.
Any idea how it's getting around our natural defenses? Well this species predates human life in China.
So our bodies would have no memory of it.
The receptors in the white blood cells don't recognize it as dangerous.
David, it's got over a hundred repetitions of one gene.
Really, why? Don't know yet.
How many dead, David? Fourteen hundred.
David, where are you exactly? We need to alert-- What's the rush General? It's their nickel.
Explain.
How 2 bacteria mix? Horizontal transfer.
Which is a fancy way of saying the bacteria were promiscuous little bastards.
They trade genetic material all the time.
Even in cross-species barriers.
OK, really simple.
Let's say I had a bact Let's say I have a bacterium.
We'll call him David.
And David is a happy little bacterium he's just bopping along through life until he runs into a nasty piece of work called Hung.
They trade DNA, and now, even though they look like they're the same bacterium, they're actually 2 new species.
Havid and Dung.
So Havid, he gets into your body, but your body doesn't recognize him as being bad, because he still looks like David.
And Havid divides every 20 minutes.
And after a day there's 10 million Havids and another 8 hours there's 83 trillion.
And because of what he got from Hung, all those Havids are pricks and they're trying to kill you.
The End.
We send a sample to NorBAC, they help us figure out how to fucking kill it and we all live happily ever after.
Oh Jesus.
Ah, Caroline! I'm going back to the AIDS conference.
Are you still interested in coming? Yeah, later, I just want to stay on this China thing.
Mmm.
Anything new or I'm not sure.
We did make contact with David, - I just want to stay on it.
- Of course.
I'll catch up with you later for Audrey's speech.
Absolutely.
It's a hybrid of klebsiella and bacillus cereus.
Those bacteria are not drug resistant.
Right.
Antibiotics should be killing them, but they're not.
There's something else.
They found a gene that repeats 100 times.
- What's it for? - They don't know yet.
Could be 100 flagella, a 100 cell membranes, These are simple bacteria, simple cells.
What do they need 100 of anything for? Hey, who let you out? I get camera.
Have a seat.
- Carlos Serrano, NorBAC.
- Sean Macpherson.
You're an AIDS doctor? I was.
Now I just do science.
I just got back from Malawi.
I worked in an MSF camp, near Lilongwe.
I was there about 3 or 4 months ago.
Volunteering at an AIDS orphanage in Mizuzu.
- That's tough.
- Yeah.
A lot of kids.
Really alone.
What do you think about handing out syringes and condoms to addicts? It seems to be working in the US.
The HIV/AIDS incidence rate has been slowly decreasing in the IDU population since the 1980's.
The operative word is slowly.
- Better than not at all.
- Yeah.
It's Stephen Lewis.
Ever hear him talk? - Not in person.
- Wanna go? Let's go.
the pandemic has such an irreversible grip.
It is simply beyond belief.
So, when we're done here, where are you off to? Maybe my lab, back in Beijing.
And you? Back to NorBAC? I don't think I can, really.
Why not? I did something, and a lot of people You know what, it's a long story.
I was a first year student at Beijing University.
One day I asked 5 of my friends to join a protest.
We rode on our bicycles and we demanded freedom of speech, and an end to corruption, and we felt like we were making something good happen.
But then 3 of my friends died, instead.
Tiananmen Square? I'm sorry.
I spent 6 months sleeping and crying until I realized I didn't have to act dead just because my friends were.
Stop.
Forget it.
No antibiotics are going to work.
Here's why.
Here's our klebsiella/bacillus cereus hybrid.
Those 100 repeating genes: membrane pumps.
Membrane is porous.
So whatever gets into the bacterium, if the bacterium doesn't like it just pumps them right out.
But why would it need 100 pumps? Because it must be living somewhere with lots of things it doesn't like.
Exactly.
Some place with a lot of salt or chemicals, but this bacteria is amazing at spitting things out.
- Like antibiotics.
- And so it's drug resistant.
And it's ancient.
