The Third Pandemic

The Third Pandemic is Pierre Ouellette's sci-fi thriller that traces the fatal trajectory of a virulent new bacterial mutation that slowly spreads panic and havoc around the globe. The deadly pathogen originates in West Africa, a unique variation of the Chlamydia Psittaci bacterium, a close cousin of bird flu. As it happens, researchers in a California biotech lab have already synthesized a similar pathogen, called Agent 57a, which makes it possible to develop a vaccine. As the real disease spreads inexorably through its long incubation period, a ruthless biotech executive plans to reap a fortune by waiting for a million deaths before putting any vaccine on the market. Learning of this, research team leader Dr. Elaine Wilkes absconds with the only copy of the data and teams up with Seattle police lieutenant Philip Paris in a grueling quest to make the research public and fight the pandemic—as the world around them begins to sicken and collapse into anarchy.