New York Times

Pandemic Hits America

Seraphim Himes 4:46 P.M., April 9, 2127

Breaking News
The fist signs of the European pandemic have hit America, with reports all over the nation.

Encroaching Pandemic
After consuming all of Europe in a mass Panic, the MASS Pathogen has spread to other countries though globalization and waterways.

Prevention and Prep

The nature of the spreading Pandemic

Disease has infiltrated what was thought as immune zone

This is mutation of the flu virus has never been seen before, providing a highly urgent and difficult scenario in finding a beneficial and ethical cure. Nancy Tarwater, President of the World Health Organization As of April 2116, about two years after Europe experienced a nation wide pandemic, America is no longer a safe zone to what is being called the worst infectious disease in the history of the world. The first signs of the disease, which has come to be called MASS (Methicillin Autoimmune Staphylococcus Sepsis), was found in three elementary school children at Benjamin Franklin Elementary, Maryland.

What is a Pandemic? Contrary to popular belief a

pandemic is different from a simple epidemic outbreak. An epidemic is defined as a widespread outbreak of infectious disease in a community at a specific time. In comparison, a pandemic is an outbreak of infectious disease prevalent over a whole country or the whole world. Pandemics are not a new occurrence for the human race, as they have been seen in events such as the Black Death, The Spanish Flue of 1918 and the most recent HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Benjamin Franklin Elementary scene where the first MASS symptoms in the US were traced

Children from Benjamin Franklin Elementary being evacuated from the campus

We were all just playing tag, when I heard her scream and fall to the floor. When she fell on the ground she started shaking like a fish out of water
The students were rushed to the emergency room of Johns Hopkins Medical Center at about noon, after falling into convulsions while at recess on the playground. Kelly Garfield, teacher to the three young girls states that she saw no outward obvious signs of illness in the girls. They all went through lessons as they did any other day. The only noticeable sign was a sort of sluggishness, which I simply dismissed as minor exhaustion. One child witness at the scene stated, We were all just playing tag, when I heard Cherie scream and fall to the floor. When she fell on the ground she started shaking like a fish out of water. Then Mrs. Garfield ran over. Everyone was crying. After being admitted to the hospital, doctors found that all three girls have similar symptoms including mouth ulcers, rashes on their upper body, dilated pupils and fever. Dr. Patrick Roth, a sepsis specialist, has confirmed that the disease mirrors symptoms listed to those in the ongoing European Pandemic, believing that this will be the first case of many in the United States. With regard to the state of the girls suffering from MASS, Dr. Carlo Luistro, the girls pediatrician, has declared that the only way to keep the girls health stable and prevent significant pain was to induce them into a comatose state. The disease appears to be highly degenerative, explains Luistro, without proper treatment, which has not yet been sought out, the girls health will quickly decline until the infection fully spreads through their circulatory system. If they reach this point there is little we can do. The most heartbreaking fact is that without any treatment the girls do not have much time left, based on the stresses being inflicted on their heart, swelling in the brain and significant internal bleeding. After this revelation from Luistro, the families of the girls, who have remained best friends throughout grade school, decided to reject any further contact with the media, requesting an environment of

privacy in this mournful and desperate time. With the official report of the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) has evacuated and quarantined all 120 children attending Benjamin Franklin Elementary, and the schools campus has been placed on lockdown, as an origin of disease. Scientists and pathologists are stationed on the sight in order to research and find out more about the MASS pathogen itself. Nancy Tarwater of WHO has revealed, the pathogen itself lays dormant within a host until activation or initial onset. So realistically we could all be housing this degenerative virus and not know it. So far all we know is that this mutation was brought into the human system from an external source, specifically contaminated water.

The increasing rate of globalization has made travel for the pathogen more accessible. As more and more countries see the rise of the mass pandemic, desperate measures, such as closing down airports and quarantining the ill, must be taken in order to contain the contagion says Tarwater. After the incident that occurred this early afternoon at Benjamin Franklin Elementary, approximately 1890 cases of MASS have been reported and diagnosed in the United States. About 100 of those cases include other children attending Benjamin Franklin Elementary, and their families. WHO has begun evacuations and quarantining of large cities around the nation, that have the potential of catching and spreading the disease. The virus has directly affected people of all races, ages and genders, and as more and more people are struck with symptoms, floods of patients overwhelm hospitals while pinpointing the origin of disease becomes increasingly difficult.

Doctors comfort Cherie Walsh as her MASS symptoms are evaluated.

Lilly Thomason awaits the call for treatment at Johns Hopkins Medical Center while enduring internal bleeding and brain swelling, prior to being but in an induced comatose state.

World Health Organization mapping of all reported cases of MASS since 12:30 a.m. April 10, 2116