The Hot Zone

fast as HIV. "Ebola does in ten days what it takes HIV ten years to accomplish,"

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 creates a sense of both vivdness and danger. Author Richard Preston creates an environment that draws the reader into his narrative, making us aware of the “non-fiction” aspect of the book and the consequences its contents might have on our own lives.

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.

AUTHOR: Richard Preston PUBLISHER: Random House DATE OF PUBLICATION: 1994 Setting: The setting g takes place in two major places. Reston Maryland which is a suburb of Washington DC. and the second major area is in Kenya Africa. The story takes place in the 1980's. Main Characters: Since this story is a true story

The disease developed in humans through blood-to-blood contact, which occurred in hunters from rural villages found within the Congo Basin. The hunters most likely came into contact during the hunting and butchering of chimpanzees and other monkeys, which carried the SIV virus. At first the disease wasn’t a threat to humans because for one not a lot of people were being infected, and secondly the immune system would have been able to fight the SIV virus. However, over time with more cross-species transmission, the virus would replicate and through different mutations, it would evolve. Eventually, there would be a mutation in the virus, which would allow the virus to successfully attack a human immune system. This scene explained that since not many were effected to begin with, and because to begin with it wasn’t threatening, that when it became dangerous it didn’t grow at an alarming rate like it would in Haiti in the future. I believe this scene is very efficient at explaining how the virus can adapt so that it would be able to effect the human population like it has to someone who has little knowledge of how viruses work between species. Also I think it is an effective scene, because people are often a lot more sympathetic to animals, and the deaths of animals, so I think that this scene would stick in their brain a lot more than other scenes even if they were just as, or even more

* The Ivory Coast Ebolavirus also referred to as Tai Ebolavirus, was first discovered among chimpanzees from the Tai

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.

In The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, the three major themes repeatedly emphasized are predator versus prey, sacrifice, and going against the odds. The book uses the struggle to contain and exterminate the filoviruses to convey these three ideas. It treats the filoviruses as a predator, and the humans as the prey. It enforces this idea over and over again by using animalistic qualities to describe the humans and the filoviruses, giving them both the same amount of consciousness and personality. “The Ebola Zaire strain was nearly twice as lethal as Ebola Sudan. It seemed to emerge out of the stillness of an implacable force brooding on an inscrutable intention.” Constantly, the scientists, veterinarians, and doctors do everything they can

Characters and civilians that are depicted in this book show their fear of the virus, which subsequently brings about danger in many situations. When telling of the thoughts and emotions of workers in contact with the virus, the author provides this example to show the level of fright in these researchers. “The organism was too frightening to handle, even for those who were comfortable and adept in space suits.” This example explains the mentality of those working with the virus, and the great risk placed upon them. Furthermore, Preston shows how fear of this

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

Viruses, Plagues, and History, written by Michael Oldstone, is an insightful and highly educational book that details the history of, that’s right, viruses and plagues. Through typically dry, yet engaging prose, Oldstone recounts what seems like all of it while simultaneously bringing to light the contributions of those brave scientists who asked themselves, “why.” He focuses his attention on some of the most notable viruses such as smallpox, yellow fever, measles, polio, and later he focuses on more contemporary battles against disease.

Monet arrives in Nairobi, goes to the hospital, and crashes, or bleeds out, on the floor of the waiting room. Not knowing what he had, the doctors at Nairobi Hospital rushed Monet to an examination room, where Dr. Shem Musoke attempts a laryngoscopy on the unresponsive Monet, and gets vomited on when Monet abruptly takes a breath. Days later, Musoke himself falls ill and is in turn quarantined by Dr. Silverstein, who sends an extract of Musoke’s blood serum off to the CDC for Marburg confirmation. Preston then goes on to describe a massive outbreak of the Marburg virus in Marburg, Germany, due to the shady practices of a monkey trader and his money-saving practices. Enter Major Nancy Jaxx, a veterinary virologist working at the Army base USAMRIID with level 4 biohazard viruses, the hottest type. She is working in the Ebola when, on her first day, she goes in to do necrology on a few monkeys who died while in an experiment in which Dr. Gene Johnson gave differing monkeys various drugs after infecting them with a strain of Ebola in the hopes of finding a cure, or at the vary least a way to alleviate the distress of the already affected. Her and her boss go through decontamination, and dress in the standard space suit required for work

From the sequence scientists were able to determine that virus probably began its life in an animal then mutated before picking up the power to infect people.