Cordilla virus

The Cordilla virus

The Cordilla virus was a type 3 immuno-pulmonary virus that is similar to the Hantavirus. The incubation period of the virus was initially 14 hours but decreased significantly as a result of the weaponized variant added by Marcus Alvers. The symptoms of the virus were nose-bleeds, hemorrhaging, skin abscesses and eventually death.

During Day 3, Stephen Saunders used the virus to hold entire American cities hostage and to force President David Palmer to enact his terrorist demands.

Before Day 3

Codenamed "Cordilla", the virus was engineered by rogue Ukrainian scientists, who sought to sell it via a black market auction. The virus was given to an intermediary, bio-terrorist Michael Amador, who arranged the auction in Las Nieves, Mexico on Day 3. To prove the lethality of the virus, the Ukrainians infected David Goss with it.

One month before Day 3, Jack Bauer found about the auction. Jack, Tony and Gael worked up a covert operation to acquire the virus through prospect buyers, Ramon and Hector Salazar, and then seize it during the sale.

Day 3

Discovery and acquisition

At the start of Day 3, the infected corpse of David Goss was delivered to the door of the National Health Services in Los Angeles. NHS Technical Director, Dr. Sunny Macer, who had been working with a similar virus, tested it and confirmed it was the Cordilla virus.

Also, a teenager called Kyle Singer was suspected with carrying a bag with the virus, which resulted in an elaborate search for him through Los Angeles. It was later discovered that this was just a diversion part of Jack's covert operation.

Jack, who was undercover with the Salazars, had arranged for them to participate in Michael Amador's auction. The other bidder was an unknown party represented by Nina Myers and Cale. Nina's client outbid the Salazars by $15 million. Amador contacted Yuri, his Ukrainian contact, and informed him that the sale would occur soon.

Amador inspects the virus container

Shortly after, Nina's entourage was killed, and she was forced to work with the Salazars. She went with a Salazar bodyguard and determined that the virus was real, and made the transfer from her client's account. Without his Ukrainian employers knowledge, Amador secretly switched the virus container with a hidden bomb and departed with the real virus. The bomb, meant for Nina or her client, instead detonated in the hands of Ramon Salazar, killing him.

Amador traveled to Los Angeles, and along the way had his mercenaries ambush Capt. Reiss and a Delta Force team which tried to stop him. At a dance parlor, he handed off the virus to Marcus Alvers, and then sold it to the real buyer, Stephen Saunders. Saunders worked in collabaration with Alvers to develop a weaponized variant, manufactured to have a shorter incubation period than the pure virus.

Saunders used the Cordilla virus to coerce President David Palmer to enact his demands. President Palmer chose to cooperate with the demands for a short time, including having Ryan Chappelle executed, but only to give CTU Los Angeles and various government agencies time to find the bio-terrorist ringleader.

Chandler Plaza Hotel outbreak

With orders from Saunders, Marcus Alvers released the virus into the Chandler Plaza Hotel, killing Gael Ortega and infecting most of the hotel guests and staff. Michelle Dessler went to the hotel (later joined by Dr. Sunny Macer and Nicole Duncan) to detain the virus and keep it only in the building, and by treating the hotel guests as best they could, but Michelle was forced to shoot one irate man trying to escape, to prevent the risk of exposing the virus to the public. Several guests managed to survive the attack, having been immune to the virus's effects.

Unknown to the authorities at the moment, a hotel guest called William Cole managed to escape from the hotel before it was shut down. Cole, who had just had a one-night stand with Kathy McCartney, returned home to his wife, infecting her as well. On his way to work the other morning, he went to a pharmacy infecting several more people in the process. This resulted in multiple outbreaks in various points of Los Angeles.

Other couriers

A virus courier is given final instructions by Saunders

Alvers turned out to be only one of many virus couriers working for Saunders and his right-hand man, Osterlind. Once the virus was weaponized, it was divided into several containers with dispersal units, stored in special suitcases, and handed off to the other couriers. One, Arthur Rabens, remained in Los Angeles, and another, Ian, went to San Francisco. The others traveled to New York, Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix, and possibly two each in Flagstaff and Washington DC. There, they awaited a signal from Saunders to release the virus and infect their cities.

Saunders capture

When President Palmer refused to comply with one of Saunders' demands: to give Saunders a list of American undercover agents abroad, Saunders called Ian, the courier in San Francisco, and ordered the virus released. He quickly rescinded the order when Jane Saunders, his daughter, called him. Jane had been secretly recruited to work against her father by Agent Jack Bauer, and with her help CTU discovered where Saunders was operating. Saunders was eventually captured, but revealed that his couriers had orders to release the virus by default if he was incommunicado. Jack Bauer eventually threatened to move Jane into the Chandler Plaza Hotel, where she would become infected by her father's own bioweapon. To save his daughter, Stephen relented and surrendered the GPS signals of all his couriers.

The various law enforcement agencies of the US then acted quickly and in tandem to bring down all of Saunders' couriers. The San Francisco courier, Ian, was taken down with a headshot; the Denver courier was shot while making a phone call; the threats in Seattle and Las Vegas were both neutralized "without incident"; the New York virus dispersal unit was defused in a public place; and all but one of the remaining threats were neutralized as well.

