Disease Alert*

 Copyright (C)  2005 Robert S. Rosson. All rights reserved.

BULLETIN.

The CDC has issued a warning to all health personnel and the general public about a new disease which is approaching epidemic proportions in the U.S.   It has been named   Pedophilic Extreme Rape and Violence (PERV). The CDC has isolated a new virus from the blood of perpetrators, and has identified four phenotypes.

Background: Case Reports.

As various, seemingly isolated, cases began to be reported around the nation over the past three years, investigators from the CDC in Atlanta took to the field to obtain samples from perpetrators.

•     Two six-year-old girls are taken from their beds in California and later found brutally raped and murdered.  One killer is sentenced to death; the other is awaiting trial.
•     A fourteen-year girl in Utah is snatched from her home and kept captive for nine months as a “wife” by a religious fanatic.
•     Two young girls are forced repeatedly to perform sexual acts on the mayor of a Connecticut city, while a prostitute, mother to one and aunt of the other, looks on.
•     Two young girls are abducted from their homes in Florida and found murdered nearby.  Two known sex offenders living in the vicinity of each victim plead guilty.
•     An extremely popular entertainer goes on trial for giving alcohol to, and sexually molesting a fifteen year-old boy.
•     Two young female teachers are found to have had sexual relations with teen-aged male students.
•     Numerous priests around the country are accused of molesting young male members of their parishes.

  The Investigation: Methods and Results.

Blood samples from consenting perpetrators were planted in tissue cultures.  Isolates containing viruses were amplified by PCR, and genetic sequencing was performed by current methodology.   A new virus, named the PERV virus, was identified; four phenotypes and their clinical syndromes are described below.  

1. Type PERV-11SO.  This is found in most serial sex offenders.  It is a chronic infection and appears to be impossible to eradicate.
2. Type PERV-23MC. This strain is found in members of the clergy, who seem unable to avoid molesting members of their flock.  It is extremely contagious, infecting many of the bishops overseeing the perpetrators.  In these cases the virus appears to be changed into a form (by the enzyme perverse transcriptase) which causes the bishops to transfer the offending priests to another parish, instead of reporting them to the proper authorities..
3. Type PERV-34FE.  This strain has led to alleged, abusive behavior in at least one famous entertainer, an adult male.   He is accused of reading pornographic magazines to young boys, giving them wine in soda cans and inducing them to sleep in his bed.   
4. Type PERV-44FT.  This variant has been found in two female teachers, both married, one with children, who entered into sexual relationships with their adolescent boy students.  The fact that one of them became pregnant by her student seems incontrovertible evidence that the alleged behavior actually occurred.  

Treatment: Quarantine.

There is no effective treatment known at this time.  Perpetrators should be isolated from society, especially children, for long periods of time, if not for life.  If released they should be entered into a national registry for such carriers.  The State ofFlorida has just passed a law making the minimum sentence for such crimes twenty-five years, and requiring offenders to wear electronic bracelets for life after release.

Prevention: There is No Vaccine.

Parents must be aware of where their children are at all times and should not leave them alone.  All house doors must be securely locked at night. Children must be educated to report immediately all inappropriate touching or other suggestive behavior.

Conclusion.

The CDC in conjunction with law enforcement will continue to do everything in its power to combat this epidemic, a menace to the most precious and vulnerable members of society—our children.

^*This piece is fictional. Any resemblance to any institution or person, or to the sciences of virology and genomics is purely coincidental

Published originally in YJHM May 19, 2005