The Viruses In Richard Preston's The Hot Zone

* 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.

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.

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

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.

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

The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston, is an exploration of the discovery and evolution of the three filovirus “sisters”: Marburg, Ebola Sudan, and Ebola Zaire. The book begins by introducing Charles Monet, a factory-maintenance worker in Western Kenya. He decides to go on an expedition up Mount Elgon with a woman in search of animals and birds to watch. They come across Kitmur cave, explore it, and trek back down the mountain. A few days later, Monet begins to feel sick, so he goes to the hospital. They don’t know what’s wrong, and send him on an airplane to the much larger Nairobi hospital. This is important, because it brings the (then unidentified) Marburg virus aboard the commercial air system, exposing possible thousands of

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

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.

The Hot Zone is a true story that begins with a man named Charles Monet in 1980. Charles was a French expatriate living in Kenya that began showing symptoms of a Marburg Strain within days after a trip with a girlfriend to Kitum Cave. The symptoms include: constant headache, throwing up blood, bleeding from the anus, lost of spine control, expelling of intestinal lining, then death. Charles had these symptoms and eventually died. This virus became known as Ebola Sudan because it was discovered in Sudan and ninety percent of those who come in contact with it die. In the next chapters, Richard Preston describes accounts of the Ebola virus such as the death of a nurse in Zaire. A group of missionaries were giving medicine to the local tribes and as a result, the nurse and hundreds of others die because of the use of dirty needles. Afterwards, Preston tells of an exposure in a monkey house in Maryland. All the monkeys started dying so scientists were asked to come take some samples. The virus was identified to be a new strain of Ebola that was very similar to Marburg. A secret operation was set to contain of the monkeys before the virus could spread. Later, tissue and blood was

These past years I spent my time tracking the virus of Ebola as well as its various strains all over the world. At first I didn’t know of the disease, only of the mysterious deaths. I had heard a rumor of a man by the name of Monet who had become mysteriously sick with a disease that none have seen. This information led me to Nairobi, Kenya where the man was supposed to be. When I arrived at Nairobi Hospital I didn’t encounter the man of my search. I questioned a nurse, who asked not to be named, and she stated “A very sick man named Monet came to the hospital looking very zombie like and died but not before exploding over the waiting room and the doctors and nurses who were operating on him. Also Dr. Musoke was infected and is now unconscious.” I then started to search for Dr. Silverstein who had cared for Dr. Musoke. When I found Dr. Silverstein I told him what I why I was there. Though he was reluctant to reveal information, I convinced him to tell me that Dr. Musoke was positive for a virus known as Marburg. Apparently He had never heard of Marburg so I went to investigate. My sources found out that Marburg is an African virus but was first discovered in Marburg, Germany. In 1967 a factory that was working with African green monkeys from Uganda. The virus spread throughout the monkeys causing monkeys to crash and bleed out, and soon after the virus jumped species and infect first a man called Klaus F. The virus spread killing seven of the thirty one people who were

Details about the history are explained; the first outbreak of Ebola began in 1976 from the Ebola River, etc. A little bit about the general virus is taught to the reader, what they’re made out of, what their purpose is, how they stay alive. USAMRIID’s building is described and her journey through working there is told. Gene Johnson, a biohazard expert running the Ebola research program, is introduced. He’s been testing drugs on Ebola-infected monkeys, and failed.

The virus was known. They knew that it was deadly. They knew how it was transmitted, but still failed to achieve the precautions for the deadly Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever virus (Farmer 1). People never suspected that they would have to face the virus, but little did they know, it would show up some time or another. It was a monster that was naked to the human eye that claimed thousands of lives during the outbreaks in 1976 and 2014. The virus was discovered in 1976, leaving people stunned with the harm that it was capable of. It spread like a wild fire. Ebola has many deadly secrets under its walls, it infects humans unbelievably, and it’s not easily treated. It has always had people worried and it always will. How is it possible for something so tiny to cause so much harm?

Viruses have become of great concern all across the world in the last few decades. The virus Ebola has gained tremendous amounts of public and national attention. It is thought that Ebola's effect on humans is restricted to. Viruses that kill people in large masses is a major threat to mankind. The only way to find a cure for Ebola is through our use of science and technology. Ebola has been starting to become a worldwide issue for the last few months but the fact is that Ebola has been around for years. It’s just that people didn’t know or care about it as it was in Africa. Now that is has come to the United States of America it has become a worldwide issue.

EBOV (Ebola virus) is an enveloped RNA virus belonging to the family Filoviridae; under the electron microscope, it appears filamentous (Strong, et al. 2006). The genus Ebolavirus comprises of five EBOVs; EBOV being identified as the causative agent of the recent outbreak (Broadhurst, Brooks & Pollock, 2016). Ebola virus disease is caused by three Ebolaviruses – EBOV included. In humans, the disease is clinically characterized by severe hemorrhagic fever with a 90% fatality rate. Since its first outbreak (largely in Zaire and Sudan) in the 1970s, two more outbreaks have been