Final courier

While Saunders was trying to identify the last active courier on a computer monitor, he was shot to death by the bereaved widow of Gael Ortega, an early victim of the virus. However, Jack Bauer and Chase Edmunds, found a lead and pursued the courier, Arthur Rabens, to a school. Edmunds fought Rabens and was beaten down, but not before he attached the virus dispersal unit's clamp to his arm to prevent Rabens from fleeing with it. Bauer arrived and killed Rabens, but had to chop off Chase's hand with a fire-ax to access the virus. He tied off Chase's wound, and ran the unit to a refrigerator he had seen in a lounge earlier. There, he sealed it in, and the last of the virus dispersed harmlessly inside the contained environment.

People exposed to the virus

Picture	Name	Immune	Status
	Marcus Alvers	No	Deceased
	Marcus Alvers, the associate of Michael Amador who planted the virus in the Chandler Plaza Hotel, was restrained by Agent Dessler in the basement when the virus was released. When he became symptomatic, he begged Dessler to kill him, begging not to endure the horrible effects of the virus. Whether she granted his request or not, Alvers died before the end of Day 3.
File:Williamcole.JPG	William Cole	No	Deceased
	After a one-night stand in the Chandler Plaza with Kathy McCartney, William Cole managed to leave the hotel before CTU could lock it down. Cole was responsible for spreading the virus to countless civilians, including his wife Susan Cole and Sara Kaufman. Shortly before 6:00 AM, he became symptomatic, ensuring that he would eventually die.
File:Susancole.JPG	Susan Cole	Unknown	Unknown
	Susan Cole, William Cole's wife, contracted the virus when he returned home from the Chandler Plaza. Because she was never shown to be symptomatic, there is a chance that she had a natural immunity to the virus and survived.
File:3-16-04.jpg	Danny	Unknown	Deceased
	Although Danny certainly contracted the virus inside the hotel, he was shot and killed by Michelle Dessler for attempting to leave before he became symptomatic.
	Michelle Dessler	Yes	Deceased
	CTU agent Michelle Dessler contracted the Cordilla virus inside the hotel along with the rest of her team. However, she was later tested and discovered to be immune to the virus. Michelle was shown leaving the hotel for National Health Services with another CTU agent and a hotel guest, both of whom were presumably also immune to the virus. However, these two may have been killed by Stephen Saunders's men, who abducted Michelle shortly after she departed.
	David Goss	No	Deceased
	The body of David Goss, a former drug dealer, was delivered to the Los Angeles office of National Health Services as a demonstration of the Cordilla virus's effects. Believed to be a threat by the Salazars, the event was later revealed as part of a sting operation by CTU to apprehend the virus.
	Sara Kaufman	No	Deceased
	Sara Kaufman, sister of CTU analyst Adam Kaufman, turned up in one of the quarantine zones in Los Angeles and began to display symptoms of the virus. Adam was devastated to learn that she would soon die.
	Bruce Margolis	Unknown	Unknown
	Bruce Margolis was an employee at the Chandler Plaza hotel. When he overheard Gael Ortega in the hotel basement, he panicked and set off a fire alarm, then attempted to leave, but he was stopped by Michelle Dessler. Margolis was never shown to be symptomatic, so he may have survived the attack.
File:Kathymccartney.JPG	Kathy McCartney	Unknown	Unknown
	Kathy McCartney was a guest at the Chandler Plaza who reported to CTU agents that William Cole had gone missing. Because she appeared to be asymptomatic long after the virus's accelerated incubation period, there is a chance that she survived.
	Ed Miller	Unknown	Unknown
	CTU agent Ed Miller was a member of the advance team that entered the hotel to prevent Alvers from releasing the virus. Though he most likely succumbed to the virus, Miller's fate was never clarified on screen.
	Gael Ortega	No	Deceased
	Gael Ortega was the first victim to be infected by the Cordilla virus on Day 3. Although he managed to locate the dispersal device in the Chandler Plaza's basement, he was unable to shut it off before it released the virus all over his face and into the hotel's ventilation. Refusing to take his own life because of his faith, Gael suffered through the virus's symptoms and died around 5:45 AM.
File:Craigphillips.JPG	Craig Phillips	No	Deceased
	Craig Phillips was head of security at the Chandler Plaza Hotel during Day 3. When the virus was released, he greatly assisted CTU in securing the hotel and placating the terrified guests. When he began to show symptoms of the virus, he asked Michelle for a chance to speak to his wife one final time, but she was forced to refuse him.
	Anne Schwartz	Unknown	Unknown
	Anne, a shopper at the pharmacy run by Sam Tyler, was near infected customer William Cole and may have been exposed to the virus. She was identified and quarantined by CTU soon after.
	Sam Tyler	Unknown	Unknown
	This pharmacist came into contact with William Cole and may have been exposed to the virus. He was identified and quarantined by CTU soon after, along with some of his customers.

See also

• Terrorist attacks on 24