Hot Zone by Richard Preston- November Book Club Online

[hysteria2]

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. 17-21~ Last six chapters--Chain of Command, Garbage Bags, Space Walk, Shoot-out, The Mission, Reconnaissnce

PART THREE: Smashdown
Nov. 22-?~ Insertion, A Man Down, 91-Tangos, Inside, A Bad Day, Decon, The Most Dangerous Strain

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

Not everyone died from an infection before antibiotics came on the scene. An infection can run its course. Depending upon the disease, the body can develop antibodies to prevent a recurrence or at least lessen its impact. Unfortunately, some diseases like rheumatic heart disease develop because of a previous streptococcal infection, such as strep throat. The throat infection heals even without antibiotics, but damage is done to the heart valves. Many people died because of this. It's hard to image this today because all you have to do is take penicillin or a derivative for 7 - 10 days, and the streptococcus is wiped out before it can do any damage to the heart.

I enjoyed the suspense in this book. It does read like a mystery novel. I kept having to tell myself that this mystery was not fiction; it was very real. I am looking forward to reading some of Mr. Preston's other books.

[MaryPage]

I can remember being about 9 years old, Daddy was stationed on River & Harbour duty in the state of Florida at the time, and the headquarters of the Army Engineers was in Jacksonville, Florida.  There was a strep throat epidemic in our elementary school and a few children died of it.  I was sick.  Very, very, very sick.  Fortunately, my stepmother was a nurse, so I had the best of care right there at home.  And after the soreness subsided, the radio was brought into my bedroom and I got to listen to Soap Box Operas!  Heaven!

But I am here to tell you, children died.  We have come a long way, Baby;  but those bacteria and fungi and viruses have, too. 

[JoanK]

JONATHAN: "That's it!! That's why we're all living so much longer!! It's the preservatives. Let's give thanks."  So that's what people mean when they say I'm pickled? 

I'm glad we decided to read this chunk all at once: I'd read it before and knew how it ended, but still couldn't put it down. As in earlier sections, Preston really made me feel I'd been there.

I'm imagining myself at eighteen, suddenly thrust into a situation like that. I really admire these young men and women. And imagine being in charge and responsible for them, their safety, and that of countless others.

Some things Preston glosses over: what were the syringes found in the woods? Why was the lab's license taken away, than restored (do you think that's fair? Which?

[bellamarie]

Oh PatH., these chapters have me on the edge of my seat.  I am so shocked to read this:

pg. 245  At the edge of the lawn, behind the building, there was a line of underbrush and trees sloping down a hillside. Beyond that, there was a playground next to a day-care center.  They could hear shouts of children in the air, and when they looked through the underbrush, the could see bundled-up four-year olds swinging on swings, and racing around the playhouse.  The operations would be carried out near children.

How could they allow this to take place where children could possibly be affected?  Did they not know what was near their building?  Is this Preston turning up the danger?  I own my in home daycare, and I am such a child advocate, this sent chills down my spine.

Ginny, OUCH!  Just hearing UTI brought pain to me.  I have only had a couple of these infections in my lifetime and it is very painful as you know if you have experienced one attack.  Not sure you could die from a UTI, but the pain is horrific. My mother always drank cranberry juice and lots of water, which worked for her, so even though I used antibiotics I also immediately drank the cranberry juice and water.   Surprisingly this articles says to do just that!  

http://www.newportnaturalhealth.com/2014/08/cure-urinary-tract-infections-without-antibiotics/

[MaryPage]

People are not prescient, albeit there are books of fantasized fiction full of such.  There is no way any of the lab people or the Fort Dietrich people knew ahead of time that there would be that outbreak of Ebola in those monkeys destined for labs all over this country.  No way!  Not in their worst nightmares!  So there was no reason to scout the area before that lab went there;  and anyway, we have no clue as to which came first:  the lab or the playground.  But bottom line, either way, no one had any reason to be concerned prior to the events unfolding as they did.

[ginny]

Still struggling to catch up, I don't lack too many pages now but I agree that the tension has escalated and that it does read like a mystery.

