Hot Zone by Richard Preston- November Book Club Online

[MaryPage]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  Everyone is welcome.

November Book Club Online  Will you join us?

The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
by Richard Preston

It reads like a detective thriller, but it's a true story--how the Ebola virus was discovered, and what happened when it turned up in a research lab just a few miles from Washington, DC. "When Richard Preston's novel "The Hot Zone" was published in 1995, it was, for many, their first introduction to the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses.  Nearly two decades later, Ebola has infected hundreds of people in three countries across West Africa, in what is considered the worst outbreak in history. As fear over the deadly virus grows, we need a reminder of what we learned so long ago from Preston." British Broadcasting Corporation BBC

DISCUSSION SCHEDULE:

PART ONE: The Shadow of Mount Elgon
Nov. 1 - 5~  First three chapters--Something in the Forest, Jumper, Diagnosis (Africa, 1980)
Nov. 6-9~  Next three chapters--A Woman and a Soldier, Project Ebola, Total Immersion (Maryland, 1983)
Nov 10-13~ Last three chapters--Ebola River(Africa, 1976), Cardinal(Africa, 1987), Going Deep

PART TWO: The Monkey House
Nov. 14-17~First seven chapters--Reston, Into Level Three, Exposure, Thanksgiving, Medusa, The First Angel, The Second Angel (Maryland, Virginia, 1989)
Nov. 17-?~Last six chapters--Chain of Command, Garbage Bags, Space Walk, Shoot-out, The Mission, Reconnaissnce

For Your Consideration
Nov. 14-?

1. As you follow the search for answers at Reston and Fort Detrick, what things did people do wrong?  What did they do right?
2. What did you think of the strange techniques needed for electron microscopy?
3. Could you have faced three weeks in the Slammer?  What makes it so hard to tolerate?




RELEVANT LINKS:
Prediscussion
BBC Ebola Primer
Mt. Elgon National Park

  

Discussion Leader: PatH

My impression back in the nineties when I first read this book was that Preston is one of those writers who wants rather desperately to bring an understanding of the known science about the dreadful diseases that inflict our lives and the lives of our pets and of the animal kingdom (foot & mouth disease, rabies, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Hanta virus, influenza, polio, measles, mumps, chicken pox, smallpox, West Nile, Enteroviruses, and so on and on;  the public is really not stopping to think on these, but assuming "they" are taking care of them) and he believes the way to do that is to write a thriller and pack it with interesting people who show all of the very most human attributes and do not appear as father-figure gods in white coats, as most folk view members of the medical community.  I think he is reaching out to capture those who have never spent any time learning about these threats, but only reacted in panics and to vast amounts of misinformation.  In short, I think he is serving up a learning process in spoonfuls of ice cream to make the medicine go down, as it were.

Which I believe is indeed a service to the general public.  People need to know these FACTS on the ground, as it were, and any method that captures their attention is a good way, as long as it contains only truth.  And we need to know that "they" do NOT know it all and that our government needs tax dollars to teach and train and pay real people who have families to support and equip them with the machines and materials required to do the job of attempting to make us all safe from these threats to our health and well being.  In short, the public needs to follow the whole picture from A to Z.  These "gods" cannot take care of us without our cooperation and approval, and they have not been getting nearly enough of either.

[JoanP]

I really enjoy reading the different views on Preston's book.  If it werent' for the fact that this is Non-Fiction - and well-researched, especially the many interviews the conducted with these characters (the Jaax husband and wife, included)...I might be inclined to agree that Richard Preston is attempting to influence his readers in a certain way.  But no, this isn't fiction.  Nancy Jaax did go into the "hot" Level4 Lab  with a deep gash in her hand - and without inspecting her space suit for the tiny hole that was there from the day before.  This was NOT fiction.  We can decide how we feel about her action, but Richard Preston had little to do with our conclusions, in my opinion.

I'm not in a position to comment on the relevance of Jerry Jaax' brother's murder as I haven't finished the book - though almost done with this section - up to the Jaax Thanksgiving dinner in Wichita...and Tom Geisbert's discovery of the virus that is killing the monkeys in the 80s.

Do you think the fact that this book was written 20 years ago when little was known of the Ebola virus has something to do with the way Preston has portrayed it?   Do you think that because we are reading his book now - while the virus threatens  West Africa, we are reacting to his book in a different way we would have  when so little was known of the virus?  

