Karen Anson laughs. “I didn’t say anything,” she says, pointing at the monitor behind Hall.
“We’re doing an isotope scan, Hall,” says Dutton. “How the bugs get into the body. Thought you should watch it.”
“I assume it was inhaled,” says Hall. “Not likely it’s absorbed through the skin.”
“That’s what we’ll find out now,” says Dutton. “The mechanism of death.”
A textbook page on screen discusses “UROKINASE I-131 LOCALIZATION OF ACUTE INTRAVASCULAR THROMBOSIS,” by J. Brunnell, G. Hobby, and R. Green, in the Journal of Human Investigation 3; 485, 1970. The study is about the clinical diagnosis of intravascular thrombus formation. Urokinase idodine-131 is introduced to three fibrin polymers, forming a connection at the center of the molecule when in solution. Urokinase is a thrombolytic drug, sometimes called a “clot-busting” drug. It helps the body produce a substance that dissolves unwanted blood clots. Urokinase is used to treat blood clots in the lungs.
A label saying “NUCLEAR MAGNASCANNER” appears onscreen. A bowl-shaped mechanism appears above an immobilized rhesus monkey.
A split-screen shows a milky fluid being injected into the monkey’s femoral artery.
Dutton brings up a monitor with several blocky, monkey-shaped diagrams on screen.
The dead mouse in its cage is dropped next to the monkey on the examination table.