Hot Zone by Richard Preston- November Book Club Online

[PatH]

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

For Your Consideration
Nov. 6-9

1. We are going to see a number of people risking their lives, either for research or patient care.  Do you understand their mindset?  Can you see yourself doing this?
2. What do you think of the Jaax family lifestyle?
3. What problems did Nancy Jaax have because she was a woman?  How did she handle them?




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

  

Discussion Leader: PatH

[pedln]

Thanks, MaryPage.

Here's more about the hospital that was shown on 60 Minutes last night.  Where little Wiliams had two more child roommates.

Two Boys

Have just started the new section.  Can you imagine how they sent "the dregs of Sister's blood?"  Surely not in international mail.

This book has made me think a lot about my college soph granddaughter.  She volunteered at Sibley Hosp. in DC this past summer, and on one of my visits I asked her what she did that particular day.  "We had training," she said.  "We learned how to move blood."

[bellamarie]

Thank you PatH., for posting this: 

 It does, however, give a brief synopsis of the main story of the book, which is the battle against the Reston outbreak, so if anyone wants the most suspense, they should wait to read it.

I stopped at her saying how much she wanted to be a part of Ebola, and how she had contracted Hepatitis C through a blood transfusion.  So no spoilers for me!!  I too had infectious hepatitis, and am not able to donate blood.  I am very shocked she would be allowed to work with any type of blood pathogens, after having hepatitis C.

I missed 60 minutes, here is the link: 

http://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/video/ooPUJqBtmQsAdn_6L6txrPaITpsEVlQr/the-ebola-hot-zone-cleaning-up-the-va-steve-carell/

I can say I have used a knife to open cans like Nancy did, years ago when I had no can opener.  It is very dangerous, and luckily I never hurt myself. 

I would think she should have at least had to fill out an incident report before being allowed to work that morning, so it could be determined her safe to enter the Level 4 cages.  As we all have thought and agree with, she did not use good judgement whatsoever.  It's people like her that are overzealous in their work, that can cause harm to themselves and others.  She reminds me of the nurse that refused to quarantine herself, thinking they know best.   Ughh...this chapter did sort of freak me out.  I agree, don't read close to bedtime.     

[JoanP]

What I took away from the 60 Minutes program last night...
- once you are infected with the Ebola virus - and recovered - you are immune to getting infected again.  Which was why little William, who was cared for by his father, without any protective equipment, died, but his father did not contract the virus again.

To me, that said that the young Doctor M who had cared for Charles Monet and contracted Marburg...and survived - could care for others without getting infected.  (Though I don't think I would have risked it.)

The other thing - the conclusion - that  the virus is being spread by bats - since they are not getting sick, like the monkeys and other beings are.  That says a lot about the spread of Ebola today - in 2014.

We have to remember the timeline when reading this book - We are considering the spread of Ebola in the summer of 1976,in this chapter.  No one knows which animals are spreading the virus.

The FIRST IDENTIFIED CASE of this unknown virus - in July...Mr. YU.G, who worked in a cotton factory - bats in ceiling, lots of rats too.  Two more men who worked with him also died of massive hemmorrhages. This virus spread fast through Southern Sudan.  This virus WAS NOT AIRBORNE.  Ebola Sudan did not jump to a new host before dying.

Bella  - what frightened me about Ebola Sudan in central Africa..."Undoubtedly it lives there to this day."

But the more lethal filovirus in northern ZAIRE -  where the first human case has never been identified.  This is the virus wreaking havoc in West Africa today.

[PatH]

Here's a light note to encourage us in the midst of all the blood and guts.  A wedding-dress designer in Baltimore has joined a team from Johns Hopkins in designing a better suit for the Ebola fighters.  It fits better (hospitals weren't ordering enough different sizes), it's easier to take off, and it rolls up in a way that contains any fluids.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-a-wedding-dress-maker-is-trying-to-stop-the-spread-of-ebola/2014/11/09/5335db92-607c-11e4-8b9e-2ccdac31a031_story.html

And the doctor in the New York hospital is now free of virus.

[bellamarie]

I've had to skim over a lot in these chapters, you can only read so much about the devastating effects this virus has on these people.  It's amazing how the spread of it just keeps going from place to place.  Thank God we seem to have it contained here in the United States so far.  Glad to hear the doctor is now Ebola free.  Did we hear any updates on the nurse who refused to quarantine herself?

