Ebola Virus Chapter Summary

The novel, The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston is a nonfiction book based on Ebola. The author uses many ways to keep the readers to make the novel suspenseful. Preston stares the stories from the first people known to have the virus to go more into detail. He utilizes literary techniques such as imagery, foreshadowing, and personification.

In his book The Hot Zone, Richard Preston accounts the journey of the hemorrhagic fevers from their first modern appearances in 1967 to 1993. Preston follows twelve characters along their journey working with or against Ebola. “Charles Monet” was a Frenchman who explored Kitum Cave on New Years eve 1980 and violently dies of Marburg 2 days later. He is the first case since the original outbreak in Germany in 1967, which was believed to be caused by the shipment of monkeys from West Africa. LTC Nancy Jaax was an Army veterinary pathologist who begins working with the Ebola virus in 1983, and then becomes chief of Pathology at USAMRIID in 1989, as such she is heavily involved in the Reston monkey house disaster. COL Jerry Jaax, husband to Nancy was chief of the veterinary division as USAMRIID. He also lead the SWAT team that took over the Reston monkey house. “Peter Cardinal” was a Danish boy who died of Marburg in 1987 after visiting Kitum Cave. Eugene Johnson was a civilian virus hunter, specializing in Ebola. In 1988 he lead an Army expedition to Kitum Cave following the death of “Peter Cardinal”. Dan Dalgard was lead veterinarian at the

The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston, is a non-fiction story about the deadly virus (Ebola) spreading throughout the world. Certain strains of this virus are 90% fatal, and cause horrible symptoms, such as facial drooping, muscle aches, reddened eyes, and puking. The Ebola virus was traced back to a man named Charles Monet. After Monet, the virus spread rapidly, and it was leaving no survivors.

It also focuses on the origin of the virus and what treatment can be offered to those afflicted. The story shifts settings from Kenya to

The Military and the C.D.C. (Center for Disease Control) sealed off the building. Nancy Jaax, a veterinary pathologist at a military fort in Maryland and Jerry Jaax, a veterinarian and husband of Nancy, led squads of people inside the building wearing specially made suits. Two people working inside the building were cut and their space suits were torn leaving them exposed to the virus. They found out that the virus they were working with was a close relative to Ebola Zaire. Ebola Zaire is the most lethal of all strains of Ebola. It is so lethal that nine out of ten of it’s victims die. They killed all the monkeys in the building and locked their corpses up. This is because if the virus got out it would kill the entire human population. It would be like another Black Plague, but the Black Plague only killed 50% percent of those infected while this killed 90% percent. They put a special chemical inside the building to kill the virus. The chemicals were left in the building for a few days to ensure their effectiveness.

Published in 1992, “The Hot Zone”, written by Richard Preston, describes the Ebola outbreak during the 1980’s in Reston, Virginia. The novel effectively describes the African outbreaks and the research behind them as well as the quarantine of the monkey facility in Virginia. The book begins by introducing Charles Monet, who was the first person infected in the African outbreak. Charles and his girlfriend traveled to Mount Elgon, located in West Kenya.

First discovered in the 1970’s, the ebola virus was contained to West Africa (“About Ebola Virus Disease”). Villagers’ diets consisted primarily of the resources readily available. Among these resources were fruit, vegetables, and animals, namely monkeys. Monkeys carried the ebola virus, and when people ate them, without proper cleaning and cooking techniques, they became infected. Ebola, formally known as Zaire Ebola Virus, is transmitted through bodily fluids like saliva, blood, semen, breast milk, mucus, sweat, tears, feces and urine. ("Ebola in West Africa."). Since it was introduced to a third world country, where hygiene is not regarded as important as survival. Without education, protection and segregated sewage, the virus began to spread. In days people were dying after spreading the virus to those closest to them (Waterman). The bodies, though dead, were still harboring the virus and