Does anyone wonder why the virus cases are receding now in Liberia?  Does Ebola have a shelf life?  Wouldn't it be grand if the same thing happens in Sierra Leone?
Does anyone know how the New York doctor, Dr. Spencer's virus was diagnosed?  Was it in fact Ebola Zaire?  

Posting together, Mary Page!    I agree with what you say>



 

[Ella Gibbons]

And I agree MARY PAGE and JOANP.  I hope many people read the book and perhaps that is why he deliberately titled the book THE HOT ZONE?   Who knows?

JoanP, I would hope that the hundreds of soldiers that the USA has sent over to West Africa has been of some help with reducing the patients dying; weren't they to build quarantine shelters, and possibly, under the guidelines of local doctors they can be of further help.  I must google this and come back with more information.

I am amused at the example of the money to pay for cooperation.  Here in our country it is paying Congressman for cooperation.

A roadblock of fallen trees - or cut trees.  How elementary and how beter to control traffic.  Sounds a bit llke our American Revolution against the British.

The CDC Dr. Breman, poor fellow, was terrified after being called to go to Africa on assignment --believing he was going there to die leaving a wife and children in Michigan.   But he went, the job required it.

And then, what heartache to realize that the victims he had come to help received the virus from the hospital. 

Perhaps it is just in my family, but we have had two relatives who caught infections after surgery in a hospital and it took a long time to recover, much longer than they should have.  My BIL even had to go to a nursing home for a couple of months after relative minor surgery.  Makes one a bit doubtful.  But we have no alternative and neither did they in Africa.

[PatH]

I think the only relevance of Jerry Jaax's brother's murder is that Jerry took it very hard; for a long time he would get depressed about it.  So it's part of the background of what's going in the characters' minds.

All the current Ebola cases seem to be Zaire, but I'll keep a lookout for specific reference to spencer.

[Ella Gibbons]

In October:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/17/u-s-soldiers-get-just-four-hours-of-ebola-training.html#

[Ella Gibbons]

UPDATED - click on arrow on the map

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/01/military-goes-to-africa-ebola-mission/16526873/

[PatH]

Ella, I note that one of the people quoted in this last article is Tom Giesbert, who we meet in the book.

I would certainly want more than 4 hours of safety training, but it's probably enough unless the soldiers get more hazardous assignments, in which case they will probably get more.

[JoanK]

ELLA: thanks for keeping us updated.

[PatH]

Let's start talking about Part Two: The Monkey House (but of course,we can always continue with previous sections too).  It's a continuous story, but it's long, so let's start with the first seven chapters: Reston, Into Level Three, Exposure, Thanksgiving, Medusa, The First Angel, The Second Angel.  We can read the rest of Part Two as we go, and feed it in when we're ready.

[ginny]

If it werent' for the fact that this is Non-Fiction - and well-researched, especially the many interviews the conducted with these characters (the Jaax husband and wife, included)...I might be inclined to agree that Richard Preston is attempting to influence his readers in a certain way.  But no, this isn't fiction. 

Some of it is, unfortunately.  Despite being non fiction and well researched, he's already admitted that nobody cried tears of blood,  he made that up. (Isn't that the definition of fiction?)_ he exaggerated that one. And I don't think that's the only thing he has....  manipulated.... a bit.

The fact that a book is non  fiction does not mean every word in it is the Word of Truth or the Word of God and should be taken as such without examination.

We know that from the news. The same "non fiction" facts as they are presented on the news every night. Depending on which TV station you watch, CNN, Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, you get a completely different slant on the way that supposedly  "non fiction" fact is presented, and sometimes you'd really not know you were hearing the same news. I am thinking of the recent Furguson (sp)_  situation. i know for a fact that Fox reported a situation not far from me erroneously as "fact, not fiction," and they were wrong. Not only were they wrong, they never corrected the first erroneous impression they gave.  They just left it out there.


I think that no matter where a "non fiction" fact appears: on TV, in a book, in the newspaper, on the internet, a wise person will question the source and the slant as to how it's presented.

But I CAN see that nobody agrees with me here, which is OK, too. 

[MaryPage]

Ginny, I totally agree with your logic.  Totally.  So please do not feel isolated.  I daresay most, if not all, of us agree with you.

