Summary of Hot Zone by Richard Preston - Book Report/Review Example

? Review and Summary of Hot Zone by Richard Preston Reaction to Book I found the book to be particularly interesting. It was interesting how the virus ended up in America from South Africa. However, it also scared me that the increase in globalization could result in more of such issues for the health community. As diseases are increasing in number, the health community is inept to deal with such viruses. This book allows us to understand the implications of the introduction of such viruses in the community. For me, the Ebola virus is more fatal that AIDS. At least, one knows how AIDS travels. It does not travel through the air but for Ebola we are uncertain. This scares me. The book moved at an interesting pace. It increased in pace at certain times while it also decreased in pace. This made the book interesting because at certain times, we needed to relax and take in what was happening. At other times, I wanted to rush forward and discover what happens next. However, I was dissatisfied with the ending of the book. I was waiting for the climax to develop as someone dies in a dire manner. However, this does not happen. I wanted to see how the US is prepared to deal with such issues if viruses such as Ebola make their appearance. This book was also informative in the sense that it allows us to glean how viruses work. The book presents a picture of this in non-technical words making it easy for every reader to understand how the virus works. I think everyone should read the book to understand the dangers that are out there in the world. Summary Part 1: Shadow of Mount Elgon: Something in the Forest The book starts opens up in Western Kenya where a Frenchman, Charles Monet is shown to be a loner employed in the Nzoia Sugar Factory. Monet is a recluse except for a few women friends that he occasionally meets up with. Monet is also found of animals, specifically Monkeys. In one of his vacations, he takes up a woman friend to Mount Elgon for camping. There they meet with a variety of animals including bats, monkey, spiders and different other insects. It is here that Monet curiously catches a virus that makes visible appearance on Monet seven days later as Monet develops a severe headache. This headache increases in intensity and Monet takes on a zombie like appearance as his skin becomes yellowish and eyeballs swell and become red. When he coworkers find out, they send Monet to a nearby hospital. As this hospital is unable to diagnose the virus, they send him to Nairobi Hospital through a plane. Monet, through extreme difficulty, manages to reach the Hospital where his internal organs burst open in the waiting area of the casualty department. Jumper The appearance of the dead bleeding man in the waiting area causes quite uproar and a doctor, Shem Musoke is called in. This young doctor, while trying to save Monet’s life, comes in direct contact with the blood and black vomit of the infested person. Even after his clinical death, Musoke tries to open him up to find out the cause of the death and finally the cause his declared to be fulminating liver failure. Nine days later, Musoke develops a headache and later on his symptoms also increase in intensity and nature. Meanwhile, Musoke tries to self-medicate himself, being a doctor. He continues to diagnose himself with malaria and jaundice, until he consults another physician at the hospital, Dr. Antonia Bagshawe. Dr. Bagshawe recommends explanatory surgery which further deteriorates Musoke’s condition and he becomes an emergency case. It was Dr. Silverstein, another colleague, who finally suspects the nature of the disease and sends samples of Musoke’s serum to laboratories in South Africa and Georgia. Diagnosis Dr. Silverstein’s suspicions are confirmed when the South African laboratories confirm the virus to be the Marbug virus. The laboratories have little information on the virus and Silverstein consults a medical textbook. He finds that virus began in 1967 in Green Monkeys that were taken from South Africa to Germany. This virus jumped from the monkeys to the human race. The kill rate of the virus was found to be one in every four individuals, thus making the virus more lethal than the yellow fever. Marbug belongs to the family of filovirus for its thread like shape. Other filoviruses were later found to be Ebola Zaire and Ebola Sudan; with Marbug being the mildest and Ebola Zaire being the most lethal. The impacts of Marbug can be compared to nuclear radiation. It was also discovered that Monkeys were not the original host since the Marbug virus quickly destroyed the virus. However, the original source was unknown. It was however, discovered the both Marbug and AIDS originated from the same place, the village of Kasensero in South Africa. Dr. Silverstein armed with this information closed the Nairobi Hospital and ordered for the quarantine operation of all those who had come in contact with Dr. Musoke. Dr. Musoke also survived the virus and recovered after ten days. The particular Marbug virus later ended in the vials of the US Army and was termed as the Musoke strain. A Woman and a Soldier The story moves towards Major Nancy Jaax, a veterinarian in the United States Army in Maryland. Nancy’s husband also works the same job and they have two children, Jamie and Jason. They had a parrot and a snake as pets. Nancy is dedicated to both his work and his home. She does all his household work and even cuts her finger while working. Project