[PatH]

Creative skimming is a good idea with these chapters.  They describe the very first recognized outbreaks of Ebola, in Sudan and Zaire in 1976, plus the next instance of Marburg, in 1987, which provided a clue as to spot of origin.  The main thing to get out of them is the overall pattern of spread and the efforts of people to figure out what is going on.

For instance, notice the differences from the very start between Ebola Sudan and Ebola Zaire.

[Ella Gibbons]

Belle.. Why do you suppose the author felt it important to tell the reader over and over the graphic, the bloody, details - horrifying details of the dying of ebola infected  people?   I have skimmed also, after reading the first such details.

I thought it might be helpful if we had a timeline of the various ebola viruses - remember hey are named for where they were first discovered:

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

Do you agree that the death toll is diminishing and perhaps we can believe there is an end to this particular virus?

The acacia tree:  So African looking:          https://www.google.com/search?q=acacia+tree&biw=1110&bih=690&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=iExiVK3hMsSRyATCuIEQ&ved=0CI0BEIke#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=CCGPmDSCHHOuSM%253A%3B7lrcwunW_0klBM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.bestphotos.us%252Fdownload%252Fget%252Fwo124-umbrella-thorn-acacia-tree-5911.php%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.bestphotos.us%252Fphoto%252Fwo124-umbrella-thorn-acacia-tree-5911.php%3B3668%3B2400

Are we into the Ebola River chapter yet?

[PatH]

Yes, we're into Ebola River and the next two chapters.

Why do you suppose the author felt it important to tell the reader over and over the graphic, the bloody, details

I suspect he's playing for sensationalism, like the unnecessary sex and violence in detective stories.  I wish he wouldn't.

That's a really useful table, Ella.  Our book was originally published in 1994, and describes events through 1993.  So if you read from the bottom up, you can see that the three chapters we're talking about now  finish covering everything that had happened then except the Reston virus, which is the big story.

[Ella Gibbons]

Two other infectious diseases are mentioned in the next chapter:  smallpox and black plague (black death).

I have skimmed several articles related to these two diseases, very interesting if you have the time.  Similarities and differences to ebola.

[PatH]

I like the acacia pictures.  Acacia trees are what comes to mind first when I think of African scenery.  Elephant grass is mentioned a lot too, so I found some pictures:

http://www.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=elephant+grass&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=GQNiVK_AHseYyASjwIHACg&ved=0CBQQsAQ

Looks like you could hide an elephant in it.

[JoanP]

Maybe Preston keeps repeating the horrible effects of the virus because he doesn't believe we have seen anything like it - (we haven't!) and is trying to impress us with those details. I can't imagine what it is like for family members to see their loved ones dying like this, one after another.  And then to be told not to follow their burial rituals or they too will suffer the same fate.

Amazing that we are able to successfully care for  - and cure those exposed to the virus here in the US.  Imagine how far the Africans will have to come in their understanding of this disease!  I've noticed in today's paper that case numbers, or fatalities are down in New Guinea and Liberia, but Ebola is still devastating poor Sierra Leone.

This chapter shows the virus tracking west...devastating Sudan.  What a sad story of the teacher's vacation to the Ebola River - he was the first known Ebola Zaire victim.  Two things stood out...eating freshly killed monkey meat, stewing antelope meat...and then rushing to the hospital where the Belgian nuns are using just 5 needles all day on hundreds of patients...including the infected teacher.  Where was he exposed?

It seems those hardest hit are the caregivers, the medical staff and of course, families.  The doctors who treated the nun who was brought to the capital of Zaire - suspected Marburg, so they must have seen their share of this virus..  They also knew her blood-soaked room was "hot" - because they locked the door and let it be.  Probably a good idea.

That is a good link, Ella!  What is most frightening...the virus is hiding somewhere, waiting for a host to come along.  How long can it live?  
Sr. M.E.'s blood shipped to the CDC...the dregs of her blood...and they are "hot"

[MaryPage]

I don't believe Ebola is in New Guinea, which is an island in the Pacific, but is in Guinea in Africa.

[JoanP]

OOps!  Fixed it, MaryP.