As you say, there may or may not be some little tweaks of fact in this book;  I did not notice, but I feel reassured about the writing on the whole because some of the doctors (perhaps most of the ones still alive;  I am not making any attempt to keep score) are still contributing to his latest writings on the same subject.  I don't believe they would hurt their own reputations by continuing to be interviewed and quoted by him if they found him to be misrepresenting the facts in any way.

[ginny]

What a nice thing to say, MaryPage. Thank you.

[Ella Gibbons]

Ginny,  I totally agree with  you also.   We must not believe everything we read, even though it is labeled "non fiction" nor should we believe everything we hear on TV.   Think of the other non fiction books we have discussed here where the author has injected conversations he has no knowledge of through research or person.

Most of us are careful readers, not always, but we make the effort in non fiction.

What I meant by influencing the public by the book is that after picking up the book because of the title (you must admit the title can be interpreted many ways)  people may learn something about Ebola,  its dangers, and the suffering of those afficted and dying.  They may pick it up it at a libary or a bookstore, I'm sure you skim books, too.

I'm not sure at this point why Preston titled the book as he did.

I'm not finished reading the book, keeping on schedule for once.

[Ella Gibbons]

I had never heard of camphor trees (pg. 86) - lovely trees

https://www.google.com/search?q=photo+of+camphor+tree&biw=1111&bih=715&tbm=isch&imgil=nuwDplau4YYrYM%253A%253BsfDgdg4F152JHM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fawordfromjapan.wordpress.com%25252F2012%25252F04%25252F30%25252F%25252525E3%2525252582%25252525AF%25252525E3%2525252582%25252525B9%25252525E3%2525252583%252525258E%25252525E3%2525252582%25252525AD%25252525E3%2525252580%2525252580kusu-no-ki-camphor-tree%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=nuwDplau4YYrYM%253A%252CsfDgdg4F152JHM%252C_&usg=__eE5JKUc0ILICn8gLCkDy9sedMSg%3D&ved=0CEAQyjc&ei=eZ1mVKmMCcH8yQSd5IGACA#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=nuwDplau4YYrYM%253A%3BsfDgdg4F152JHM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fawordfromjapan.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F04%252Fdscn40561.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fawordfromjapan.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F04%252F30%252F%2525E3%252582%2525AF%2525E3%252582%2525B9%2525E3%252583%25258E%2525E3%252582%2525AD%2525E3%252580%252580kusu-no-ki-camphor-tree%252F%3B4000%3B3000

[JoanP]

Oh Ginny - no one is saying that every book of nonFcition must be taken as fact...but  this book has the science, which can be verified...and as Mary Page just put it -

"Doctors, (perhaps most of the ones still alive ...are still contributing to his latest writings on the same subject.  I don't believe they would hurt their own reputations by continuing to be interviewed and quoted by him if they found him to be misrepresenting the facts in any way."  

.

And the Jaax couple, surely they would have spoken up if he mis-stated their actions.

As much as we read in today's news of the risks of health care providers to the Ebola patients, I'm beginning to appreciate the scientists, who are risking so much attempting to identify the virus killing the Reston monkeys.  Hair-raising moments in Level4 Lab - as Richard Preston describes it here!

Ella, an interesting question.  Where is this "hot zone" of which Richard Preston writes?   My guess...wherever the fibrovirus turns up.  What do you think?

[MaryPage]

I thought it explained that in the book.  One of my daughters has my copy.  But my impression for simply years now has been that that is what those most involved with the outbreak in the lab in Reston, Virginia (my family and I lived nearby at the time!) called it, and that Preston simply used THEIR terminology for his title.  It seemed like a natural to me.  But at this moment, when I no longer have the book in my hands, I cannot prove that my memory is correct.  Perhaps as you are reading that section, one of you will be the first to see those words used by one of the doctors involved.
Yes, I just Googled these words: "define hot zone," and you can, too.  Apparently our dictionaries say a hot zone is any area that it is dangerous for humans to enter.  The cause could be a chemical spill or any one of a number of reasons.
  

[PatH]

I don't remember where or if Preston defines the term, but he is already using the words "hot" and "hot zone" in the chapters describing Nancy Jaax first using a space suit, and dissecting Ebola monkeys.