Actually I am finding the struggles to contain the news fascinating.  I think this is probably representative of a lot of how our crises in this country were handled. I was so fascinated by the struggle with the  CDC and AMRID  if that's what it is, I don't have the book here,  I stopped and read it twice.

The author, in his attempt to make it more personal, in adding on these little tidbits about the human characters here has both succeeded and raised more questions than he has answered. I think a psychologist would have a field day with the Jaxx family.  It seems one reads along and then one has to stop and put exclamation points, so much is left out. How did Jaime, the latch key kid (how old is she?) get to her gymnastics? Her mother picked her up, how did she get there? It's a pretty long way away. Surely she did not walk? That's left out.  Perhaps a bus from the facility, that happens a lot. I see them in the pick up zone when I go to get my grandson. But that is a seque to the main theme, the containment of the virus. And since he seques SO much, it's no surprise that we here are doing so also.

He did that well but he's still throwing out red herrings. Or so I think. I have to say when she was fixing dinner I kept saying no no, not another CAN and knife! NO! hahahaa

450 monkeys. Again I have no problem knowing why the gentleman was throwing up, and I hope that's all it was.  I note Nancy Jaxxx was particularly careful lest they spit. Hopefully now these space suits have visors so that is no longer an issue.  Particularly gross rehash of the Termite Eater, really not a man I would care to come within a mile of. Disgusting.

But it's fascinating, and i note that now there's a bit of a disagreement between the principals as to what was actually said, did you all catch that?  Preston is reporting what they say in hindsight in his interviews for the book,  but it doesn't always seem to jibe with the recollections of others. I think that's interesting.

This IS a good book and it  WAS a spectacular choice and is beautifully led. I hope to finish it this afternoon, if I can stop rereading portions and marking it all up.

Bellamarie, oh yes I was the original Cranberry Girl.  There does seem to be some protective element but you have to drink an awful lot of it for it to work.  I also took the pills. I also took the chewy pills and the juice.  I always drink filtered water. However I should not have used the term UTI (I only did because of this being a public site) because there are several possibilities that covers, of varying severity:  a real UTI, a bladder infection,  and a kidney infection if it backs up from the bladder. Everybody's situation is different, and a real infection is a dangerous thing to fool with:  it is definitely possible to damage the kidneys if these things are not addressed, especially in children.  In fact I have a friend who was patiently waiting for the antibiotics to work for his kidney infection which seemed to get no better, when he ended up in the ER in kidney failure.  I really like the Mayo Clinic website. They also mention the possibility that cranberry juice might help stave off an infection by creating a hostile environment. Before infection. I would not try to cure an infection  with it, (I did, and it didn't work, lots of ugly results, too).   They are soothing and calming when one is panicked.

 I saw a comedian on TV the other day talking about the latest panic of Ebola and who was reciting the stats and who said, "of course according to Web MD, you already have it," and everybody roared. I don't know about WebMD, which I have never read,  but some of those internet sites (not the one you posted) would scare the crap out of anybody.

And now this morning comes word of the bird flu,  "The H5N8 avian influenza virus has been detected in a wild bird in .... pathogenic avian influenza confirmed at a turkey farm in northern Germany,  ..."

And the further worrying news that a wild goose has been found with a new strain of this virus, which, depending on which site you read, could  cause widespread panic throughout all Europe. People who raise fowl in Europe are being asked to be sure their birds are confined and that the coops have wire on top to keep out wild birds, lest it spread further. So here we go again!

It's so nice to be reading this book, isn't it? One feels more in control,  or at least that somebody is trying to take control of these virulent pathogens.

[MaryPage]

That last is precisely the comfort this book and Virus Hunter have given me, Ginny.  I came away feeling we, as a nation, have not been willing to put up enough resources to properly get us prepared for the next pandemic, BUT that those who are quite literally dedicating their lives to protecting us are there working day and night to do just that.  We need to educate and put to work more of them and give them more and better equipment.  But we probably won't.  We tend to be extremely shortsighted, and these books do not get enough readership.

[ginny]

Well said, MaryPage. I am enjoying you in a book discussion. 

I notice at the very end of the book there is a "Pedln" list of the characters. Is that true for all books or just this paperback? I wish he hadn't put it at the end, I was using Pedlns and probably will continue.