[bellamarie]

Ella, I can't figure out why Preston has used the graphic, detailed descriptions of how the virus attacks over, and over, and over again, I just know it is so repetitive, and gives such horrific visuals reading it.  I suppose partly, because it is in different areas, hospitals, and people, that he wants us to realize it affects everyone the same regardless.  I feel like I am reading a suspenseful freak story.  I can't ever imagine them making a movie of this, and anyone being able to sit through it.  Ughhh...
PatH., I am with you, it could be for sensationalism, and I too wish he wouldn't.  I have the images forever implanted in my mind.

JoanP., I totally understand your concern, because the host virus remains, and waits to enter a new living being.

I have finished the chapters and am sitting on pins and needles wondering why they never turned up a host virus in the Kitum Cave, on  Mount Elgon.  I was so certain because Peter Cardinal and Charles Monet "had crossed at only one place on earth, and that was inside Kitum Cave," (pg. 228) it had to be the place the two of them contracted it.

1989 SUMMER  We are now back to Johnson and Nancy Jaax, reuniting in Maryland.  So, I suppose even though years before, Nancy came close to being infected, she obviously did not.

Ella, That is a wonderful link showing the chronological order of the virus.

[PatH]

Two other infectious diseases are mentioned in the next chapter:  smallpox and black plague (black death).

I have skimmed several articles related to these two diseases, very interesting if you have the time.  Similarities and differences to ebola.

Smallpox has one characteristic that makes it much easier to fight: there is no animal host; it only occurs in humans.  That means that once we developed a vaccine (it was the first vaccine ever developed) it would be theoretically possible to vaccinate everybody, and get rid of the disease in humans.  That would be the end of it, as there is no place for the virus to hide.  And we've done this.  We didn't vaccinate the whole world, we worked in rings surrounding the places where it still existed, then moved in, zeroing in on hot spots.  Black death easily spreads rapidly, as its animal host is rats, which hang around humans all the time.  It goes from rats to humans by way of fleas or lice (I forget which, and am too lazy to look it up).

[PatH]

We'll start the next section Friday.  I'm not quite sure yet where to put the break, but for those who want to start reading, we'll read at least the first 7 chapters of Part Two: The Monkey House.  (Some of those are quite short.)

[JoanK]

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. 

[Ella Gibbons]

A virus can be useful to a species by thinnning it out (p.83)

When I read that I was reminded of the forest and the good a fire does by thinning it out.

Johnson, one of the discoverers of the ebola virus, believes that it could be the virus that wipes us all out.   Is that still true?   There is no vaccine against it and there is no cure - am I correct?

In my small mind, I have theorized over the years that war has the same purpose in thinning out the human race - isn't it true that we are the only species that kills one another?   Or am I thinking of something else?

Ebols was the "news" a week or so agp and now we don't hear much about it.   I suppose it was the "news" because all of a sudden it was here in the USA.  I know the president has sent a few hundred soldiers to the beleagered African nations to help with building quarantine shelters, etc.

Has anyone heard anymore about the situation there?  I could google it, but am too tired tonight.

[JoanP]

Ella...Washington Post still running front page stories on our tops in Liberia.  This morning 's story is mostly about the effects of Ebola in Liberia on the "collapsed health care system" and the hunger...the deaths of family breadwinners,  the disruption  of planting and harvesting, the closed borders reducing trade with neighboring countries.

"Ebola came at a time when people were about to plant their crops for the season."

It seems that Ebola cases have receded in Liberia, but Sierra Leone's problem with the virus continues.

[PatH]

I think other species kill each other, but not on the large scale that we manage.  Personally, I don't much care for the notion of our being "thinned out", by war, virus, or whatever.  While it isn't impossible, I don't think this is going to wipe us out.  We're working on treatments, learning ways to slow the spread, and the virus may well become milder.  But we mustn't slacken our efforts.

JoanP mentioned a story in the Nov. 11 Washington Post that describes how there are many fewer new cases in Liberia, and they are more scattered.  This is going to make the military rethink their aid efforts--build more smaller, scattered treatment centers instead of a few big ones in cities.  But staffing will be the big problem.  The virus could still flare up again, too.

Today's Post has a story about how the disease messed up the planting season in Liberia, so food is short.  There are massive aid projects.

