The Hot Zone
In The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, Preston writes about his research as he finds the origin of the Ebola Virus while also finding facts surrounding other viral outbreaks. In the beginning of the book, Preston writes about Charles Monet who died because he was exposed to the Marburg Virus. The Marburg virus and the death of Charles Monet was described in such a specific, gruesome way, which shows us how terrifying this virus actually was and what kind of damage it can do to our bodies. The first few chapters of the book mainly describes several different outbreaks that have happened four years before Charles Monet’s death. The first virus was the Ebola Virus is Sudan, which infected a local shopkeeper who unfortunately spread
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 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 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
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 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.
Richard Preston’s novel The Hot Zone, was based on a true story about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, mainly the Ebola and Marburg viruses. It primarily focuses on the Ebola virus’ first documented outbreak during the 1980s. As you read The Hot Zone, you will notice that it has been divided into four individual segments. The first segment looks into the history of filoviruses, and how AIDS emerged. The novel begins with Charles Monet, an elderly man who travels to Kitum Cave in Kenya. After coming in contact with an odd liquid substance, he begins to experience symptoms of the Marburg Virus (abbreviated as “MARV”), which includes; headaches, backaches, internal organs failing, and excessive bleeding. Monet travels to the Nairobi Hospital and ends up infecting the young Doctor that treated him. Years after Monet’s passing, a young pathologist named Nancy Jaax is introduced. Her story was told in her point of view as she describes the Introduction to Viruses, Biosafety Levels, 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
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 average fatality rate of patients infected with Ebola is around 50% according to the World Health Organization. The nonfiction book titled The Hot Zone by Richard Preston takes readers through true events pertaining to an outbreak of Ebola in the late 1980’s at a monkey testing facility in Reston, Virginia. The author heavily emphasizes the danger surrounding ignorance and uncertainty in regard to the viral and morbid Ebola at the conclusion of the book. While Preston makes this point evident countless times, three particular quotes give a clear example of Preston’s intention.
The Hot Zone was a very interesting book about the outbreak of the Ebola virus in a monkey facility in Reston, Virginia in the late 1980s. The true events posed a danger to the public if the virus got out. I was able to learn about other viral outbreaks. The outbreaks were mainly in Africa in the 1970s and the 1980s. Preston seemed to argue the threats lie in the emerging viruses like the AIDS virus. Preston didn’t overkill the effects of Ebola or any other virus.
It showed up in Marburg, Germany in 1967; Preston acknowledges that, “The virus erupted in a factory called The Behring Works, which produced vaccines using kidney cells from African green monkeys” (Preston 35). This was perhaps one of the many opportunities that Marburg received to change species and infect humans; before then Ebola had only been present in Monkeys. Another opportunity arose in Africa inside Kitum Cave, where Ebola seemed to have infected multiple people (Preston 140). It is not known exactly what infected the people who visited Kitum Cave, however, there is strong evidence the disease is harbored inside the
This question has formed part of the historiography of the causes of the First World War, a historical debate that has endured ever since the conflict ended. It periodically resurfaces with new theories being advanced such as the Fischer thesis, usually on account of the release of previously unseen documents or because of a shift in the political climate. It has emerged to the fore once again because this year is the centennial of the war’s outbreak and there are plans to commemorate it nationally across the UK.
I remember my parents calling me up an hour before midnight telling me that they would be coming home late from work. That was how I grew up my entire life until I entered high school. As an immigrant family, my parents had to run the extra mile to provide for our family. I was the oldest of my family. Therefore, I had to step up as the mother figure and to take care of my younger brother. Sometimes, my friends would ask me to hang out with them or to come over my house. My answer was no most of the time. I had a younger brother in the house who needed my help with his homework. He couldn’t feed himself so I had to feed him. I remember putting him to sleep one night and just asking myself why I had to do this. I wanted to hang out with my friends and act like a child that I was. I was an eleven-year-old who had to grow up because of the circumstances. And I did not like that. As time passed by, my parents were settling in to this new surrounding and they began to take some of their time off from work to spend time with me and my brother. Even then, there were times where I had to take care of my brother because he couldn’t be home alone.