[hysteria2]

I read this book on my Kindle. While I love my Kindle and find it's a great way of having a multitude of books in my house without having to give up space, I feel it fell short as a means of reading a book for a discussion. Yes, it did include a list of characters as well as a glossary, but these were at the end. I did not even know they were there until I finished the book. I would have much preferred to see these at the beginning. I also would have liked to been able to go back and looked at pages again. Yes you can do this with a Kindle, but it is a bit more cumbersome. So for the next book club discussion, I will be buying the hard copy. Lesson learned!

[PatH]

450 monkeys.  One fact that Preston doesn't mention, but Peters does in Virus Hunters is that destroying one monkey represents a loss of about $1000.  You can see why Dan Dalgard was hesitant, though he did end up making correct decisiona.

[bellamarie]

Mary Page, 

But bottom line, either way, no one had any reason to be concerned prior to the events unfolding as they did.

I am questioning their actions once they knew there were sick monkeys in that building.  They have a man puking outside on the lawn, who possibly has the virus.  Dan is so scared he is sweating bullets, about what this could develop into. They hear 3 and 4 yr. old children playing in a park.  I would think it would be an immediate safety reaction, to evacuate that area with small children around.  I realize they did not want to cause panic, but where is the fine line of keeping it under wraps, and risking lives of these children?

Ginny, As I read these chapters, I have NO clue yet if anyone else gets this virus, or if anyone dies from it, but for some reason I keep reading it in a sense some did indeed die.  It could just be the overhype of Preston.  I did notice the list of characters in the back of the book a few days ago, after I had begun compiling my own list on my computer.  If only I had known, it would have saved me hours of typing.  Oh well.....who looks at the back of the book, before you get there. 

[JoanK]

BELLA: "Not sure you could die from a UTI" Yes, I almost did last year. Had no idea I even had one until I woke up in the middle of the night with scary symptoms, and was rushed to the hospital. My blood pressure was 60 over 40. I was in ICU for a week hooked up to a zillion tubes.

Part of the problem was that I never feel thirsty, so I don't drink enough. Now I'm on a water regimen -- I monitor my water consumption to make sure I'm drinking enough..

[JoanK]

I question some of the reactions to. But this came at them out of the blue: nothing they were prepared for or had any reason to expect. On the whole, I think they handled it well.

[Ella Gibbons]

I 'm packing to go out of town for a few days; just wanted to say thanks to all and many thanks to PATH, our Discussion Leader.  Good discussion!

[hysteria2]

Ella, I enjoyed reading your posts. Have a safe and pleasant journey.

[pedln]

Computer out for repairs. Not nimble on iPad.

This has been a terrific discussion, and one that will certainly lead most of us to further reading.  Preston's New Yorker article is hopefully still on my computer and I'd like to get hold of Peters'  Virus Hunters that MaryPagehas told us about.

Hysteria, I know what you mean about reading on the Kindle and book discussions.  It's hard to jump from one place to another and then get back to your original place.  My books also come to my computer (hopefully remaining) and there it is easy to search.  That's how I made my list of characters -- just searched each one by name throughout the book.

PatH, bless you for undertaking the leadership of this discussion, and thanks to everyone for helping make it a good one.

[MaryPage]

You will find VIRUS HUNTER as much of a thriller as THE HOT ZONE, albeit it is written by a doctor rather than a journalist.  And a Kindle version just will not do, as you will want to underline and highlight and go back and forth and forth and back.  He does NOT have an index, however.  Some photographs, but no lists.  You will particularly enjoy reading a different version of the Reston monkey house episode, complete with the same people.  You will also travel with him to foreign shores and meet new scary stuff.  Most of it will come back to you from the far recesses of the brain we keep briefly talked about news items in.  In fact, I found myself enormously surprised to discover there have been so very many outbreaks of different disease causing things, and I have simply never kept a mental list, as it were.  But most of them I read about AT THE TIME!
I suggest Thriftbooks as a place to get a really good, cheap copy.  Used.  Under $4.00, usually.