[PatH]

This morning's Washington Post has an article describing how aid workers in one section of Liberia reduced the number of new cases by working hard to gain the trust of the locals.  They redesigned the treatment center so outsiders could see what was going on, and talk with patients across a transparent fence.  They buried the dead in marked graves, in the presence of family members, with ceremonies.  (No touching, obviously)  As a result, more patients came to the center immediately, and transmission was damped down.

Of course, cases are declining in Liberia anyway, so it's hard to separate out the different causes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/ebola-cases-plummet-in-liberian-hot-spot-as-aid-groups-gain-community-trust/2014/11/14/5b2efc18-6b88-11e4-a31c-77759fc1eacc_story.html

[ginny]

And the new People Magazine has an article by the nurse in the US  who got Ebola and who still maintains she was not in any way exposed to any fluids. It's interesting.  It looks like the fluid replacement  thing is very important tho she makes the case that the veins collapse (if I understood that correctly) so it's hard to do injections. I expect this is online as well. She said she feels very lucky to be alive.

Ella, thank you. Actually I thought of you in your discussion of the doctor in ...was it the antarctic....who operated on herself and your questioning quite a bit about that book.

Happy Belated Birthday, by the way!  I seem to remember you in London catching sight of your birthday as portrayed in an ad in the Tube.

[PatH]

Now we're into a sort of detective story, as they track down what's going on with the monkeys, and finally, at the end of this chunk, realize they have Ebola Zaire on their hands.  Next step--how to handle it?

This story hits close to home, as I'm just across the river from Hazelton Labs, and at various times have known people who worked there.  I used to get samples from them too--not from monkeys, though, mostly rabbit antibodies.  By 1989, though, I didn't have any dealings with them, and could only follow the story in the newspapers, where there was a lag in information, but I was acutely aware of the incident, even though I didn't know details.

[JoanK]

t is so easy to give a false impression (deliberately, or completely accidentally) because of the point of view adapted or the facts selected. It's always wise to ask "How would things look different from over here?

A deliberate attempt I know of: a newsworthy event happened involving my children's elementary school, and was followed over days on all the TV stations. The school's students were almost completely white (in our typically segregated suburb) but the cameramen always followed the few black students (all the kids suddenly wanted to walk to school with the little black girl across the street because they knew they'd be on TV if they did -- kids aren't stupid) and shot pictures in my daughter's classroom, that had the only black teacher.

[MaryPage]

That is so amazing.  Our media here has been SO over that sort of thing for simply decades now!

[ginny]

OH wow, i just looked at the heading, I am behind again!!

I just finished reading about Jerry Jaxx's brother, what a sad thing, imagine finding your husband like that.  I hope it has some relevance to the plot.

Oh JoanK, yes, that type of thing definitely happened and happens. I guess they think we're too stupid to notice what they're doing. Or we are believing what we see.  I really thought CNN at the Ferguson thing had a lot to answer for.

PatH,  Hazelton Labs used to send you rabbit antibodies? Did you ever notice any irregularity in  how they came to you? Did you get pieces of meat in tin foil or stuff like we're reading here? (Obviously I know nothing about the transfer of antibodies). hahahaa

This is a good question in the heading:  1. As you follow the search for answers at Reston and Fort Detrick, what things did people do wrong? What did they do right?

And here right at the beginning is   yet another ....what do you call these things where...you've got a mystery meat wrapped in tin foil and it's leaking out? Another transfer of dangerous substances...is this common? Was it then?

This IS an exciting section in the book. I stopped dead tho with the crab eating monkeys, which,  when stared at,  fling themselves at the person. That very thing happened to me as a child but it was the famous gorilla in the Philadelphia zoo and it scared me half to death. They should have  put a sign don't stare at giant black gorilla. Thank goodness all those shatterproof panes of glass held or I wouldn't be here to talk about it.  But that is exactly what happened. What a week this has been for olde  Philadelphia memories.

Anyway how ironic the musing of Jahrling to the other man, "Good thing  this ain't Marburg," and they chuckled. Now how can anybody stop reading at this point?

And then the sniffing.

Very suspensful. I have to wonder if this happened today if they would be taking photographs around to various offices or sending them digitally and if digitally if that would help speed a diagnosis or not? If that would cause any difference in the detection?

