Story:
A Dean Koontz Book from 1981 Predicted Coronavirus is a Biological Weapon Developed by the Chinese and called Wuhan-400
Other Versions
Coronavirus Epidemic Predicted 40 Years Before
Fact Check:
A ‘fascinating’ claim viral on Twitter and other social platforms says a Book from 1981 Predicted Coronavirus Epidemic. Accordingly, the book from Dean Koontz describes Coronavirus as a Biological Weapon Chinese Developed, calling it Wuhan-400. No, the claims are not true and explained here.
About the Story in Circulation
Starting in mid-February 2020 some Twitter users started sharing the story in question along with images of the book and an excerpt from it as supportive evidence. Congress leader from India Manish Tewari also posted the picture of cover and a page from Dean Koontz’s book ‘The Eyes of Darkness‘. He questions if Coronavirus is a biological weapon of the Chinese. Likewise, he suggested reading the excerpt of the book he shared in image. Consequently, many social media users shared the story mention of the virus Wuhan-400 in the book.
“It was around then that a Chinese scientist named Li Chen defected to the United States, carrying a diskette record of China’s most important and dangerous new biological weapon in a decade. They call the stuff “Wuhan-400” because it was developed at their RDNA labs outside of the city of Wuhan…”
Has Dean Koontz Book Really Predicted Coronavirus Epidemic?
Dean Koontz is the American author of the fictional and thriller novel ‘The Eyes of Darkness‘. In his book, he describes the story of a Chinese military lab creating a new virus to potentially use as a biological weapon during wartime. However, civilians soon become sick after accidentally contracting it. Dean Koontz in fact writes about a mother, Christina Evans, who goes on a journey to find out if her son Danny is still alive or if he died during a camping trip. She finds him in a military facility after accidentally infected with the new virus.
The excerpt from the book doing rounds online describes the military facility lab located outside of the City of Wuhan. It says Wuhan-400 is the four hundredth viable strain of the man-made micro-organisms at the centre. Notably, it describes the new virus as the “perfect weapon” because it only affects humans. It says Wuhan-400 cannot survive outside the human body for more than a minute. Note, this is not the case of new strain of Coronavirus, COVID-19.
Dean Koontz fictional and thriller novel ‘The Eyes of Darkness’
Actual Facts
The image in fact shows the book excerpt from Dean Koontz Book ‘The Eyes of Darkness‘. However, some Twitter users pointed older edition of the book referring to the virus as Gorki-400, a production of the Soviet Union. The book was originally published under the pseudonym Leigh Nichols and a revised edition of it came up in 1996.
Older edition of the book mentioning Gorki-400 in place of Wuhan-400
On the other hand, Dean Koontz’s book ‘The Eyes of Darkness‘ is a thriller novel based on science-fiction. Moreover, Wuhan has a history of numerous scientific research facilities, including ones dealing with Microbiology and Virology. British writer Paul French, specializing in books about China, said many of the elements around viruses in China relate back to the WW2, which may have been a factor in Koontz’s thinking.
Conclusion
Considering the aforementioned facts and flaws, it would be inappropriate to say Dean Koontz book predicted Coronavirus epidemic in 1981, as a Chinese biological weapon. The older edition of the fiction-based book mentioned a virus Gorki-400 as a production of the Soviet Union in place of Wuhan-400 as biological weapon of China that appeared in 1996 edition.
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