The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston is the true and dramatic story of the outbreaks of the frightening, unknown and incurable filoviruses; Marburg, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan and Ebola Reston. This book covers the first documented outbreak of the virus and continues to cover more outbreaks over the course of 23 years. These sisters viruses are highly infective and destroyed entire communities throughout Africa with the deaths of 50- 90% of their victims. The effects are similar and horrifying with the viruses penetrating every tissue and organ in the body of a person, primate or other animal. This book takes place in the late 1980s and is based on an outbreak of Ebola in a monkey house in the quaint town of Reston, Virginia. Richard Preston incorporates tales of several outbreaks that occurred in Africa years before to describe the potential destruction that the filoviruses could

The Hot Zone is a true story about the outbreaks of the Ebola virus at a monkey facility in Reston, Virginia. The beginning of the book takes place in Kenya in 1980, where Preston comes across the body of Charles Monet. Charles was a French expatriate who worked on a sugar factory in western Kenya. In the book Preston describes Charles in all of the phases of the virus. It was very gory and at some points, hard to read on. The book gives background information on the virus that killed Charles Monet. Then moves on to explain another Ebola like that spread in Sudan. This virus first infected a store keeper before infecting his whole city. Next, in The Hot Zone it explains a virus by the name of Ebola Zaire. This virus jumped from village to village due to the use of

In the book hot zone it talks about true events surrounding an outbreak of the Ebola virus at a monkey facility in Reston, Virginia in the late 1980s. Preston provides information about other viruses spread out through africa around the 1970s and 80s.Preston does not overstate the danger of Ebola and other filoviruses, he argues that the greater threat lies in emerging viruses like the AIDS virus, whose effect on the human race cannot yet be measured.

Starting with one of the four filoviruses mentioned in the book, Preston provided us with the story of Charles Monet, an amateur French naturalist who died a gruesome death after contracting Marburg virus following a trip to Mount Elgon. Marburg is brought up in the story several times as a close relative of Ebola, having similar symptoms and equal danger. Throughout the next several chapters, different strains of Ebola are reviewed; the Sudan

“The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston is a famous nonfiction thriller detailing the vivid history of the Ebola virus and the terrifying consequences of its infections. Using a rich vocabulary to add as much imagery as possible, the novel immerses you in Ebola’s history and keeps you glued to the edge of your seat with suspenseful chapters that fill you with dreadful expectation. The novel is mostly well executed in it’s aim at keeping the reader engaged while still remaining true to science though it achieves most of its power by using what seems to be cheap scare tactics and over dramatization. To a reader without a scientific background “The Hot Zone” will be an exhilarating ride, but to others, it may be a slightly overwritten drama that tries

“The disease spread like wildfire” (Osterath). As the year 2014 went along more and more people knew that Ebola was as serious of a disease as any. Ebola started in Sierra Leone a country in West Africa. The first case was recorded in March 23, 2014 “It was the largest and longest ebola outbreak in history” (Osterath). The disease itself is relatively old as it was first seen in 1976 in the country of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ebola comes from people eating wild animals like bats and monkeys who are the natural carrier of the disease. The disease is most commonly transmitted by blood and other bodily fluids.The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone was one of the worst outbreaks in history. Ebola killed thousands of people and left the country and its people in a constant state of chaos.

The first time I heard about Ebola was when I visited my aunt. I recall staying home that day due to the feeling of sickness, but I went to my aunt’s house because I started to feel lonely while everyone was at work. As I got to my aunt’s house she told me to make

I want you to imagine yourself in a room. Fill it with whatever furnishings you like. Are you done? If so, I want you to imagine ten people in this room with you. They can be people you know or completely fictitious. Consider this. What if I told you that a virus could kill nine out of these ten people and there was nothing you could do to stop it? It is a scary thought, but one that carries real substance in various regions of Africa. In this paper, I will inform you on the virus known as “Ebola” which will include its history, inner workings, signs/symptoms, treatment, and prevention. As a precaution, I must warn you that some of this information is not for the faint of heart.