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I read this as it was required for a course but ended up loving it.
I could not believe it when I saw this book among the banned books displayed in my state's university library. It is real-life and real-life can be scarey sometimes. It was banned because it is scarey. This book gives an awesome accounting of what happens with some of the world's most deadliest viruses, both in the handling of them and symptoms they present.
The more we know about the microscopic world, the better off humanity is. Readers be glad you are not experiencing any of these viruses first hand and walk away with a greater respect for these DNA strands that replicate using other cells. I had worked as an LPN in our local hospital and was always curious about viruses. Read it. This book was an eye opener. This book is not fiction.
It gives great insight into the reasons we needed to vaccinate the masses to help prevent the spread of small pox and polio. Then pass it on to enlighten others. Give me a break. It is scarey to read, yes, but so what.
It is beginning to react to the human parasite, the flooding infection of people, the dead spots of concrete all over the planet. The rain forests are also its largest reservoirs of viruses, since all living things carry viruses.In a sense, the earth is mounting an immune response against the human species. If it were to mutate in some other malevolent way, the consequences could be devastating for the world human population. Given the speed with which diseases can be spread from one corner to the world to the other, one has to assume it is only a matter of time before some as-yet unknown mass-killer pathogen makes it appearance.The author does speculate that humans may, unsurprisingly, be to partly blame for the emergence of these mass-killers."The emergence of AIDS, Ebola, and any number of other rainforest agents appears to be a natural consequence of the ruin of the tropical biosphere. Written like a sophisticated bio-sci-fi horror-thriller, except it is based on true events.
Three of these proteins are vaguely understood, and four of the proteins are completely unknown - their structure and their function is a mystery. Which in itself is not bad, except that it does tend to distract your attention, away from the plot.The end is almost reassuringly calm, and almost makes you feel that the world is safe again. The blood is mixed with intestinal lining. Tiny spots in his brain are liquefying. The only sound is a choking in his throat as he continues to vomit blood and black matter while unconscious.
The intestinal muscles are beginning to to die, and the intestines are to go slack. the first major bio-hazard mission the world ever knew. The tropical rain forests are the deep reservoirs of life on the planet, containing most of the world's plant and animal species. In other words, the host is possessed by a life form that is attempting to convert the host into itself. But it is not, as the author points out. This is a frisson inducing tale of devastation - past and possible - that some of the deadliest, and yet simplest, viruses can wreak.
Ebola does in ten days what it takes AIDS ten years to accomplish." [pages 49, 50]------ "To mess around with Ebola is an easy way to die. Clots are accumulating in his intestinal muscles, cutting off the blood supply to his intestines. From the identification of the virus, the coordination and the political tensions between the US Army and the CDC, to the mobilization of the troops and materials, to the actual operation - are all described in detail."For a short while, the Reston Primate Quarantine Unit was the only building in the world where nothing lived, nothing at all." [page 271]Sometimes, however, the description reads a bit like a screenplay. Better to work with something safer, such as anthrax." [page 47]The first part is by far the scariest, and written with a cold and terrifying eye for the gruesome detail.Read this paragraph below from the book only with a strong PG warning:------ "During this process, the body is partly transformed into virus particles. By contrast, yellow fever, which is considered a highly lethal virus, kills only about one in twenty patients once they reach a hospital." [page 27, 28]------ ". Terrifying and fast-paced beginning, and then settles into a more measured and slower pace.While the author states that the "book describes events between 1967 and 1993", the two main events of interest described, take place in Kenya in 1980 and in the weeks following Thanksgiving Weekend in the US in 1989.The book starts out by describing the case of Charles Monet in western Kenya who was infected with the Marburg virus, and the horrifying and hard-to-believe effects of the virus on Monet.Some pages later, the book moves to the US, where the "decon" mission - to decontaminate the facility of the virus took place, ".
His personality is being wiped away by brain damage. The Ebola virus particle contains only seven different proteins - seven distinct types of large molecules arranged in a long braided structure that is the stringy Ebola particle. His blood is clotting up - his bloodstream is throwing clots, and the clots are lodging everywhere. The transformation is not entirely successful, however, and the end result is a great deal of liquefying flesh mixed with virus. He doesn't seem to be fully aware of pain any longer because the blood clots lodged in his brain are cutting off blood flow. Then comes a sound like a bedsheet being torn in half, which is the sound of his bowels opening and venting blood from the anus.
He leans over, head on his knees, and brings up an incredible quantity of blood from his stomach and spills it onto the floor with a gasping groan. He has sloughed his gut." [pages 14-18] . ", is described as it happened over the course of several days. His liver, kidneys, lungs, hands, feet and head are becoming jammed with blood clots. the virus killed nine out of ten people it infected.
The fact that the Ebola Reston strain has infected people and yet not made them sick is only the result of a possibly beneficial mutation of the virus. Or it could be said that the extreme amplification of the human race, which has occurred only in the past hundred years or so, has suddenly produced a very large quantity of meat, which is sitting everywhere in the biosphere and may not be able to defend itself against a life form that might want to consume it." [pages 310, 311]We are given a good indication of not only the horrifying effects of these viruses, but also their lethality:------ "The kill rate of Marburg turned out to be one in four, which makes Marburg an extremely lethal agent.
This, to me, was rather anticlimactic. To say we dodged a bullet is putting it lightly.I would recommend this to everyone. Not to say that I want death and that I wanted to read about another human fatality, but it doesn't compare with the first half when all you have is a bunch of infected monkeys. The majority of the population is completely unaware to the dangers that practically around the corner. In it Preston relates several cases of Marburg and Ebola cases. Who hasn't been frightened by the possibility of becoming infected with a virus. That being said we think of HIV or the Flu, though both dangerous in their own rights, we don't really imagine coming in contact with such a nasty virus as Ebola or Marburg. The lethality of these viruses is frightening, but was even more frightening was seeing how someone exhibiting such alarming conditions was not treated with more caution, most notably the first example, the Marburg victim.
Or how about the victim getting on an airplane and flying to another hospital with nobody taking note of his condition.Anyway, the latter half of the book takes on the Reston outbreak that put everyone on alert. It is a page turner as you continually want to see what is going on, to see what lives in this world and what it could do to humans. The anxiety must have been staggering. Incidentally, I also rented Outbreak and And The Band Played On and found both to be very insightful.4.5 stars. I was truly shocked to see that some of the workers became infected with the Ebola virus and came down with no symptoms, in fact the virus disappeared all on its own. To see a doctor immerse himself, literally, in the victims blood without gloves or protective eye wear and other safety precautions simply amazes me. Spoiler Alert. The Hot Zone brings these fears to life in a chilling way, bringing home the severity and possibility of an outbreak on US soil.The books first half is the more chilling halves of the book.
That being said I can't even imagine the feeling of knowingly walking in to a hot building, literally and figuratively, knowing that you are there to put to death 1,000s of monkeys with the possibility that you would become infected by the slightest tear in your suit. That was what was the scariest part for me. You can't help but cringe at the chilling detail as Preston relates how your internal organs turn to liquid and blood pours out of your every opening, even out of your pores, ultimately culminating and a hot mess, literally. Granted, we are a bit more informed now, but still.
This is not normally the kind of book that interests me but I really enjoyed this book. I read this book when I was in highschool and have re-read it more than once since. I loved how the information was presented and the clear picture I got from descriptions(some not so pretty).without it being overly wordy.
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