Ebola Nancy works in Biosafety Level 4 of the USAMRIID; the highest and most dangerous level. The aim of the USAMRIID is to protect US soldiers from both natural viruses and biological weapons. The institute is defensive instead of being offensive. Nancy, on reaching her office, discovers that two monkeys had died that night from the Ebola virus and her job was to dissect them before they turned into jelly despite refrigeration. Nancy works with the Ebola virus that takes its name from the Ebola River. A strain of Ebola, Ebola Zaire has a kill rate of nine out of ten infected people. The book moves on to introduce Eugene Johnson who is an Army specialist who is an expert in Ebola and its sister, the Marbug virus. Johnson is an authority on the virus. He both respects and fears the virus. The Ebola virus consists of seven different proteins, three of them known and four unknown. These proteins attack and kill the immune system of the body. Transmission of Ebola is through body fluid contact and even some unknown ways of travel. In order to find the cure, Johnson infects the monkeys with the viruses and tried on several drugs as probable cures. Despite strong opposition from the family and even the institute, Nancy volunteered to work with Johnson. Two monkeys died last night and have to be dissected. Nancy along with Johnson enters the Level 4 area. For this, she has to remove her clothing and wear a special suit. Nancy, while entering, fails to notice a hole in her special suit and forgets about the cut on her hand. Total Immersion Both Nancy and Johnson are inside the Level 4 area where two healthy monkeys greet them excitedly. The rest are sick from the Ebola Zaire virus. Two of them have died. Nancy removes the two from the cage making sure that they are truly dead otherwise a bite from their fangs can prove to be truly lethal. The virus is a life form that is not truly living until it comes in contact with a live cell and starts replicating. Nancy opens the monkeys through blunt scissors and finds that their organs have been destroyed. While she is examining their skull, she notices a hole in her gloves and also her suit. She panics and leaves. As she decontaminates herself in the Decon, she fears that her previously cut finger may not come in contact with the virus. She expresses her fear to Johnson who examines her properly but passes a clean bill of health. Nancy, after reaching home, relays the incident to her husband who becomes scared. Johnson is far from developing a cure of the virus and meanwhile the healthy monkeys also die even though they have not come in contacted with the contaminated monkeys. Ebola River The story moves back to the Ebola River from where the virus is thought to have originated. A man in a cotton factory acquired the virus. He transferred the virus to his co-workers which further led to more such cases as it reached the central hospital. However, the case was soon controlled without any global ramifications. This virus was termed as Ebola Sudan. Two months later, in Northern Zaire, a more lethal version of the virus emerged that was later termed as Ebola Zaire. The Ebola Zaire increases clotting in the body to such an extent that blood flow to all parts of the body are seriously hampered leading to death. The blood in the body is destroyed to such as extent that the blood flows from all parts of the body, the nose, the mouth, and the eyes. All organs including the liver and the brain are destroyed. When a nun acquired the virus, she was shifted to a hospital along with another nun caring for her. After the nun died, both the caring nun and the nurse looking after the infected nurse got contaminated and died. The nurse, Mayinga before dying contaminated the entire population of Bumba. As mass epidemic began, the world terminated all ties with the country. However, the blood sample of nurse Mayinga ended up with the USAMRIID. This sample was examined by Johnson’s wife, Patricia and another worker, Murphy. It was Murphy who found that the blood sample contained the Marbug virus. This prompted Johnson and a team of doctors to visit Bumba and control the situation. In their presence, the virus reached its peak but later died down after killing millions including unborn fetus. Cardinal The book now shifts over to present day Johnson who meets up a friend. This friends passes on blood samples of another infected human with Level 4 virus. He took the sealed sample to his laboratory and opened up the sample with Level 4 equipment. The blood sample came from Peter who went on a vacation in South Africa and got contaminated. He later came under the care of Dr. Silverstein who recognized the symptoms. Dr. Silverstein ensured that his staff took the necessary precautions but he was unable to save Peter as his brain gave out. Johnson took the blood sample of Peter and infected three monkeys with the virus. The monkeys began dying. Only one survived. On further testing, Johnson concluded that this was the Marbug virus. When Johnson researched about the whereabouts of Peter before his death, he found out that Peter like Charles Monet had also visited the Kitmun Cave. Going Deep Johnson, realizing this, plans an expedition to Kitmun Cave. He goes to South Africa and interviews both the family of Peter and Dr. Silverstein. He then brings all this equipment to Kitmun Cave along with the special space suits. Johnson checks the life inside the cave for presence of the virus; these include sand flies, cats, birds, bats, etc. but