Summary and Analysis: The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
Introduction To microbiology | The Hot Zone by Richard Preston | Tiffany Burgess | 5/29/2013 |
A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rainforest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of it’s victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientist is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this “hot virus”. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving detail accounts of this rare and lethal virus and how it crashes into the human race. This book proves that truth is really scarier than fiction. |
Preston's Hot Zone
Scientists are unsure of what kind of host that Ebola lives in, or how it jumps from host to host. No one knows exactly where filoviruses come from. Ebola has been occurring in microbreaks in Africa for some time now. A virus doesn’t usually kill it’s natural host because then it couldn’t jump species easily. Ebola is believed to have originated from monkeys in
Africa. Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River, a tribune of the Congo River. There are three filoviruses: Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan and Marburg. Ebola Zaire is the most lethal strain, Ebola
Zaire first occurred in 1976. Ebola Zaire kills 9 out of 10 that it infects. Marburg is the nicest of the three. Marburg Virus: Headache begins on the seventh day, then severe back pain, nausea, fever, vomiting, dry heaves, eyes become paralytic, sullen, yellowish skin with red speckles, memory loss, skin begins to liquefy, virus cells attempt to turn the host into themselves, many blood clots which lead to stroke and brain damage. The final stage occurs when the victim has their intestines rip open and they bleed from all the orfices while the virus looks for a new host. Ebola Zaire: attacks every organ and tissue other than skeletal muscle and bone. It turns everything into virus particle slime, made up of 7 proteins and works relentlessly. Small
A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rainforest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of it’s victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientist is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this “hot virus”. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving detail accounts of this rare and lethal virus and how it crashes into the human race. This book proves that truth is really scarier than fiction. |
Preston's Hot Zone
Scientists are unsure of what kind of host that Ebola lives in, or how it jumps from host to host. No one knows exactly where filoviruses come from. Ebola has been occurring in microbreaks in Africa for some time now. A virus doesn’t usually kill it’s natural host because then it couldn’t jump species easily. Ebola is believed to have originated from monkeys in
Africa. Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River, a tribune of the Congo River. There are three filoviruses: Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan and Marburg. Ebola Zaire is the most lethal strain, Ebola
Zaire first occurred in 1976. Ebola Zaire kills 9 out of 10 that it infects. Marburg is the nicest of the three. Marburg Virus: Headache begins on the seventh day, then severe back pain, nausea, fever, vomiting, dry heaves, eyes become paralytic, sullen, yellowish skin with red speckles, memory loss, skin begins to liquefy, virus cells attempt to turn the host into themselves, many blood clots which lead to stroke and brain damage. The final stage occurs when the victim has their intestines rip open and they bleed from all the orfices while the virus looks for a new host. Ebola Zaire: attacks every organ and tissue other than skeletal muscle and bone. It turns everything into virus particle slime, made up of 7 proteins and works relentlessly. Small