[bellamarie]

JoanK.,  Oh my, I had no idea a UTI could get that bad.  I only had two in my lifetime.  The first time, I like you, woke up in the middle of the night in so much pain and frequency to urinate, and I had no idea what was going on.  I called my older sister who is a nurse and she said it sounded like a UTI, to take any leftover antibiotics that may be in my house, and call the doctor first thing in the morning.  I truly suffered through the night, and found a few leftover antibiotics that I had from a upper respiratory a few weeks before this.  It calmed down my pain and symptoms, til I could get some from the doctor.  Thank you for sharing your experience, it will come in handy to know in the future.  So happy to see all worked out for you.

Ella, we will surely miss you when you are gone.  Safe travels and have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

I'm still behind in my reading, trying to get the house ready for turkey dinner.  I am hoping to pass this torch to a daughter in law soon, and just show up with dishes.  But until that happens, it's hi- ho- hi- ho.....off to prepare for this special day I go.  

[PatH]

It's not over yet, though Thanksgiving will slow us all down.  There's still one more chunk of the book, though a short one, plus a bit of bringing things up to date.

MaryPage, I agree with everything you say about Virus Hunter.

[hysteria2]

MaryPage, you don't know what you started! I had never heard of Thriftbooks. I just ordered Virus Hunter and signed up for their mailing list. I have a feeling the fun is just beginning. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm really looking forward to reading it.   

[MaryPage]

Delighted to be able to pass on the good news.  I have been buying from them for several years now.  They have MOST of what I want all the time!  Just use their search engine.  And the books are all they promise they will be, I swear!  Sometimes they look brand new.  Sometimes not, but are in very satisfactory shape.  I buy a lot of children's books from them for my many (23 and one on the way) great grandchildren.  More books for the bucks by a whole lot of moola!  Oh, and you can send books directly to another person!  I do that all the time, too;  and Thriftbooks has never, ever failed me!

Well okay, once several years ago.  I got a very good book, but not the one I ordered.  I phoned their customer service in a panic.  She asked me only questions about all the little numbers on the book I got and their order number for the one I didn't.  They sent me the book I HAD ordered pronto, and told me to keep the wrong one, which turned out to be a Great book!  You can't beat that kind of service.  They have just one whole lot of used bookstores all OVER this country!

So look for them to arrive in your mail soonest, in orange plastic wrappers.

[JoanK]

I ordered it from Thriftbooks 10$ cheaper than the kindle. Thanks.

I'm not one who takes notes in books: Kindle has a highlighting facility that is easier to use than a paper book IF you realize when you read a passage that you're going to want to refer back to it. You highlight the passage: when you want to refer to it, you press a button that brings up only the passages you highlighted, and can take you directly to that point in the book. It has the advantage that the highlights don't show while you're just reading, so don't disturb rereading.

[MaryPage]

Ebola news is appearing constantly still in everything available to us locally here in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. megalopolis area, and there are two items of interest in this evening's THE CAPITAL.  

The first tells us that in Freetown, Sierra Leone burial workers are dumping bodies outside a hospital because their local authorities have not been paying them promised bonuses for handling and burying Ebola victims.  The article also mentions 15 bodies so abandoned in the town of Kenema in Sierra Leone, including those of two babies.  This protest has apparently rather effectively stopped people from entering the hospitals.

Right here in Maryland at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, twenty (20) volunteers have received a new experimental Ebola vaccine within the last 2 weeks.  They will now have their blood tested for up to a year or more.  Each may receive as much as $1,000.00 for helping in this important research;  depending upon the number of times their blood is drawn and how much is taken.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ebola-vaccine-trial-shows-signs-success-004346391.html#8wM3znp

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-ebola-vaccine-volunteers-20141125-story.html#page=1

[MaryPage]

There is also a good, up to date article in this week's TIME magazine.  Dated December 1 and titled The Genius Issue with Benedict Cumberbatch on the cover, the article appears on pages 14 & 15 and is about the latest on fighting Ebola.

[ginny]

Well I have finally finished the book, but it was not without incident. I lost the book from carrying it around the house trying to find the time to read that last section, and I didn't want to desert the discussion so this morning it's on Kindle, thank goodness for Amazon, and I just finished it on the IPad.

One of the more scary things in it was the notice from Kindle that it's "learning reading speed."

