The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
I like to read in bed before I turn out the lights and go to sleep. The night I read the scene about Nancy Jaax, the Army veterinarian, who after cutting her hand at home, was assigned to enter a Level 4 hot zone to dissect a dead monkey, sleep wouldn't come. Dressed in a space suit and with gloves and boots taped on, she went in to do her job. The terrifying sensation when she felt something cold on her hand, will live in my mind for a very long time. And another seven minutes in decon with bleach and other chemicals being sprayed on her suit before she would be able to undress and assess the situation.
Nancy imagined a deadly virus replicating itself through her body. What would happen to her husband, children if she ended up in the isolation of what the Army called the Slammer. Her mind raced and mine raced right along with her. There was no restful sleep for me that night. The Hot Zone became daytime reading material only.
The Hot Zone is the true story of how close the United States came to a full fledged ebola outbreak long before the recent history of the virus traveling to the United States in 2014. This book traces the path of the virus from a bat filled cave in Eastern Africa to the man who visited this cave and is thought to have been its human host. The Hot Zone reads like a novel with characters all fighting for position, research monkeys daring the humans to mess with them and a deadly virus who will outsmart them all.
The Hot Zone will get your heart racing and all you didn't know about ebola will become clear. This is cringe worthy but fascinating stuff. Read it because you will learn something you may know little about. Read it because it's an exciting page turning story. Read it because human life is much more fragile than we want to believe.
I like to read in bed before I turn out the lights and go to sleep. The night I read the scene about Nancy Jaax, the Army veterinarian, who after cutting her hand at home, was assigned to enter a Level 4 hot zone to dissect a dead monkey, sleep wouldn't come. Dressed in a space suit and with gloves and boots taped on, she went in to do her job. The terrifying sensation when she felt something cold on her hand, will live in my mind for a very long time. And another seven minutes in decon with bleach and other chemicals being sprayed on her suit before she would be able to undress and assess the situation.
Nancy imagined a deadly virus replicating itself through her body. What would happen to her husband, children if she ended up in the isolation of what the Army called the Slammer. Her mind raced and mine raced right along with her. There was no restful sleep for me that night. The Hot Zone became daytime reading material only.
The Hot Zone is the true story of how close the United States came to a full fledged ebola outbreak long before the recent history of the virus traveling to the United States in 2014. This book traces the path of the virus from a bat filled cave in Eastern Africa to the man who visited this cave and is thought to have been its human host. The Hot Zone reads like a novel with characters all fighting for position, research monkeys daring the humans to mess with them and a deadly virus who will outsmart them all.
The Hot Zone will get your heart racing and all you didn't know about ebola will become clear. This is cringe worthy but fascinating stuff. Read it because you will learn something you may know little about. Read it because it's an exciting page turning story. Read it because human life is much more fragile than we want to believe.
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