he finds no contamination. He then exposes healthy monkey within and outside the cave but none of them develop the virus. He even checks for presence of the virus in the life nearby the cave including humans and cattle but finds no presence of the virus. Finally he goes back to America, unsatisfied. In America, Nancy and Jaax are relocated twice and finally both end up in the army. Nancy continued to work in biological hot agents under the supervision of Johnson. Part 2: The Monkey House: Reston The story now moves on to Reston, Virginia near Washington DC. It is in Reston that a company by the name of Hazleton Research Products maintains a monkey house that imports monkeys from tropical regions of the world for experimental purposes. Dr. Dan Dalgard checks these monkeys for any signs of disease. In 1989, a shipment of monkeys was received. Within a few days, two of the monkeys died but this did not raise concern until three weeks later a large number of monkeys died. Seeing the monkeys dying, the colony manager, Bill Volt called Dr. Dalgard for checking. While this was happening, Jerry Jaax’s brother John was mysteriously shot dead in his office in Kansas City. No one was caught even though his partner was a major suspect. Jerry became quite disturbed after the accident. In Reston, Dr. Dalgard began examining the monkeys. Initially, he did not suspect anything serious but when monkeys began to die continuously he became suspicious. He dissected the animals himself first and found them to be contaminated with SHF, a virus lethal to monkeys but not humans. He found the spleens to be enlarged and solid as a walnut. He started keeping a diary to record the case. Into Level 3 As Dalgard continued to inspect the monkeys, he started suspecting something more serious and then he called his contact in USAMRIID to evaluate the case. He sent Jahrling a frozen piece of Monkey meat through courier that dripped on Jahrling’s carpet when he unpacked it. Meanwhile Dalgard continued to conduct his own examinations on the dead monkeys and more continued to die throughout the monkey house. Peter Jahrling was the man contacted by Dalgard. Jahrling was a civilian virologist in the institute. Jahrling worked on rain-forest viruses and was not particularly familiar with hot agents such as Marbug. Jahrling began examining the virus in Level 3laboratory by making it grow inside a living flask of water. Joan Rhoderick assisted Jahrling in the process. Initially, Jahrling confirmed Dalgard’s original hypothesis that the virus was SHF. Dalgard, in order to protect the rest of the monkeys, killed the monkeys in the one specific room where the virus continued to make its appearance. Exposure The story moves on to introduce a new character, Tom Geisburt. Geisburt is an enthusiastic intern at the institute who liked to study hot agents. Geisburt, hearing about the monkey, goes in to inspect the virus where the assistant, Joan Rhoderick mentions that the flask is not behaving typically. When they take the flask to Jahrling, he attributed the moth eaten liquid to be contaminated by bacteria which usually leaves an odor. Geisburt and Jahrling, to test for the bacteria, smell in the liquid, and find it to be odorless. It is when they put it under electron microscope, that they suspect the virus to be filovirus. This raises concern among both Geisburt and Jahrling because they had smelled the virus. Thanksgiving It is now Thanksgiving and the story relates how different characters within the story celebrate Thanksgiving. The Jaax family visit Nancy’s father who is dying of cancer. Dalgard spent Thanksgiving worrying about the monkeys. Meanwhile more monkeys died in the monkey house. Medusa Geisburt again began inspecting the virus using a diamond knife. He introduced the virus in a human eyelash with the same results as filovirus began obvious on the microscope. He suspected Marbug. He took pictures of the virus; all the while wondering if he had caught the virus. In the pictures, the virus looked like Medusa’s hair. Geisburt also realized why the spleen of the monkey looked swollen. This was because the cells became swollen with the virus and were ready to burst. The First Angel Geisburt took the pictures to Jahrling who decided to take them to Gene Johnson. Johnson decided to take the matter to the military and thus contacted C. J. Peters. C. J. Peters was a man who got things done and dressed in very casual attire considering he was a military man. Peters asked them to confirm the virus and took in the background of the situation. However, Jahrling and Geisburt do not inform Peters that they had sniffed the virus because they were afraid of being sent to the Slammer, a sort of a prison where contaminated people were sent for observation. The Second Angel Jahrling informs Dalgard that he suspects the monkeys to have Marbug. Meanwhile Jahrling continues to observe the blood sample of the monkey and finds out that the virus is still multiplying at a fast rate. Jahrling then examined the blood for the true nature of the virus. He introduced the virus in the blood of three samples of Marbug, Ebola Sudan and Ebola Zaire. Only the Ebola Zaire glowed which confirmed that the virus in the monkeys was Ebola Zaire, the deadliest of the three viruses. Chain of Command Jahrling tests the virus for the second time and again the test turn out to be positive for Ebola Zaire. He quickly informs C. J. Peters who then decides to move up on the chain of command and informs David