Gee whiz you can't even read a book any more without having your reading speed ascertained! Big Electronic Brother is definitely watching us.  And I do like a real book for this type of discussion.

But the end of the book has had a real effect on me.

All the confidence I did feel was evaporated reading the last bit of the book.  "Somehow" the reporters had gotten the impression from talking to our old pal CJ that all the monkeys had been killed?

That's what's wrong with the Media today. Those "impressions." That's it entirely. But I won't get on that horse.

The scenes in the monkey house were beyond description,  very graphically written, just more or less hell  if you don't like monkeys and maybe if you do.

Escaped monkey. Bucket  of possible monkey crap  viewed thru the window at the very end of the book (I hope it's not a spoiler 2 days from the end of the discussion, to say so) ,  probably doused in the Sunbeam decontamination  procedure. Possibly not.   This facility for rent or sale? Is it still there? Has it been burned down?

The author seemed to have a strong conviction at the end, or is it just me? Repeated several times,  that the thing might be airborne. Heating and air conditioning ducts.

Did anybody get that impression? Is he wrong? Who says? I'm not sure I'd trust anybody after this bit.  hahahaa Certainly not anybody in the press.

Nice touch to go to Africa to the Mount Elgon area, to Kitum Cave because people reading the book wonder what it's like now. So he went in 1993. I enjoyed reading about how Africa has changed, even in 1993.

The statement that "Marburg can sit unchanged for at least 5 days in water" is certainly unsettling and the fact that apparently nobody has tried it with any of the (several) Ebola strains on dry surfaces is also unsettling (of course this WAS 1993),   and the finding of the frozen monkeys is likewise unsettling and the bucket which appeared to be monkey skata is likewise unsettling. With all this heroic behavior and selfless sacrifice, dramatically written even to having the caps for speech so we could imagine how it sounded (super writing there), my feeling is unsettled.

 And the fact that there is water in that cave is unsettling and that there were 4 caretakers who apparently tested positive for the virus but who did not come down with it themselves, including the guy who vomited when the 450 were killed is extremely unsettling, and behind it all the voices of children in the day care nearby still echo.

The feeling  I have at the end of the book is unsettled. But it's a good book, worth reading,  very enjoyable discussion....I do feel more informed, but a lot less trusting.

[hysteria2]

In light of the recent cases of ebola in the US, I would like to see a "follow up" from Mr. Preston. I wonder what his thoughts on the current outbreak would be. (When I say "outbreak," I am referring to Africa. We certainly never had an "outbreak" here in the US.) I would be specifically interested in his thoughts regarding the mode of transmission, especially since the most recent strain of ebola is known to be confined to direct contact with bodily fluids.

I see there are efforts underway to develop a vaccine. I wonder if work on this vaccine has been ongoing, or is the effort now intensified because ebola crossed the Atlantic and entered the US.

I agree with you Ginny. I felt "unsettled" as well at the end of the book, probably because even though it read like a fictional medical thriller, the conclusion was not presented to us in a neatly wrapped package. The disease is still out there. After reading The Hot Zone, I am now wondering what else is out there. Are Marburg and the ebola varieties just the beginning?

[JoanK]

I guess the end of the book could be called "To be continued...."

[MaryPage]

There is a follow up from Richard Preston in the recent THE NEW YORKER article.

Or did you not mean on Ebola, but on the Reston site?  I have heard, and cannot confirm of my own personal knowledge, the original building has long since been razed to the ground and something entirely different occupys the place where it was.

[ginny]

I felt "unsettled" as well at the end of the book, probably because even though it read like a fictional medical thriller, the conclusion was not presented to us in a neatly wrapped package.


That's it! And until I read Hysteria's post I did not realize what it WAS which bothered me. So many loose ends. I'd have liked to see more coda, perhaps a new insertion in the reprinted book especially on kindle. There is some, but not enough.

MaryPage, yes that's one of the many details, in fairness to the author, he probably would not have known what would happen to the site when he visited it.  But all the issues I brought up in my prior post I'd like to see an update on. Every one of them.

Maybe as JoanK says, the "to be continued" is his work on a new book.

