What Could Go Wrong in the Wake of Covid-19? Plenty, It Turns Out…
As North America is climbing out of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, a new and bizarre crisis is emerging. People are falling ill with confusion, a rash, muscle destruction, kidney failure, even amputations—and worse. Firefighter/paramedic Jared, Nurse Flora, Medical Examiner Dr. Tyrone Vast and others are baffled: is it a COVID-19 mutation? A new super-infectious organism? Sabotage? Bio-terrorism? Or?…
Sophie is a registered nurse with over 35 years of experience in the healthcare field. As a health and fitness enthusiast for 45 years, she especially enjoys running, weight-lifting, and bicycling. She has completed (and sometimes placed in) over 200 races, ranging from 5K to half-marathon, and triathlon to stair-climbs. Her passions embrace sustainability practices, biking in forest preserves —and of course, reading. She is married to Scott who is a retired firefighter/paramedic, and has two grown sons. She lives in suburban Chicago. This is her first novel.
Set in the wake of COVID-19 and based on true events, RABID is a medical mystery that features a bizarre and emerging syndrome. People are falling ill with extreme salivation and foaming at the mouth, confusion, a rash of red dots (petechiae) across their limbs and in their eyes, confusion, muscle destruction, and much worse, including kidney failure and amputations. As with COVID-19, this novel syndrome threatens to overwhelm the healthcare system.
Protagonist Jared is a rookie firefighter/paramedic who still suffers from a traumatic loss; subsequently he experiences survivor’s guilt and is obsessed with being perfect. Returning from an EMS call with his partner Russ, he is baffled over 43 year-old Elsie’s strange symptoms. Could it be a stroke? A rabid animal bite? Poisoning? A new type of infection from COVID mutation? Soon, a retiring salesman, a commercial pilot, a restaurant owner and others also fall ill and are transported to hospitals across the US.
At Lockheed University Hospital, Dr. Victor Rivera becomes inundated with an influx of these patients in his emergency department, while nurse Flora suffers burnout and microbiologist Faidah uncovers strange laboratory findings. Pathologist Dr. Tyrone Vast and others encounter strange alarms and malfunctions that add to this puzzle. The nation’s public health expert Dr. Mario Trutelli is perplexed since it is not due to a bacterium, virus, fungus or parasite. Connections to Jared's military past, however, lead to shocking discoveries, including massive secret livestock farms. Ultimately this leads to solving the mystery of what becomes known as Rabid-Rhabdomyolysis Syndrome.
Woven into the plot are the most pressing issues of our time: the epidemic of chronic preventable diseases and of climate change.