Huxsoll. Colonel Huxsoll is an expert on biohazard and understanding the seriousness of the situation sets up a meeting. Nancy Jaax is called in. Nancy informs them that Ebola can be transmitted through breathing as she was firsthand involved in one such experiment. In the meeting, it is decided that there are three ways to kill a virus: vaccine, drug and bio containment. Drugs and vaccine have not been developed for Ebola; therefore bio containment is the only chance they have. For bio containment, they could either seal off the monkey house to let the monkeys die; or they could get in and sterilize the place. Nancy informs that they do not have a long time as the virus may get out any time. She also expresses her desire to visit the monkey house. Another issue raised in the meeting was whether to involve the army or the Centre of Disease Control (CDC). Russell wants to involve the Army as the operation would require muscle and was very dangerous. He then decides to move with the army and appoints Peters as the leader. Russell informs Murphy, an important official of the CDC that Russell knows personally. Dalgard is informed that the virus is Ebola by Peters. Peters asks for his permission to inform the appropriate agencies about the virus in the monkey house. Dalgard asks for some time. Dalgard also resists them Peters asks him permission to inspect the monkeys and visit the monkey house. Nancy informs her husband, Jerry about the Ebola while on her way home. Garbage Bags The next morning, Peters again contacts Dalgard and asks him permission to visit the monkey house to check on the monkeys. Dalgard agrees on the inspection of the monkeys but first wants to meet the team. Afterwards Dalgard calls Volt who informs him that a worker inside the monkey house, Purdy was quite ill. Purdy had been taken to the hospital and Dalgard calls in the hospital and asks the doctor to contact Peters at Fort Detrick if he suspects anything out of the ordinary. Dalgard also asks Volt to ensure necessary precautions for all other workers inside the monkey house. Dalgard then goes on to meet Peters, Nancy and Johnson. In the meeting, the team asks Dalgard some preliminary questions. The team further requests to visit the monkey house. Dalgard refuses this but promises to send the monkeys to them on a particular gas station. When the team waits at the gas station, it is obvious there is tension between Peters and Johnson due to some previous affair. Later, Volt comes in and presents the monkeys in garbage bags. The team is annoyed since garbage bags could have leaked the blood and contaminated the entire area they came in contact with. However, Volt ensures them that the bags are properly sealed. Despite the reluctance, Nancy and Peters transfer the bags into Peters’ car. Space Walk 178 The team comes back to the institute where the garbage bags are taken to Level 4 area. Nancy completes the proper protocol to reach the Level 4 area and meets up with Colonel Trotter there. While examining the monkeys, Nancy finds out that they do not show the typical symptoms of Ebola virus such as bloody eyes or bloody intestines. She suspects if the monkeys had Ebola at all. Shoot out Meanwhile a meeting was being conducted in conference room of the institute. The meeting involved Russell, Peters, Dalgard, Johnson, Murphy and Joe McCormick, another of the CDC official. McCormick and Peters are not in good terms with each other. The meeting turns into a disaster when McCormick speaks as he expresses his wishes of taking over the operation and criticized both Peters and Johnson for their past practices. Soon an argument breaks over which Murphy and Russell control by calling out a compromise between the army and the CDC. The Mission Peters contacts Jerry and makes him in charge of the operation. Jerry meets up with Johnson to decide on a plan. They decide on three important priorities: safety of human population, minimum damage of euthanasia on the monkeys and collection of samples for further use. Johnson starts planning on the right gear for the operation. Meanwhile Dalgard goes home and starts writing on his diary. He also phones to receive update on the health of Purdy. He finds out that the symptoms have not worsened. He also considers informing the CDC of Purdy. Dalgard also received a call from Nancy who informs him that the virus could be SHF or Ebola. Reconnaissance Dalgard gives permission to the Army to enter the monkey house and Jerry immediately starts preparing for the information and briefing his team. Johnson goes to the monkey house and starts preparing for a plan to enter the hottest area, Room H. Joe McCormick also reach the house. Nancy and Peters also arrive at the area and start interviewing the workers. The workers are very frightened as they have gotten whiff of the situation through the media that was already caught on the situation. Nancy reassures them as best as she can. Nancy enters the building and sees a disaster. The workers are not following proper precautions and the monkey’s canines have not been filed. She takes samples to the laboratory for examination. Part 3: Smash Down: Insertion The news of the Ebola virus in the monkey house has been leaked through the Washington Post. The next morning the entire team reaches the institute that is already crowded. From there, they travel to the monkey house in a painstakingly slow journey. The Army people on reaching the area put on their Racial field suits. They enter the dark building without any