Abbey Bice

Abbey Bice

by Deleted user -
Number of replies: 5

The name of my virus is called Garden Cough or GC. It is an RNA genome that spreads and kills fast. Coughing is the first sign of infection in hosts. After that comes vomiting, headaches, red eyes and body aches. The final symptom that typical is a sign that death is near is hemoptysis (coughing up blood). In the end, the patients die from a blood clot in the lungs caused by the virus. The patients usually see coughing within the first 24 hours after exposure. The other symptoms come in no particular order within the next 78 hours then hemoptysis is seen and causes death typically within a week.

The usual route this virus takes from start to finish seems complicated at times. There are animal hosts that were found with this strand of the virus. Its reservoir hosts are rabbits, mice, or squirrels. Some of these small mammals find their way into family gardens. These are small vegetable gardens found in the back yards of civilians. This spillover seems to be originated throughout the state of Illinois. Traces of the GC virus have not yet been known to spread to large scale farmers. Once the reservoir hosts start munching on the plants, they leave traces of saliva, urine and feces in the garden and the virus is official out. The gardener will then harvest their virus infected vegetables (or whatever their growing) spreading it to themselves, and anyone in close proximity. In some cases, the faster the contents of the garden are thoroughly washed before consumption, it seems, the lower the risk of infection in the gardeners and their families. Yet, in fatal cases, direct contact with the contents infect the gardener initially and from then on out anyone with direct contact with that person is exposed to the virus with a high risk of infection even with little to no symptoms in the initial host. 

It was difficult for scientist to find a vaccine because of how fast the virus comes and goes but it was spread so easily and so quickly that people began to notice the signs and go to hospitals faster. Virologists were able to find the genome and come up with a vaccine that killed off the virus as long as it was caught in the first five days. It seems like a very small window, but doctors encouraged victims of aggressive coughs to be checked for the disease immediately especially if they possibly interacted with any of the three small, wild mammals or grew small gardens. 


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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Abbey Bice

by Deleted user -
Hi Abbey,

I really enjoyed reading about your virus! I hope to never catch it smile

I thought it was really interesting that you chose common small mammals as your host species. I noticed that many people, including myself, chose bats as the reservoir species because many of the viruses we have studied this Jan-Term were spillover events caused by bats. However, I think, for your virus, the choice of the three small mammals is perfect! The virus spreads through these animals eating veggies from gardens and it makes more sense for rabbits, mice, and squirrels to be the garden raiders than bats!

I know you discussed how the virus could be transmitted from animal to human (eating food contaminated with animal spit), but once in humans how does it spread? Is it spread through the bloody cough that signals death or is it spread another way?

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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Abbey Bice

by Deleted user -
I am so glad you enjoyed reading about my virus! It was a little harder than I thought it would be to come up with ideas but it was fun. I also thought about using bats as a reservoir host but I wanted my virus to be different for sure but in a way seem common.
I notice it was a little unclear in my description how GC spread human-to-human. After initial contact and infection, the human host can spread the virus through (as you mentioned) their cough. I had the intention of it being spread through any direct contact with that person or even being in close proximity. Thus, family members that live in the house with the gardener could easily catch the nasty bug through any type of contact.
Thank you for your response and I’m glad I was able to clear that up for you. I found your forum post incredibly interesting Rachel.

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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Abbey Bice

by Deleted user -
Again, I have failed to include the websites I looked at for information. I found some information about Illinois online in order to make my decision on where my virus originated from. I wanted to further understand hemoptysis as well before deciding on it being a symptom. I also used Quammen's book just for some basic knowledge of attempting to describe my disease to the best of my ability.

Krans, Brian & Nall, Rachel. "Why Am I Coughing Up Blood?" Healthline.com. Dec. 2017.
https://www.healthline.com/health/coughing-up-blood

Stiers, Joanie. "Illinois Fruit and Vegetable Farmers Grow Success." Farm Flavor. U. S. Agriculture. July 2013.
https://www.farmflavor.com/illinois/illinois-local/growing-success/

Quammen, David. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. W. W. Norton, 2013.

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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Abbey Bice

by Deleted user -
Really creative Abbey!! I agree with Rachael, I hope I never catch this one. It sounds pretty lethal and is quick to kill. Do you know the exact fatality rate that this disease has? Also I know you said this virus has not spread to large scale farmers yet, but do you know if it has been found in any other states other than Illinois, or even in any other countries? Also one more question, if you wash off the vegetables before eating them are you safe? Or once the animal infects the plants there is no way of avoiding the virus? I love eating food from my family's garden so I sure am going to watch out this summer!!

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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Abbey Bice

by Deleted user -
Oh wow Abbey, your virus seems like it could do a lot of damage! If you think about it, our food could come here into contact with this virus pretty easily. Most farms are large scale so we could easily have contaminated food in our grocery stores. In the US we have had some recalls on food before. We could also recall foods that we thought would be contaminated. It is hard for people to identify they have might be infected. Especially with food, people might not draw on the correlation. It is difficult to locate it but we have some hope with people reacting quickly. I would love to hear more about how you think this would impact our country and potentially countries on a larger scale!

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