The Ebola Virus In Richard Preston's The Hot Zone

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.

What is the setting as this section begins? What happens to the monkeys? What did Dalgard think was happening to the monkeys in “Room F”? Think critically and explain at least three hypotheses about how the virus had apparently jumped from room F to room H. Cite evidence to prove your

* The Reston Ebolavirus was discovered during an outbreak of Simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) in crab-eating macaques from Hazleton Laboratories (now Covance) in 1989. Since the initial outbreak in Reston, Virginia, it has emerged in Siena Italy, Texas, and among pigs in the Philippines. Despite its status as a Level-4 organism, it is non-pathogenic to humans although hazardous in monkeys.

Chapter 1 of Part 3 titled, “Insertion”, in The Hot Zone by Richard Preston Jerry Jaax wakes up in the morning and gets ready. All of his team wore civilian clothing, because wearing space suits would panic the media. He leaves the house and arrives at the Institute. Whole crowds of people were waiting at the side of the building. He spotted Gene Johnson, he was pacing back and forth across the loading dock. There were many camouflage military trunks that contained Johnson’s gear from Kitum Cave. A white van pulled up and Johnson loaded his equipment into it. This van was headed to Reston. By now, The Washington Post newspaper had a headline on their paper saying that a deadly Ebola virus was found at the monkey house. Top-level workers were

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.

The mystery of the Ebola virus inspired this article that depicts the search for the virus’s source. Ebola is known as a zoonotic virus meaning it can affect many species of animals. This also means that its source comes from one or more species of animals that carry and transmit the disease without dying. This animal that holds the disease is known as a reservoir host. The article focusses on research on finding the reservoir host. Many cases of Ebola have been reported and studied. All reports have a common source of the initial sick individual having some connection with a cave or forest. This like another similar virus, Marburg, have its beginnings of its outbreaks with hunters or explorers. Marburg’s reservoir host has been determined to be a species of fruit bat. Many researchers agree that some form of bat is the host of Ebola, but with little research and not enough funding to conduct a viable research, this cannot be proven. Signs of bats include the viruses first know victim, Emile Ouamouno. A young boy, Emile was known to have played in and by a tree that later was discovered to be home to Angolan free-tailed bats. Later, research by Leendertz on different species of bats showed that RNA fragments of the Ebola virus were found in several species of fruit bats. While it can be concluded that bats serve as some chain in the Ebola infection,

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

Richard Preston, the author of The Hot Zone, wanted us to believe two things. The first is that the viruses explained throughout the novel, such as Marburg and Ebola, are nature’s defense against the “infectious parasite” that the human race is on this planet. He emphasizes that the horrible viruses are the earth’s way of punishing the human race for taking over and for preventing their future expansion. The second thing he wanted us to believe is the idea that the Ebola virus could spread very rapidly if it’s airborne. In today’s society, with the use of airplanes, it’s very easy for viruses such as Ebola which are airborne to spread all over the world, and “feed” on a variety of hosts around the world. In the novel, many of the outbreaks

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston The Hot Zone, a novel by Richard Preston explores a close encounter and near-outbreak of the Ebola virus in a military-controlled monkeyhouse. The story follows real-life examples of cases, as well as many fictional characters with new experiences with the virus. The book is considered a thriller, as many of the situations feel they could happen at any time, leaving some readers on the edge of their seats. The novel informed the nation on what likely could be a reality, with some chapters focusing solely on the various symptoms one goes through when contracted with Ebola and Marburg.

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.

In his book, The Hot Zone, Richard Preston focuses on an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Reston, Virginia and in multiple places in Africa. To show how dangerous an outbreak can be, Preston examines, in great detail, various other viral outbreaks, including Marburg. Preston begins by talking about a fifty-six year old Frenchman named Charles Monet who ends up breaking out with a treacherous disease called Marburg. This wasn’t known until his doctor, Dr. Shem Musoke, ended up testing positive for Marburg after Monet`s infected blood went all over Doctor Musoke as Monet was dying. Musoke survived his outbreak with Marburg.

It is vital to understand deadly viruses and their history in order to prevent future outbreaks. Ebola leaves very few clues after annihilating its victims, so it is incredibly important to analyze those clues. Ebola’s close relationship to monkeys contains key knowledge that could hold the secret to its success. Paying close attention to how Ebola is spreading and mutating could lead researchers to the answer for preventing the contraction of it. Discovering where and how the virus first emerged could lead to Ebola’s end.

Since the Ebola virus essentially liquefies the insides of the human body, once the brain begins to hemorrhage, the virus alters the personality of the victim (Preston, 1995, p. 39). The reader may draw the conclusion that depersonalization of Ebola victims is a terrifying reality. Ebola provides no awareness or memory to the victim when death arrives, as the plethora of effects “obliterate the person beneath them” (Preston, 1995, p. 4). Essentially, the virus is stealing the humanity away from the victim. Preston (1995) also adds “[t]he more one contemplates the hot viruses, the less they look like parasites and the more the begin to look like predators” (p. 136). The reader may wonder whether or not this virus is living or dead, and whether or not the virus is looking to destroy the human or feed on the

The Hot Zone describes the true events in the 1980s surrounding an outburst of the Ebola virus at a monkey facility in Reston, Virginia. The author also gives a background of many other biological outbreaks, mainly in Africa in the 1970s to the 1980s. The book starts off in Kenya with a French colonist name Charles Monet planning to go on a trip up Mt Elgon. Monet starts up the mountain and finds a cave called Kitum Cave. He enters the cave and explores and later the reader figures out that the bats in the cave have been exposed to this unknown virus. Monet is taken to a hospital there called Nairobi Hospital were a doctor named Dr. Musoke operates on him and becomes infected from Monet’s blood. Next, Preston tells about the outbreak of the

Ebola is described by the author in deep detail telling the progression of which it goes through. It starts with a headache and backache and ends with all of your internal organs failing “bleeding out” like Charles Monet. There are four filoviruses: Ebola virus (EBOV), Sudan virus (SUDV), Marburg virus (MARV), and Ravn virus (RAVV). They are all Level 4 biohazard, which means they are extremely dangerous to humans especially because they are so infectious, have a high death rate, and there are no medicines, treatments, or cures.