William Benneson | Biological Warfare

Y. pestis trials, designation Agent LE, modification of multi-drug resistant pneumonic form, test 1

Test subject: Hispanic male, early thirties, average physical health.
Date of infection: July 5th, 2010
Date infection presented: July 6th, 2010
Symptoms: fever, hemoptysis, shortness of breath, overall physical weakness
Likelihood of subject's fatality: Without treatment, at this point likely to be 100% fatality within the next two to four days. Will be testing antibiotics commonly thought effective against pneumonic plague against this strain, to ascertain its drug resistance.

After all, I do have to stay one step ahead of the curve. Tell me, you unimaginative brutes. What have I missed?

It looks as though the incompetent stuffed-shirts at BioWatch managed to catch something, for once. They detected elevated levels of tularemia at an undisclosed location in Columbus, Ohio. Now, if tularemia weren't the only thing they can apparently detect (see Houston in 2003), then I'd really be impressed with the little bastards.

All work and no play makes Will a dull boy. Maybe I'll head out to Ohio, lead them on a little chase...

Well, this will be fun.

...As soon as I can put my lab back together, that is.

Pathetic. One little census paper and from the outcry, you'd think they were asking you to sacrifice your firstborns -- though some of you did that, didn't you? The point stands. Either fill it out or shut the fuck up, but quit your goddamn whining and behave like the gods you are instead of five-year-olds having a temper tantrum, stamping your feet and saying "You can't make me!" It's enough to make a man sick.

[On Biological Warfare's part, his census paper was neatly filled out and sent back by certified mail the same day he received it.]

US gets 'F' on bioterror response

"While the government has made progress on preventing such attacks, it is simply not paying consistent and urgent attention to the means of responding quickly and effectively so that they no longer constitute a threat of mass destruction," the report said.

Oh, hell with that noise. I'm going back to Detrick and knocking some heads together. If you want work done right, the only guarantee is to do it yourself.

So, government. When can I expect an increase in my funding so I can get to work on these defensive measures? Unless you'd rather we all get gassed by the terrorists sometime in the next three years, of course.

C. botulinum trials, aerosolized, designation Agent XR, test 1

Test subject: Caucasian female, age unknown (late teens, approx.), in good overall physical health
Date of exposure to toxin: January 2, 2010
Date symptoms presented: January 3, 2010
Symptoms: Muscle weakness in the cranial nerves as demonstrated by drooping eyelids, loss of facial expression, and difficulty swallowing; difficulty talking (I think? I don't fucking speak Russian); severe dyspnea resulting in respiratory failure and coma
Date subject died: January 4, 2010

I'm keeping the second Russian for my next set of trials, after I tinker with the toxin some. It took too long for symptoms to present in the first girl -- this is a problem that needs fixing. That is, if sleeping in the same room as her dead comrade until I can dispose of the body doesn't drive her to try something drastic.

Did I see someone mention mortals for sale? I'll take one, or a few. I've been working on Agent XR and can hardly perform my final run of tests without test subjects, can I? And I do so hate the thought of having to go and round them up by myself again. So troublesome.

Still in DC. I think I'll end up being here for a while; BioWatch is as much a pain in the ass as ever and now some group that doubts the efficacy of the program is presenting the findings of their investigation of the program to the president. It's good, it's not good, it's too expensive, it doesn't have enough funding, it's doing its job, it's not doing enough... shit, the number of migraines this thing has caused me.

Whatever, I'm tired of politics anyway. Think it's time for a new experiment, since the F. tularensis trials in May went so very well. Let's see, let's see... botulinum, this time. Or working on aeresolizing something. Did you know that anthrax is the number one aeresolized biological agent?

That sounds like a challenge to me.

Back in Washington. I hate getting personally involved in politics, but this bill is worth the glad-handing and political double-talk. A regulated security system for those institutions dealing with biological agents and toxins is something we desperately need.

Otherwise, there'll be another Ivins. I worked with that bastard, taught him everything he knew, and what did he do? Fucking attacked his own country, right under my nose.  And really, I think we'd all rather not go through that again, yes?

Discovery Channel to Air Viral Pandemic Survival Show

I may have had a hand in this. You should all watch it.

North Korean Defector Tells Al-Jazeera that North Korea Has Sophisticated Biological Weapons Program

Yeah, fuck that noise. Seriously, someone let me go offensive again. Upping the budget for defensive research will only do us good after the fact. You can either open the channels for offensive biological research again and we can get those bastards before they get us, or up the defense budget and we can all sit around on our asses and wait for them to drop some unknown agent on us, and then scramble to find a treatment for it and hope that there isn't too much "collateral damage."

WMD Panel Leader Warns of Bioterror Threat

"A major part of our biodefense strategy should be based on reaching a level of preparedness that will effectively remove bioweapons from the category of WMD. This will happen neither quickly nor cheaply, but it will be well worth the investment." Uh... I'm gonna have to say no, gents. I'm kind of fine right where I am, thanks very much.

Just got back from D.C., where I had a great time watching the Independence Day festivities. The fireworks in particular were spectacular as always.

Got me all nostalgic for the past, all these celebrations of the nation's history. So: yellow fever or cholera?

F. tularensis trials, modification of strain Schu S4 (aka Agent UL, aka Agents TT & ZZ, aka Agent SR) , test 1

Test subject: Caucasian female, mid-twenties, in excellent physical health with only minor defects -- an allergy to peanuts and need for corrective lenses
Date of infection: May 25, 2009
Date infection presented: May 28th, 2009
Symptoms: fever, lethargy, skin lesions, inflammation of the eyes and lymph nodes, chills, potential septicemia (waiting to test and examine blood samples)
Likelihood of subject's fatality: Without treatment, at this point estimated 80% fatality


Evangeline -- or is it just Eva?-- is progressing nicely with this infection. I knew there was a reason I loved Schu S4 so much. It presented much earlier than I had expected, which hopefully will mean a sooner fatality. I suppose I'd better get moving on trying to figure out how the hell I'm going to get rid of my subjects when the trials are through. Dumping bodies in the river is so passé.

Swine flu.

Disgusting. Everybody's shitting their pants over this, while here I've damn near perfected a pretty little strain of tularemia that could be colossally fatal. None of these fuckers even notice.

So here I am, folks. Maryland was getting tedious and my test subject pool was growing increasingly shallow. Nobody will miss a few dozen here and there in this clusterfuck of a city, after all.