In the Koontz novel, the Wuhan-400 attacks the brain.Īs one character describes it: 'The virus migrates to the brain stem, and there it begins secreting a toxin that literally eats away brain tissue like battery acid dissolving cheesecloth. It can survive on surfaces for much longer than a minute, possibly hours or days, though scientists are working now to determine such properties with more precision. And like syphilis, Wuhan-400 can't survive outside a living human body for longer than a minute, which means it can't permanently contaminate objects or entire places the way anthrax and other virulent microorganisms can,' one character says.Ĭoronavirus however has an estimated mortality rate of just 2 to 3 percent. The characters explain that the Chinese intended to use it 'to wipe out a city or a country' without the need for 'expensive decontamination'. In The Eyes Of Darkness, Wuhan-400 is a bioweapon virus that has a fatality rate of 100 percent within 12 hours. Other than the city of origin, however, there is little similarity between the fictional Wuhan-400 and the real coronavirus. Initial theories suggested that it jumped to humans from exotic animals in a Wuhan 'wet market.' Others have suggested, so far without proof, that the pathogen may have escaped from the Wuhan Virology Lab, China's only biosafety-level four facility.

OL257746W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 94.59 Pages 390 Pdf_module_version 0.0.19 Ppi 300 Republisher_date 20200306161503 Republisher_operator Republisher_time 824 Scandate 20200305224341 Scanner Scanningcenter boston Tts_version 3.Says one character in the novel: 'They call the stuff 'Wuhan-400' because it was developed at their RDNA labs outside the city of Wuhan' Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 15:38:26 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) External-identifier

Koontz the eyes of darkness