by
Reviewed by
Publish America, 2001
If your summer reading list is a bit anemic, you might transfuse it with Blood Feud, a first novel by Chris Wiggins. This intelligently written medical thriller derives its authenticity from the author's experience as an orthopedic surgeon. It opens with a horrifying scene that demonstrates the importance of blood and blood transfusions in modern medical care. The bloody lesson also serves to prepare the reader for what is to come.
| How did the victim survive such severe blood loss? |
The victim of the horror is Sharon Jackson, an archeologist who makes a huge find in Haiti. Before she can celebrate her success, however, some nasty types who don't appreciate her digging try to kill her. Although she suffers severe blood loss from her wounds, she survives through the efforts of a mysterious Haitian doctor. When her condition has stabilized, she is evacuated to a hospital in New Orleans. There she is examined by one of the hospital's mavericks, Brian Richards, a doc who is demanding, ethical, compassionate, and skillful. Many people, therefore, do not like him.
Dr. Richards detects four anomalies when he examines the archeologist. First, she is very good looking (this was not on her medical chart, but Richards does not miss much). Second, she is so anemic from loss of blood that she should be dead. Third, she is definitely not dead. And fourth, she is very, very good looking.
| They shared a case of "someone is trying to kill me" syndrome. |
Richards wants to reexamine the archeologist's blood work, but he learns that the samples have disappeared from the blood lab. Later, his patient's medical records disappear, too. The concerned physician decides this case warrants a house call, whereupon he discovers that Sharon has developed a bad (and contagious) case of "someone is trying to kill me" syndrome. He also discovers that she likes his, um . . . bedside manner.
Readers of mysteries/thrillers are accustomed to the typical, often dim heroes that populate this genre. Protagonists take bloody forever to figure things out. Readers can easily get frustrated wondering why they know what's happening eons, or at least many pages, before the main character gets a clue. Dr. Richards is different. He is analytical and attacks problems quickly. Sharon's contumacy not withstanding, he deduces that there must be a connection among his hospital, a major local drug company called Durbane Pharmaceuticals, Haiti, and his new girlfriend.
| Read the book to find out what UBS stands for. |
Richards eventually figures out what "UBS" stands for, something you will have to read the book to learn. It is fair to say it is an intriguing medical idea that I hope will come to fruition someday soon. In the book, UBS saves Sharon's life and the lives of many hapless individuals in Haiti. Unfortunately, UBS has unpleasant side effects and needs further development to make it safe. Durbane Pharmaceutical's moral restraint, never robust to begin with, withers during the race to beat the competition to the marketplace and, therefore, the bank. If only it weren't for the pesky Dr. Richards and his former patient Sharon Jackson.
The story has an interesting side plot involving prions. Prions are proteins that cause fatal illnesses such as "mad cow" disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). It is hard to kill prions; they are immune to assault by antiseptics, antibiotics, and, for the most part, immune systems. These infectious proteins can survive radiation that will fry DNA. And by inducing normal proteins to assume their twisted shapes, they kill in a horrific fashion. CJD, for example, belongs to a larger group of prion diseases that cause spongiform encephalopathies, diseases that turn healthy brain tissue into something resembling a sponge. The neurological sequelae resulting from such a transformation involve symptoms ranging from spastic paralysis to dementia.
| Prions are hard to find. |
People have been infected with prions iatrogenically. The first case, discovered in the 1970s, involved the recipient of a corneal transplant from a donor who had CJD. Others have been infected by needles or surgical instruments. Alarmingly, unlike bacteria and viruses, which can be detected in blood, prions are very difficult to find.
It is not for the benefit of mankind that Durbane Pharmaceuticals hires the leading expert on culturing prions. Ultimately, the doctor and the archeologist must visit Durbane to resolve the story. Along the way from Sharon Jackson's first near-death experience to the climax at the pharmaceutical company, the science presented in Blood Feud is quite interesting. And with its pacing and action, this novel qualifies as a good summer read.
Charles Ouimet is currently a professor at Florida State University, where he studies protein kinases and phosphatases. He received his Ph.D. in biology from Brown University.
Richards stepped back to the table to look at the incision, and halted. Everything was dark-red, purple! The surface of all the organs was covered with a coating of blood. Even the walls of the abdominal incision, normally yellow from subcutaneous fat, were deep, dark purple - the color of unoxygenated blood. "He's bleeding everywhere!" he hollered. Although Brian knew it was futile, he began cauterizing the bleeders. He worked rapidly, knowing it was a losing battle, with a lap sponge in one hand like a blotter and the electrocautery in the other, buzzing one bleeding pint, then quickly moving on to the next.
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The Brain Eater - from Nova Online. Contains an interesting discussion on whether prions actually exist, and if they do, how they work. The discussion is very readable and is targeted at nonscientists.
Molecular Evolution of Prions - the evolution of prions discussed in two briefs reprinted from the journal Nature.
USC Scientists Close to Universal Blood Type Breakthrough - a report on progress in the development of UBS, which may become a reality in the near future. The techniques described are not similar to those described in the novel.
New York Blood Center: Laboratory of Cell Biochemistry - describes the approach of the New York Blood Center to making UBS. Again, the method is quite different from that described in the novel.
All About Blood - offers excellent information about blood in general, and also discusses the dangers associated with prion contamination.