That was a very excitingly written sequence of events. I am still wondering about the diamond knife, will it have significance later on? Or is it a red herring.

[pedln]

That's a good question, Ginny,  would there have been an earlier diagnosis if the photos were sent digitally.  My first thought was yes, but the tests will still take time, and these people didn't waste any time trying to mail photos and images.  They walked them or drove them to the next recipient as fast as they coould.  So I don't think being digital would make much of a difference timewise.

I can't answer the question yet about what, if anything, did they do wrong.  That needs more examination.  But there were things they did right.  One, right off the bat, was Dan Dalgard's Chronology of Events in which he provided detailed happenings among the monkeys.  Another thing done right was Peter Jahrling's double checking and double testing to make sure his first diagnosis was correct. Another plus for these folks was that they didn't pussy-foot around.  When a  problem was diagnosed, it was moved right up the line.  Very decisive leadership.

Do you think Preston has tossed us any red herrings?  I can't seem to bring up page numbers with my iPad App, but this is from the chapter that ends just before Thanksgiving.  Talking about Tom Geisbert.

"But now, his mind was on the hunting season.  .   .    .  planning to drive his Ford Bronco, but it had broken down; so one of his buddies met him .   .    .  set off on his hunting trip.  When a filovirus begins to amplify itself .  .   . in the bloodstream.  Then comes the headache."

[pedln]

That's interesting, PatH, your previous experience with the Hazelton Company.

That's one of the things I’ve been trying to sort out here -- the different individuals and locations and their respective positions.


First off – Reston Primate Quarantine Unit – owned by Hazelton Research Products (actually Corning Glass), involved with importation and sale of monkeys.  (The Monkey House)

Dan Dalgard, dr of vet. Medicine.  Employed by another Corning firm but on call to the Monkey House.  Primates are his specialty.       Hazelton and Dalgard are NOT part of the military.

Bill Volt, manager at the Monkey House.  Works with Dalgard.

Fort Detrick – Army base near Frederick, MD.  Site of USAMRID --  US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectous Diseases --   simply called The Institute.

Peter Jahrling – civilian, virologist, most of his career has been at Fort Detrick, with the Institute.  Specialty – killer and unknown viruses.  Thought the packaging of monkey samples from Reston pretty sloppy.

Tom Geisberg –civilian, intern at the Institute. Worked with the electron microscope – photographed small (minute) particles. Big outdoorsman.  Jahrling is his boss.

Gene Johnson – civilian biohazard expert; in charge of Ebola research program at the Institute; deathly afraid of Ebola. Mapped Kitum Cave in 1986.  1988 – persuaded Army to sponsor  U.S. –Kenya expedition searching  for viruses in Kitum Cave.  He considered the expedition a failure because they didn’t find anything and had to euthanize healthy monkeys.

More to come, I haven't forgotten the Jaaxes, and the others.

[hysteria2]

As late as 1957, there was a case of Black Death reported near Albuquerque where I was staying. Some of the wild animals in the New Mexico desert still carried it. I imagine it's completely wiped out by now.

Sadly this is not the case. We still have a few cases of plague every summer here in New Mexico. If someone contracts the disease in NM, odds are he/she will survive because physicians here are on the lookout for it. However, if that person contracts the disease and then travels out of the area (like back east, for instance), the outcome may not be so good, because it is not common elsewhere.

[PatH]

Ginny, all the samples I got from Hazelton were clean-looking liquids in small glass bottles.  We were paying them to immunize rabbits and send us the serum containing the antibodies.  If they had ever sent us a dripping wad of foil, they wouldn't have gotten any more orders from us.  It wasn't done at the monkey house.

To be fair, Dan Dalgard was a veterinarian working at a quarantine facility.  Maybe he wasn't used to packing his own samples.

What a scary experience with the gorilla!  I must say I don't care for the personalities of these monkeys.

[MaryPage]

I seem to remember in reading about the experiences of some folks who have studied the most primitive and uncivilized tribes they could find around this planet that a frequent tabu was to look someone directly in the eyes when speaking to them.  So perhaps it is something innate in all primates.  Cats seem to feel direct eye contact a no-no, as well.

