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Krispix something: Is it conceivable the protein could spread through the air?”
    My eyes held fast on the name,
Marinero, CA
. “Airborne transmission?” I asked, finally prying them away. “I doubt it because I found that ultraviolet light disrupts the protein and, besides, if airborne transmission accounted for the cases, we’d probably have seen far more illnesses by now.”
    “What about water?”
    “Unlikely because chlorine denatures XK59.”
    Muñoz tapped the keyboard
…

    “As you see, both males and females of varying races and ethnicities have become ill.”

    “Here we see the nature of the illness that developed after exposure to XK59 and the timing of onset of symptoms,” Muñoz said. “You can appreciate why, initially, we looked for viruses that cause fever and bleeding.”
    “The first column implies you knew when each victim was exposed to XK59,” Shaker objected. “How could you know that?”
    “You’ll see momentarily,” Muñoz replied. “For now, please observe that all victims had fever, most in the 105° Fahrenheit range.”
    “Which is curious,” I said, “because none of my mice exhibited fever.”
    “I was going to ask you about that,” Muñoz responded. “You monitored their temperatures?”
    “Very closely.”
    “But, Dr. Krispix,” McCloskey intervened, “mice and men aren’t
mirror
images, are they?”
    “With regard to the development of fever, they may be,” I postulated.
    Shaker nudged slightly to one side. Each move seemed to be metered and difficult, as if dictated by gears with teeth locked in arthritic rust. “But your mice may have died from bleeding before they had a chance to develop fever,” he suggested.
    Muñoz stepped closer to the table. “I believe the question of fever will be answered in the next slide.”

    “From a lab standpoint,” Muñoz continued, “we’ve seen anemia and elevated white blood cell counts in all victims along with the presence of XK59 in blood and tissues.” Turning more sober, he added: “And two bacteria—
Vibrio parahaemolyticus
and
Aeromonas hydrophila
—present in blood and feces.”
    “In
all
victims?” Shaker volleyed.
    “Yes.”
    “That’s incredible!” he gasped.
    “But it may explain one of the findings,” I said. “The presence of the two bacteria in the blood most likely caused fever in the victims.”
    “Hold on!” Kosta protested. “Not everyone here is a microbiologist. What’s the significance of the bacteria?”
    “Blood is normally sterile,” Muñoz explained, “meaning bacteria should be absent. The presence of these particular bacteria suggests a connection between the victims and the sea where both microbes reside. You’ll see that connection shortly when I identify the exposure that probably caused the XK59 poisonings.”
    “
Vibrio
,” Kosta said, holding a hand up unsteadily. “It causes cholera, right?”
    Muñoz propped a palm under his chin as if to reckon how much detail to divulge. “You’re thinking of
Vibrio cholerae
, one of the various species in the genus,
Vibrio
. What we’re talking about here is a cousin called
Vibrio parahaemolyticus
that also causes diarrhea and, like
Vibrio cholerae
, resides naturally in the sea.”
    “Yes, and we’ve had several outbreaks of illness in the United States recently due to
Vibrio parahaemolyticus
,” Shaker volunteered, “ones following the ingestion of raw oysters.” He raised a hand as if to reserve his speaker status while he pondered something. “And if I’m not mistaken, some patients in these outbreaks experienced bloody diarrhea.”
    “Correct,” Muñoz replied. “Unlike
Vibrio cholerae
, which causes exclusively watery diarrhea, infection with
Vibrio parahaemolyticus
can cause bloody or non-bloody diarrhea. Recent rises in sea temperature may have allowed
Vibrio parahaemolyticus
to multiply to unprecedented levels, and since oysters are filter feeders that concentrate bacteria in their guts, people who