I hope his new book leaves out some of the personal details, tho I had to laugh at self the other day,  my grandson was really pressing for his PB&J sandwich a couple of days before Thanksgiving, very hungry, very stressful time,  and the doggone top would not come off, the paper lid inside the jar? And I had a knife and thoughts of EEEK EEEK EEEK did run thru my head but I didn't do it. I do understand, however, how  Nancy Jaxx felt. The father dying I'm not touching...not touching. I don't know why the brother's death was mentioned, nor the father's. Showed me nothing. Extraneous to the plot. It looks to me as if he interviewed her and sprinkled in these personal items along and along to show some quality of hers, make us feel more intimate with these folks,  and with me, it actually did not provide ....whatever it was it was supposed to,  but I'm going to put it down to his own writing and nothing more. His choices to include or leave out.

And of course this IS non fiction, so there's a lot of "right and wrong" here so the only thing to debate ARE the extraneous bits,  (unless you don't buy any of this), but it WAS interesting and well worth the read, and...since it's the 29th, hopefully I can say  splendidly led by Pat H.

[hysteria2]

There is a follow up from Richard Preston in the recent THE NEW YORKER article.

Or did you not mean on Ebola, but on the Reston site?  I have heard, and cannot confirm of my own personal knowledge, the original building has long since been razed to the ground and something entirely different occupys the place where it was.

Do you know which issue of The New Yorker? Is it the latest one? I normally don't have access to it, but I will make a concerted effort to find it if I can read his follow up. I did mean a followup on ebola, not the Reston site. I am just curious to hear what he has to say given the recent ebola events.

[MaryPage]

Oh dear;  I do not have the New Yorker that Richard Preston's latest follow up on Ebola appears in;  it is at my daughter Anne's.  I posted in here when the issue was first published and I had read it, the point being that it was a follow up, and a lot of you in here read and commented upon it.  Does ANYONE still have it and can you identify it?  I think it was an October, but I am not sure.

OK, I just turned on another circuit in my so-called brain and Googled it, and here it is:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/27/ebola-wars

I should also comment that Richard Preston has been writing pieces in The New Yorker for years now on subjects in the world of Science.  Actually, the fact is that his FIRST writings about the Reston incident appeared in that magazine BEFORE he wrote the book.  So the book was written after The New Yorker had the story.

[ginny]

Thank you. MaryPage. These are not the updates I had in mind, but it does address one of them, the issue of being airborne. He first says:

There are two distinct ways a virus can travel in the air. In what’s known as droplet infection, the virus can travel inside droplets of fluid released into the air when, for example, a person coughs. The droplets travel only a few feet and soon fall to the ground. The other way a virus can go into the air is through what is called airborne transmission. In this mode, the virus is carried aloft in tiny droplets that dry out, leaving dust motes, which can float long distances, can remain infective for hours or days, and can be inhaled into the lungs. Particles of measles virus can do this, and have been observed to travel half the length of an enclosed football stadium.

He then refutes this twice, the second time quoting the expert on the possibility of a zebra flying.

So...er.... while this is an update of sorts on Ebola and written recently, it does not address the issues he raised in The Hot Zone and those  I wanted to hear. Perhaps another book is in order. It certainly, however, does show the circuitous style of his writing. I wonder why he can't just state the  facts, Ma'am. Just the facts.  Maybe that's what he's trying to do and  nobody knows.  Maybe he gets paid by the word for a magazine article.

[MaryPage]

Well, I would put it out there once more that he is a Journalist, and earns his income from his writings.  I think he is full of integrity, but, as much as Science obviously is a passionate interest of his, I would not deem him an expert.  I first recommended this book because I found it so very easy to read and informative AND it was the only one out there at the time about the incident so very close to my home back then.

That is why I am so strongly recommending Doctor C.J. Peters book, VIRUS HUNTER.  Because he IS a doctor and he DOES include the same story, along with just one helluva lot more information, and fascinating information, about viruses.  But this book is also an older book.  I have not yet discovered a newer one that reads so easily for me, a non-scientist who is also passionate about the subject.

[ginny]

OH man, you mean the Termite Eater is the author of the Virus Hunter? The sweet talking guy whose interview with the press caused the press "somehow to get the impression that all the monkeys had been disposed of?"

