The Demon in the Freezer

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The Demon in the Freezer, a non-fiction account of attempts by the medical community to deal with smallpox, was written by Richard Preston. He is perhaps best known for his nonfiction work The Hot Zone, a book about the outbreak of ebola reston virus in Reston, Virginia.

The book essentially contains two stories, the first of which examines the efforts of the international medical community to contain and eliminate smallpox, and the second of which concerns the current efforts to research the disease to help us better combat bioterrorism. An early focus of the story revolves around one of the victims of the 2001 Anthrax Attacks. He spends much of the book discussing the people who were involved in trying to destroy smallpox, noting that they were, while well trained, a mostly ragtag group of individuals who felt that smallpox could, and should be destroyed. Preston also details how the disease was curtailed, what methods of containment worked, and what methods of containment failed.

Preston's discussion of current research into smallpox is perhaps more relevant. He details the difficulties of securing the go ahead to begin the smallpox research and of the personalities involved in said research. He explains the fears the researchers have about lax security at certain worldwide biomedical installations and their belief of the very real threat of bioterrorism. Preston connects the medicine of the past, the eradication effort, to the medicine of the future, counter.