[JoanP]

Hysteria - that is a sobering thought!  "a few cases of plague every summer here in New Mexico. If someone contracts the disease in NM, odds are he/she will survive because physicians here are on the lookout for it."
But if a traveler takes it back east where it is unfamiliar, he might not survive it!  That's the "unlucky"   Ginny was talking about...

In the case of the Reston monkeys, it was "lucky" there were virus hunters who were somewhat familiar with the filovirus in close proximity - able to move fast - and contain it. 

Pat - was word of the Reston virus widely published at the time - outside of your scientific circles?  Why wasn't I panicked I wonder?  I was raising my little family in the next county - 5 miles away in Arlington.  Can't believe I was so busy, I wasn't aware of such a threat!

[JoanP]

Maybe that's why I love dogs...making eye contact with those big expressive eyes. Mary Page!

I meant to say that I really like the way Preston has filled out the scientists' personalities - not just given them names, but brings them out as strong individuals.  I feel certain he wouldn't exaggerate them.  One thing I noticed about them - they didn't always stick to the rules, to protocol, in their pursuit of answers. And they didn't always report things that might interfere with their  tests...like sniffing the unknown substance in the tubes, which  turned out to be a dangerous filovirus.  Even after they learned how dangerous this had been...they still wanted to be sure they actually contracted something before being condemned to the Slammer.

This helped me to understand Nancy Jaax a little better - why she didn't risk being taken from the lab by reporting  the wound in her hand.  Somehow she doesn't seem as much a renegade as she did at first - ready to take a chance for science.  Nothing to do with being male/female?  Perhaps this is a characteristic of a scientist?  Are they all this dedicated?  

[MaryPage]

Yes, there was a LITTLE, but only a little, bit of information about the Reston problem back around the time it was ongoing.  It was enough to make me, at the time, feel queasy about what was going on and what might be threatening my children.  Being an army brat by birth, and having an awareness of both nuclear and biological threats to an extent to cause a constant weight within my mind, I cut out and still have some newspaper clippings.  I was going through them just the other day, brittle yellowed pages from The Washington Post and other local papers, and I find I neglected entirely to write the DATES in the margins!  Bad on me!  I had thought to share some with you, but I don't feel not having the dates would be helpful.  This afternoon, I will make it a point to go through those yet again and see if there is something too good not to share.  Needless to say, I scooped up and tore through THE HOT ZONE just as soon as it was published.
Most of us flinch from the onerous duty of reading a textbook-like telling of the history of the study of a disease-causing agent.  BORE - - - ING!  It is for this reason I feel so deeply that Preston does us a big service in offering the same thing up in an almost fiction-like recipe.  He gives us the PERSONALITIES of those involved in the real life drama.  And drama it was!  But stop and think about it:  we are all much more interested in the life stories of those we know than of those we have never met.  Thus, in order for us to retain the information about what happened, Preston needed to introduce us intimately to the real people involved.

[MaryPage]

This is the physician who headed the team who went into Reston and finally contained the Ebola outbreak there in the monkey lab.  He also wrote VIRUS HUNTER, which I am hoping you will read as a follow up to The Hot Zone.  Seventy-four years old now, he is still working, and I doubt he will ever quit. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._Peters

[JoanK]

MARY PAGE: how interesting that you saved newspaper clips from the time. I hope you will share, date or no.

Also living in the area, I was oblivious at the time.

[PatH]

Perhaps this is a characteristic of a scientist?  Are they all this dedicated?

JoanP

It's not exactly dedication, it's excitement.  You are caught up in what you are doing, and care so much about it that risk (at least some risk) seems secondary.

The incident was reported in the Washington Post, but was downplayed somewhat.  I don't remember being worried, but of course I was a lot farther away.

[MaryPage]

There is something I am trying very hard NOT to be upset by, but it is a hard struggle for me, and that is this:  it is true that I have heard quick passing comments among the "talking heads" on the news and the newsy programs, such as the ones I listen to religiously on Sunday mornings:  Meet The Press and Face The Nation and This Week, etc., to the effect that there are people "out there" who think that A. The whole "Ebola thing" is a hoax or B. It is a conspiracy on the part of the government to cut down on and control the population, and so on and on from C to Z.  And I have been appalled, but paid it very little mind, thinking it was a very tiny but vocal rant coming from the very mentally ill.

