Chapter 535 Tetrodotoxin
Several CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) staff wearing biochemical protective suits were checking the bodies in the red warning tape they had set up. Jack was observing the situation and only heard Hannah continue to ask.
"Is there any news from the hospital? What symptoms did the victims show?"
Danny Regan flipped over the notepad in his hand, "None at the moment. The symptoms are varied, including general paralysis, ataxia, difficulty breathing, arrhythmia, coma, and some milder symptoms, such as dizziness, numbness, and abdominal pain."
"Is there a Japanese restaurant nearby?" Jack suddenly asked.
"What? Maybe, why do you ask this?" Danny Regan was a little surprised and didn't understand what he meant.
"Because these symptoms sound like ingesting some kind of neurotoxin, the most likely ingredients to ingest neurotoxins in New York are pufferfish and conch, which are usually only available in Japanese restaurants."
With that said, Jack pulled up the red warning tape and walked directly in. Hannah saw this and quickly followed.
"Hey! You can't come in!" A CDC staff member quickly stepped forward and tried to stop him.
Jack took out the rubber gloves and put them on, shrugging at him, "If it was radiation, and the dose was high enough to kill people, your Geiger counters would have gone off, and I would be dead even if I stood 20 kilometers away.
If it is an airborne biological agent, this street must be littered with corpses. It won't just be someone randomly falling down while others are fine. So, are you still going to stop us? "
The CDC staff member spread his hands after hearing this, "Although the basis for your judgment is not rigorous, I have already warned you."
"So you think they have food poisoning? I don't remember there are salad takeaways in Japanese restaurants." Danny Regan's style has always been very reckless. Seeing Jack and Hannah taking the lead, he also put on rubber gloves and followed. When he came in, he was the first to turn over the food boxes scattered on the floor next to the corpse.
"Salad?" Jack frowned and squatted down to look through the disposable food box and the plastic bag containing the food box with him. "It seems to have been poisoned. Can you confirm where you bought it?"
"It seems to be a Chinese restaurant." Danny Regan pulled out a receipt, "Korean Deli, it seems to be three blocks away."
Jack almost stopped being amused. He didn't know how crazy he would be if he heard this, "South Korea is not part of Siris, dear Danny."
"Isn't it?" Danny Regan looked confused, "I remember we still have a garrison there. Otherwise, why would the Siris hate us so much?"
Jack rolled his eyes in his mind. There were too many flaws in these words for him to accept. Forget it, there are many old Americans who regard their childhood as a part of Siris, or think they used to be a part.
There is no way to argue with this matter. After all, very few people in this country have taken history classes seriously, let alone geography.
"Want to take a ride in my new car?" Jack changed the topic and pointed to his Dodge Hellcat.
——
"I still like it when you drive the original Saber class for field trips." Danny Regan struggled to pull himself out of the cramped back seat of the Hellcat with the help of Jack.
Like the Firebird, the Hellcat has a two-door, four-seater layout. Although the back seat can accommodate people, the space is not large. If an ordinary adult man wants to sit in the back seat, he can only curl up his legs with difficulty.
Although Danny Regan has a reckless temperament, he is very gentlemanly in daily life. He is too embarrassed to compete with Hannah for the passenger seat, so he can only forcefully stuff himself into the back seat.
In the short time he was on the road, the CDC had confirmed Jack's judgment that the culprit responsible for the poisoning of so many people was indeed tetrodotoxin.
Unfortunately, even if it is confirmed that it is tetrodotoxin, it is useless, because there is no antidote for that thing. There is not much the hospital can do, except perform gastric lavage on the admitted victims, inject atropine to promote metabolism, and put them on a ventilator to wait for their fate. .
Naloxone is also somewhat useful, but its effect is average and it mainly relies on the body's own metabolism. The magic of this thing is that there will be no sequelae after it is completely metabolized.
The full name of tetrodotoxin is amino-perhydroquinazoline compound, abbreviated as TTX. It is one of the most toxic neurotoxins found in nature. It can block sodium ion channels on nerve excitatory membranes with high selectivity and high affinity. Block nerve conduction, causing nerve paralysis and death.
