Summary Of Part One: The Shadow Of Mt. Elgon

Where it all began
Taking many innocent lives
And spreading quickly
In Part One: The Shadow of Mt. Elgon, the author Richard Preston describes the initial interaction between humans and the Ebola virus. The first victim introduced in the book was Charles Monet, who worked on a sugar plantation in western Kenya. His exposure to the Ebola virus occurred on New Year's day in 1980 while him and his woman "friend" ventured to Mount Elgon and visited the Kitum Cave. Kitum Cave is believed to be the location of the initial exposure to Ebola, and days after Charles returned from his trip, he began experiencing the initial symptoms of the Ebola virus which includes a headache, red eyes, and a backache. There wasn't a single doctor that could explain
This newly discovered strain of Ebola has researchers interested, but they’re approaching the facility with many safety precautions. For example, they were required to wear protective suits and were expected to take a ten minute break after every one hour of work inside of the faciliy. Nancy Jaax and her husband Jerry would constantly remind their young privates to be cautious, to amplify the severity of the situation. Even though this newly discovered Ebola strain isn't deadly to humans; Ebola's ability to transform and adjust to new environments strikes fear into researchers knowing there's a possibility of a potential mutation in the virus. The military's take over of the Reston Monkey house was predictable, yet necessary. Strict precautions needed to be enforced and the military was the best fit for a successful lock down of the Reston virus. The killing of the monkey's was sad, but the threat of spreading the virus proves necessary for this situation. This piece was significant to the book because it once again strengthens the severity of the situation, it scares the audience into believing that this is a life or death scenario with all of the prearranged precautions being followed through by the U.S. Military. This relates to the most recent outbreak because of the intensity, not only in safety protocols but the dedication to effectively remove the virus and
Having the author physically involve himself into the setting of where the entire story began encourages the reader to acquire a deeper appreciation for the author. Also knowing that the author purposefully put himself at risk to of contracting the deadly Ebola virus proves just how dedicated he is to his story; this truly refocuses the audiences attention. Having this experience more than likely shaped his opinions about Ebola and also helped him to effectively describe the setting of the cave. I found this part of the book most interesting because it was more about what happened after they discovered the Ebola virus it's 'the what's next' segment of the book and for me personally that's my favorite part, the ending. Looking back on all the events that happened, the ending allows you to stop and gather your thoughts and that’s exactly what Richard Preston needed to do in order to hold his audiences attention as he wraps up his book. Many advances have evolved from this outbreak and we're still getting better at controlling this deadly virus, in preparation for another potential outbreak, As proven in (Ebola: "We must finish the job"), "We went from global indifference, to global fear, to global response, and now to global fatigue. We must finish the job.” This quote simply proves that we're all learning from each individual case, we're all in this together and we will save as many lives as we can. This is similar