Then this afternoon I went hunting for Doctor Peters and found whole newspaper and magazine and internet blog articles and Youtube videos, VIDEOS, for crying out loud, saying all the same things!  And now I am wondering how large a number of obviously literate and technologically gifted human beings are OFF THEIR GOURDS, and if this is not a much greater threat to the safety and well being of my great grandchildren than is the dread Ebola!

[JoanK]

Oh my, MARY PAGE. I can see why you're upset!

Any one can talk on the internet. I wonder who reads these things? Do my grandchildren, who are just starting to explore the internet? I like to think even they have enough sense to know that's nonsense. But obviously someone doesn't.

[bellamarie]

I have finally caught up in my chapters and all I can say is WOW!  How could so many experts come in contact with these viruses and not come down with it?  The risks they are taking, not quarantined, and flying and going from town to town, and different military facilities is just astounding to me.  I shudder just reading how they take the decision into their own hands not revealing they have sniffed, whiffed, or inhaled the virus from a test tube is beyond me.  Now we have the egotistical men trying to take ownership for discovery so much so, they are putting themselves and others in danger.  Oh how I am shaking my head with dismay.  I truly can see this happening in politics today.  They don't want the public to know, they hide real events, and yes, put the general public in harms way because of their arrogance.

I found this article today, I have not watched much television over the weekend, so I am not sure if they had even reported this doctor flew into the U.S.  I am more than certain they are keeping the number of patients that have Ebola in the U.S. out of the media as best as possible.  It is almost not even discussed any longer on the news since the election took place. 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/11/17/surgeon-who-contracted-ebola-virus-in-sierra-leone-dies-at-nebraska-hospital/

pedln,

Then there are times when I wonder if Preston is trying to fill up space.  Why did he feel it necessary to tell his readers about the murder of Jerry Jaax's brother.  Devastating, sad, but not really pertinent to the subject.  Likewise, similar feelings about his description of Nancy's father.

I found myself asking the same questions I hear some of you asking, why is the author bringing in people who are not pertinent to the story.  Why keep telling us how Jerry Jaax is depressed?  I did not find Nancy Jaax at all "cardboard" even though I did find her irresponsible in not filing an incident report about her cut hand.  She is back on the scene and very important to the story.  I did find bit too many names and places in these last few chapters hard to keep up with.  I had to shut down my ipad and take a break.

MaryPage, I too have read articles online about the theory the government is preparing to thin the population, and there are actual pictures of thousands and thousands of rows of coffins in remote areas waiting to be filled.  Now how crazy is that!  But I have seen the pictures and have wondered, what the heck are all those coffins for.  I choose not to get caught up in the baseless theories and the scare tactics of this virus.  I believe the American public is not being told everything, we are not getting the correct numbers as to how many are being treated here in the U.S. with this virus.  Most media stations refused to air anything whatsoever on it, and went as far as blaming the ones who did cover it as being fear mongers.  Oh what a crazy, political world we live in.    

[PatH]

I don't watch television news, but the Washington Post has certainly had a continuing flow of stories about Martin Salia, the doctor who just died, telling when he got sick, when they decided to fly him here, what hospital he went to when he arrived, etc, including a long one this morning about how critical his condition had become.  My edition goes to bed too early to have his death this morning in it, but it's already on their website.

[PatH]

It looks like we're ready to add on the rest of "The Monkey House".  I've put the chapter names in the heading.  Of course we can still talk about earlier stuff, and current news.

[JoanP]

Pedln's handy little chart should help keep the names straight, Bella.  As the realization that this is a really contagious filovirus grows, more and more people from the CDC and the Army become involved.  As Preston has portrayed them, they become more and more likeable, don't they?  He makes you care about them.  I'm so afraid something will happen to Dan Dalgard.  He had handled and dissected the dead monkeys - without sufficient protection. I'm still not sure he'll survive this.

Tom Geisbert is another one...a young intern, working with that electron microscope - his "diamond knife with the sharpest cutting edge on earth."  Didn't you fear for him when you read that?  
His electron microscope provided a digital readout..
.
His breath stopped as he began to realize what he was looking at.  A filovirus!  Marburg?  How many days ago had he actually sniffed the the substance? 10 days ago? How deep did he sniff it?  The incubation period was 6-18 days.

Little by little he realizes this is serious!   I love the way Preston presents this and builds the suspense!