In human terms, it can cut off the entire nervous system of the human body, forcing the human brain to shut down all body functions while the brain is awake, causing breathing and heartbeat to gradually fail until death. To achieve this effect, only 0.5 is needed mg dose.
The ancient Egyptians used this toxin to make fake death potions. In Voodoo, they also added it to herbal medicines to artificially create ghosts on the bed to create a "psychic" illusion.
Jack couldn't figure out why someone would use TTX to poison. Although this thing is colorless and odorless and there is no specific medicine, it is quite difficult to extract or synthesize it artificially.
Of course, if you have to say that drying and grinding the offal of pufferfish from wild poisonous species into powder can be considered extraction, then that is another matter. The TTX contained in a single body of some wild poisonous pufferfish species is enough to kill 20 adults died.
When the three of them arrived at the Korean food store, the CDC, which had received the notification, had already sealed the door of the store. The customers who had been sitting in the store were looking out the window in horror, wondering what had happened.
"Are the salads served here separately?" Seeing a skinny old Korean man arguing with the CDC people at the top of his lungs, Jack stepped forward and grabbed his arm and asked.
"Yes, we have a self-service salad bar. What happened?" The skinny old Korean man finally saw someone paying attention to him, as if he had seen a savior.
"Hannah, stay with him." Jack let go of him, motioned to the sweet girl to keep an eye on him, turned around and walked quickly towards the CDC people.
"Everyone who has eaten the salad will be given priority to induce vomiting. I hope it's not too late. In addition, we need to get in-store monitoring."
Ten minutes later, ambulances arrived one after another, and they brought medical copper sulfate. After emergency vomiting was induced, all the diners in the store were sent to the hospital for observation.
Jubal, who was sitting in the combat center, was coordinating the actions of all parties as usual. At this time, he was communicating with Jack through the communication channel. "Your judgment is very accurate. How did you do it?"
"Would you believe me if I said I was a super chef who was good at handling highly toxic ingredients?"
Jack's words made Jubal a little confused. Who knows that currently only the friends of BAU have been fortunate enough to taste Jack's superb skills in this area, and of course Hannah is included.
"Whatever, a technical logistician is rushing to your place. He will be on site to process the surveillance video of that store. I am trying to find and notify everyone who has eaten in this store today. CDC The doctor said the damn thing would delay the onset of the disease."
Jubal was so busy that he spoke very fast.
"Yes, the onset may be delayed by 4-6 hours, and it will still be fatal. Leave this to us. See you at the combat center later." Jack hung up the communication and walked towards the old Korean shop owner who was watched by Hannah. .
"Miss, there must be some misunderstanding here. My place is one of the cleanest places in the city. The smartest, best and most powerful people in this country all work nearby and dine in my restaurant.
Our family has been here for 36 years and everyone in this community trusts us. "
The gray-haired old Korean shop owner was so anxious that he burst into tears.
"Perhaps this is why you are being targeted." Hannah murmured in a low voice, "Have you changed food suppliers recently? Or have you received intimidation or threats?"
"No, this is the center of the entire city. No gangster dares to collect protection money here." The old Korean shop owner wiped his tears and looked pitiful.
Jack looked at Danny Regan, who was listening, and the latter nodded, "This is the financial district, and the gang members nearby are usually very low-key."
Feeling that there would be nothing to gain from further questioning, Jack motioned for a waiter to come up and help their boss away. The three of them stood there and waited for a while, and soon a van parked on the side of the road.
An Indian guy jumped out of the car and hurriedly walked into the store with his laptop. He walked out after a while, holding a USB flash drive in his other hand and flashed it to the three of them, "The security video is done."
Hannah got into the back car and watched the video. Jack and Danny Regan each took a cigar and puffed on it on the side of the road.
"It seems that someone has caused a huge trouble for us. The hospital just said that the death toll has risen to 10, and may continue to increase." Danny Regan said in a dull voice.