It's probably been disturbed so tell Hung he's got to look for it in some shithole of a place full of, I don't know, tar or acid.
- Probably someplace underground.
- Right.
So where are we now? Well, now we know no drugs can kill it, so there's not much left.
What does La Jiao have that Dr Zhao did not? How can La Jiao's body fight klebsiella when two-thirds can't? Maybe maybe, it's not the klebsiella he fights.
It's the bacillus cereus.
He must have been exposed to it once and now he has the antibodies to kill it.
- And when he kills the bacillus cereus - He kills the klebsiella.
Uh, bacillus cereus.
It's a bacterium that causes food poisoning in rice.
You know, vomiting, diarrhea that sort of thing.
But the thing is, our bodies can beat it.
We think people who have had it are the same people who survived the hybrid klebsiella we found.
Why? Horizontal transfer.
Havid and Dung.
See klebsiella, it picked up some bacillus cereus DNA.
So anyone who has had a bacillus cereus infection will probably develop an immunity.
Because body knows it's bad and kills it.
Yeah, so in theory, we inject people with bacillus cereus they get sick, they recover, their bodies can fight it.
Clever.
Clever! She nailed it.
We need some guinea pigs.
We need mammals.
To test our hypothesis.
First we give them the food poisoning, and then the bacterium that's causing the outbreak.
I will give you human mammals.
Uh General, I don't think so.
General! General! general! General, you can't try this on people until we know it works.
People die more and more.
I cannot wait.
Well what are you going to do grab somebody off the street and load them up with bacillus cereus? - I do not see volunteers.
- General, I volunteer.
- Good! - No, no Don't even go there.
Wait, wait.
What are you saying? This is my choice.
I don't care.
Ping, if we're wrong you've got a two in three chance of dying.
How can we be wrong? Don't do this.
David, if it was your country, you would do the same.
Doctor thank you for your assistance.
No, no, Hung.
I'm not finished here yet.
David Go home.
Ms.
Graves, can you tell us what the American Pharmaceutical Council is doing on the issue of AIDS? Well, we have for the first time over one hundred new AIDS drugs in development.
We are on the verge of a new generation of AIDS medicine.
Injectable fusion inhibitors, gene therapy, inhibitory RNA - Are any pediatric drugs? - Of course.
How many? - I don't have that exact number.
- None.
Half a million kids die in Africa each year and you do no research whatsoever.
Cause only a handful of kids in the West get AIDS.
- You make drugs for markets not people.
- What about patents? We have given up our rights for patents in Africa.
That's not the issue.
African kids are given adult drugs.
No one knows the proper dosage.
They're told to cut them up.
Sometimes the active ingredient isn't even spread out in the pill.
It is a nightmare.
Hey, I have a question for you.
How come there are hundreds of anti-depressants but not one pill for kids with AIDS? - Listen to me.
- Sean! This has AIDS.
It's from Africa.
It's a new strain.
Children are dying.
Fourteen hundred a day, every day.
Four million Africans go without any treatment whatsoever.
They won't even see the drugs you're talking about.
Besides, drugs are useless if there are no doctors to prescribe them.
They're useless if children are going hungry.
Police! Don't move! Sean! Sean! Carlos, what do I do? Pull it out.
Next on ReGenesis Are you having a boy or a girl? Boy or girl? Why are we doing this? Audrey Graves has given us I had to leave Africa.
We're trying to trace back the strain to Patient Zero.
- Simon Jessup.
- You know I've read about a British neuroscientist who's been working with people exposed to Mad Cow.
He's developing out there tests with MRIs.
Nobody knows I quit.
NorBAC would have been finished.
What were you going to do if I didn't come back? You did.
David, we've been infecting the cells in culture with Audrey's HIV.
Yeah.
Bob, what's the matter? It's what we call an escape mutant.
So what then, should I just get on a plane to a lab that will do something for me? Only you know the whole story.
Join us on regenesistv.
com.