The Hot Zone

The Hot Zone  
Author(s) Richard Preston
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Non-fiction, hard science fiction
Publisher Anchor
Publication date 1994
Media type Print (paperback and hardback)
Pages 422
ISBN 0-385-47956-5
OCLC Number 32052009
Dewey Decimal 614.5/7 20
LC Classification RC140.5 .P74 1995b

The Hot Zone is a best-selling[1] 1994 non-fiction bio-thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. The basis of the book was Preston's 1992 New Yorker article "Crisis in the Hot Zone".

The filoviruses Ebola virus (EBOV), Sudan virus (SUDV), Marburg virus (MARV), and Ravn virus (RAVV) are Biosafety Level 4 agents. Biosafety Level 4 agents are extremely dangerous to humans because they are very infectious, have a high case-fatality rate, and there are no known prophylactics, treatments, or cures. Along with describing the history of the diseases caused by these two Central African diseases, Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Marburg virus disease (MVD), Preston describes an incident in which a relative of Ebola virus named Reston virus (RESTV), which was the result of a mutation in the Ebola virus. Its name is derived from Reston, Virginia, nonhuman primate quarantine facility less than fifteen miles (24 km) away from Washington, DC, because it was where they found it.

The original Reston, VA, facility located at 1946 Isaac Newton Square was torn down sometime between 1995 and 1998.[2]

Contents

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Synopsis

The book is in four sections:

The book starts with "Charles Monet" visiting Kitum Cave during a camping trip to Mount Elgon in Central Africa. Not long after, he begins to suffer from a number of symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea and red eye. He is soon taken to Nairobi Hospital for treatment, but his condition deteriorates further and he goes into a coma while in the waiting room. He dies, but not before a Doctor named Shem Musoke, attempting to insert a laryngoscope, is infected by exposure to Charles' blood and vomit. Musoke is one of the few to become symptomatic from a filovirus and survive. This particular filovirus is called Marburg virus.

Dr. Nancy Jaax had been promoted to work in the Level 4 Biosafety containment area at USAMRIID, and is assigned to research Ebola virus. While preparing food for her family at home, she cuts her right hand. Later, while working on a dead, EBOV-infected monkey, one of the gloves on the hand with the open wound tears, and she is almost exposed to contaminated blood, but does not get infected. Meanwhile, Peter Cardinal, a ten-year-old, visits Kitum Cave, gets infected with a MARV relative, Ravn virus (RAVV), and does not survive this infection. Nurse Mayinga is also infected by a nun and elects to visit Nairobi Hospital for treatment, where she succumbs to the disease. A CDC team arrives to collect samples of the virus for study.

In Reston, Virginia, less than fifteen miles (24 km) away from Washington, DC, a company called Hazelton Research once operated a quarantine center for monkeys that were destined for laboratories. In October of 1989, when an unusually high number of their monkeys began to die, their veterinarian decided to send some samples to Fort Detrick (USAMRIID) for study. At the time, it was believed that the virus was Simian hemorrhagic fever virus, a viral hemorrhagic fever harmless to humans but almost always fatal to other primates (see zoonosis). Early during the testing process in biosafety level 3, when one of the flasks appeared to be contaminated with harmless pseudomonas bacterium, two USAMRIID scientists exposed themselves to the virus by wafting the flask. When they eventually tested the samples with known Level 4 agents, only EBOV reacted with the unknown samples. They decided not to tell anyone about their exposure, but they did secretly test their blood every day. After one of the monkey house staff members becomes ill with nausea and violent vomiting, USAMRIID is given permission to send in a team to euthanize all the monkeys at the facility and collect tissue samples. They later determine that, while the virus is terrifyingly lethal to monkeys, humans can be infected with it without any health effects at all. This virus is now known as Reston virus (RESTV).

Finally, the author himself goes into Africa to explore Kitum Cave. On the way, he discusses the role of AIDS in the present, as the highway they were on, sometimes called the "AIDS Highway," or the "Kinshasa Highway" was where it first appeared. Equipped with a Hazmat suit, he enters the cave and finds a large number of animals, one of which might be the virus carrier. At the conclusion of the book, he travels to the quarantine facility in Reston. The building there was abandoned and deteriorating. He concludes the book by saying EBOV will be back.

Reception

Due to the detailed and graphic descriptions of the effects of exotic tropical diseases, as well as the revelation that an ebolavirus was found a few miles away from Washington D.C., The Hot Zone was hailed by many as a chilling and accurate story of lethal viruses and their encounters with humans.[3][4] Because Preston's writing style is that of a "science fact" thriller, some critics[5] accused Preston of dramatizing and exaggerating the effects of an Ebola virus infection and embellishing facts with his own imagination. Since its publication over a decade ago, however, The Hot Zone is generally regarded as a nonfiction work and acknowledged for its masterful dramatization. In his blurb, horror writer Stephen King called the book, "one of the most horrifying things I've ever read." When asked whether any book "scared the pants off you", television writer Suzanne Collins answered, "The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston. I just read it a few weeks ago. Still recovering."

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Best Sellers: June 4, 1995". The New York Times Book Review (New York: The New York Times). 1995-06-04. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E3DA1E39F937A35755C0A963958260. Retrieved 2008-09-29. 
  2. ^ E.G. Bradshaw, Monkey House in Reston, Va
  3. ^ Olsen, Eric "DrPrat" (2005-05-12). "Ebola, Marburg and HIV-AIDS: The Hot Zone by Richard Preston". Blog critic magazine. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/12/160744.php. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
  4. ^ Glantz, Robert (2005). 4 "The Hot Zone. - book reviews". BNET. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_n85/ai_17540105#continue 4. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
  5. ^ R., Jost (1992). "The Hot Zone". Haveford University. http://www.haverford.edu/biology/edwards/disease/reviews/jostR.html. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 

Bibliography

  • Moeller, Susan D. (August 1999). Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death (1 ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 82. ISBN 978-0415920988. 

Further reading

  • Preston, Richard (1995-07-20) [1994]. The Hot Zone, A Terrifying True Story. Anchor Books (Random House), Sagebrush Education Resources, Tandem Library Books. ISBN 0-385-47956-5. 

External links