MaryPage, no offense  intended or I hope conveyed. The fact that Preston is a Journalist is nice but it doesn't (obviously) hold much weight with me.  It was a good recommendation, I'm glad we chose it out of all the recommendations,  and we've given it a month of our time and attention, have learned a lot, and  it's been fun.

[PatH]

I guess the end of the book could be called "To be continued...."

Yes, but we've got a number of further installments now.  Here's an events chronology Ella posted some time back; it reads chronologically from bottom to top.  You can see that in one sense Preston wrote too soon.  There was a lot more action after then.

 http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/history/chronology.html

[PatH]

This was definitely the right book to pick for this discussion.  It covers the start of the problem well, and it's so readable, and none of the other books cover the ground we wanted.  Peters' book is really good, but only a fraction of it is about Ebola.  I agree with MaryPage in recommending it.

When he gets to Ebola, he is obviously reacting to Preston's book.  He makes a big point of praising Dan Dalgard, probably because Dalgard doesn't always look good in Preston's book.  He describes Peter Jahrling and Tom Geisbert confessing to him that they "sniffed" the flask, and says that he (Peters) made the decision not to put them in the slammer.  I have a feeling that's not so, but that Peters is just making sure that Jahrling and Geisbert never get in trouble for it.

When Nancy Jaax told him her father was dying, he told her to take time off, and praises her for taking her military responsibilities too seriously to do so.

[bellamarie]

Oh dear, it seems I have come down with a horrible virus that landed me in the ER on Tuesday evening, with being dehydrated and horrible nausea and headache.  I got a bag of fluids, anti nausea and headache meds, bloodwork, x-rays, EKG due to little flutters in my chest and thankfully all checked out perfectly!  I have to tell you, they must have asked me at least a half a dozen times had I recently been out of the country, or have I been around anyone who had just come back from being out of the country.  They took an influenza test, (which is NOT fun at all, a stick being rammed up my nostril and releasing something that burns for seconds.)  Thankfully, that test showed NO influenza, so I was diagnosed  as viral, and got to go home in less than three hours.

I have now come down with a horrible cough, and have no interest in reading the last chapters of the book.  By the comments posted, it sounds like nothing is concluded in the end, and possibly leaves you with a feeling of frustration or unsettled feeling.  I must tell you, while in the ER, half drowsy, waiting for test results, this crazy book kept creeping into my subconscious mind, and the gory descriptions were floating in my head as well.  So, I decided when I came home, NO MORE gory books for me!   I am glad I participated in this discussion, learned some interesting information, a bit too much for me, and not enough answered questions, even as far as I had gotten to in the book.  I did feel Preston wrote more like it was a fictional suspense novel. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Mine was great in spite of my sickness.  The days following have not been so comfortable with this cough.  I look forward to a nice, easy read book leading up to Christmas.

Thank you PatH., for being a fantastic leader.  You did a marvelous job, considering this book. Ginny, I have so missed you, and was happy to reconnect in this discussion.  Hope to see you in some future ones.  May you all have a healthy, happy December!

Ciao for now~

[PatH]

Oh, Bellamarie, how dreadful for you.  Do take care, and get well fast.  Thank you for all your contributions to this discussion.

[PatH]

One more book description: David Quamman's Ebola is the most up to date, up to the beginning of September.  It's only 100 pages or so, and some of it is pulled from his long book, Spillover, but it does describe the current events.

As for Preston, I'm willing to bet we'll see a new book from him pretty soon.

[PatH]

Some loose ends: Peters tells what happened to the monkey house.  It was closed after the 1990 outbreak, and remained empty until the building was torn down.  No one wanted to rent it.

The animal reservoir for Marburg has been pinned down; it's the Egyptian fruit bat.  Quite possibly that's true foe Ebola too, but it's not proven yet.

A lot more genetic mapping has been done.  The Reston virus turns out to be just different enough that they're now calling it Reston, rather than Ebola Reston.  The current outbreak started from one source, but has split into two strains, not different clinically, but distinguishable genetically.

It looks like any vaccine we make might be like flu vaccine, needing to be modified from year to year.