flashlights. Meanwhile Nancy is with her two children. She readies them for school and then reaches the monkey house. Jerry is already inside. Nancy gives advice to the rest of the army on how to protect themselves through their suits. She also warns them against possible attacks by the monkeys. Jerry along with another colleague in the building discovered that the workers (without proper head gear) were still inside along with Dalgard. They became irritated at this but remained silent. Then Nancy along with other army people comes inside. The operation begins when Jerry starts killing the monkeys through injections. Nancy notices a tear in the suit of one of the army men and informs him who takes proper action against it. As the monkeys are being killed, Nancy puts four of them in biohazard containers and treats them with Clorox. Nancy then goes out and heads for the laboratory. Jerry continues with the operation. In the end, all monkeys are killed and their spleen samples taken in by the army. In the lab, Nancy finds out that the monkeys were indeed contaminated by Ebola. The next day, Dalgard goes back to the building and finds out that one worker, Milton had gotten out of the building in his protective suit and mask. As Dalgard approached him, Milton crossed over and vomited. A Man Down The vomiting of Milton scares both Dalgard and Volt. Dalgard goes to his manager and asks him to evacuate the building. The manager agrees and as Dalgard reaches his office, he meets CDC officials. He informs them about the two sick workers. The CDC took over and transferred Milton to Fairfax Hospital in Washington. Dalgard also called Peters and asked him to take control over the building. Peters, however, was resistant as he feared a lawsuit if things got any worse but he agreed to help out. Peters, however, got angry when Dalgard told him that CDC had transferred Milton to a community hospital instead of the Institute’s Slammer. He called McCormick and argued with him but McCormich refused to budge. The media got wind of the situation and arrived at Fairfax hospital when Milton was being admitted. The rest of the workers also got scared. They left the building after locking it. The monkeys other than the Room H were still alive. They became frenzied when they did not receive any food or care. The situation in the monkey house deteriorated as more monkeys began showing signs of having acquired the virus. 91 Tangos Dalgard finally handed over the monkey house to the Army by signing a particular letter. Jerry then created a team, named as 91 Tangos to deal with situation. Jerry, at this point, had no information regarding Milton. He briefed his people and tells them that there are four hundred and fifty monkeys to be killed. He decided to begin operation the next day thought they were not properly trained. During the night, Jerry developed the strategy and relayed the strategy to his team the next day. Jerry finds out the next day that a man was down with Ebola. While this scares him, he goes inside the monkey house to meet havoc as monkeys are going haywire in the building because they are hungry. He feeds the monkey biscuits as the rest of the team gears up. The operation begins and Jerry divides his team into three groups: the bleeding group to work at the bleed table; the euthanasia team to kill the monkey and the necropsy team to take samples from the monkeys. Inside The team continued to work as night set up. One member started losing the battery of her suit. This caused panic and two people were sent out amid the whole media watching. One had a hole in her suit but was reassured that she could not have caught the virus. A few hours later, the operation ceased for the day and the entire team went out for dinner. Jerry was satisfied with the operation. A Bad Day The next day in Level 4 man, an army scientist performs a test on Milton’s blood and finds it negative for Ebola. The Army begins windings its operation in the Monkey house even though a monkey was loose within the house and they had difficulty catching him. Even though a few mishaps occur in the monkey house, no one got infected. Even Geisburt and Jahrling finally confirm that they did not catch the lethal virus by sniffing the virus. Decon The Army on the last day of the operation found a freezer of dead infected monkeys that was sent to the decon team for treatment. The decon team also treated the entire monkey house to remove any remaining traces of the monkeys including body fluids. The whole building was sterilized. Milton recovered and it was finally discovered that the virus was not Ebola Zaire and was only fatal for the monkeys. The origin of the virus was not determined. The Most Dangerous Strain The Monkey house continued to cause the same problems and monkeys that were imported later died again. Thus the building remained empty afterwards. The virus discovered in the monkey was a variation of Ebola Zaire but not lethal for humans; it was named Reston. Meanwhile CDC increased restrictions on monkey importation. Part 4: Kitmun Cave: Highway The book ends on the note that the virus such as these are important so as to ensure that the human population or that of any other species does not increased beyond limitations. Virus such as AIDS and Ebola mutate with the changing environment which makes them more potent. These viruses will continue to come back in one form or another. Work Cited Preston, Richard, The Hot Zone, USA: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2012, Print Read More