I think the fact that all but one of the patients here survived, and that at the moment there are no patients here has calmed people, especially the media.

[PatH]

JoanP, we were posting at the same time.

[JoanP]

About our troops in West Africa - another article on p. A9 this morning - "Fewer Troops Going on Ebola Mission in West Africa"

The article says that the number of US troops sent to West Africa will peak at about 3000 soldiers by mid December. About 2200 have arrived in Liberia.

We're reading the same paper, Pat...Still there is concern about Sierra Leone.  The article states that "steep increases of the virus persist in Sierra Leone"  - but I don't see anything about our troops going there, do you?

Is that true, Ella?  Is there no known cure?  No vaccine?  Perhaps just better ways of containing the virus? Does that explain the receding number of cases in Liberia?

[JoanP]

"I imagine it's completely wiped out by now." (Black Plague)

I'm thinking of your remark, JoanK and at the same time, thinking of Dr. Johnson's remark (don't ask me which Johnson, there are three of them!)  Maybe it was Dr. Gene Johnson - the one who examined the blood of the 10 year old Danish boy who died of the virus in 1987 -  Johnson searched for the reservoir...the original source of the the virus, believing the source would lead to the end of the spread of the virus.   He discovered that the boy had been in Mt. Elgon's Kitum Cave!   The very same place that Charles Monet had visited shortly before his death!...

Does this mean that the virus lurks there undisturbed - until the next crystal/rock collector finds his way into the cave?  Shouldn't the place be shut down?   I guess that would be difficult to do since the major expedition came up with no sign of the virus.    Still, I think the place should be shut down to tourists - for good!  Although the same conditions most likely exist in other caves.  Still...

I googled Kitum Cave - found this
-

"In September 2007, similar expeditions to active mines in Gabon and Uganda found solid evidence of reservoirs of Marburg in cave-dwelling Egyptian fruit bats. The Ugandan mines both had colonies of the same species of African fruit bats that colonize Kitum Cave, suggesting that the long-sought vector at Kitum was indeed the bats and their guano. The study was conducted after two mine workers contracted Marburg in August 2007, both without being bitten by any bats, suggesting the virus may be propagated through inhalation of powdered guano.

[MaryPage]

The New Yorker article points out that there IS a cure, just none available now,  since they used the small amount they had on hand on those two American doctors who came back from Africa nearly dead with Ebola.  They have to find the funds to make more.  I think it was also that article, which was by Richard Preston, the author of THE HOT ZONE, that said they could have developed a vaccine 10 years ago, but had to concentrate on threatening viruses right here in the U.S.  There is just a small group of research doctors for a very large group of problems.  The manpower and the money have to be spread too thin.

It would appear that in order to get more American doctors and nurses to volunteer to go over and help contain this current epidemic, they will have to promise them no quarantine unless exposure occurs and symptoms appear.  One thing they (apparently from what I keep reading) know is that the very FIRST SYMPTOM is a fever, and NO ONE IS INFECTIOUS until such a fever develops.  After that, and only after that, you are dangerous.

So if a health worker spends their vacation time over there helping out, and then comes back here completely symptom free to their families and their JOBS, they should not be penalized three whole weeks of no income and no getting out and about because of public fears and for no other good reason.  It does not add up sensibly.  How in the world can they pay their rent or mortgages?  Our government does not subsidize quarantine periods. 

[PatH]

The verdict is out on whether the virus is actually in the cave, since they didn't find any, even though they checked a huge variety of possible hosts, and since the monkeys they left in the cave didn't get sick.  It has to be around there somewhere, though.

[PatH]

The Kitum Cave expedition set up their base in the Mount Elgon Lodge,  amusingly described as "...a decayed resort dating from the nineteen twenties, when the English had ruled East Africa...a monument to the incomplete failure of the British Empire, which carried on automatically, like an uncontrollable tic, in the provincial backwaters of Africa long after it had died at the core."

It's described as being in financial trouble in 1988, but it's still going, smartened up a bit:

http://www.mountelgonhotel.com/

They're on a cliff overlooking the road to Kitum Cave, and I'm betting the current crisis has been bad for business.

[ginny]

I apparently was behind in my reading, but I've caught up now. I think what stirkes me the most in these chapters, just off the top of my head is the pitiful situation of these people, going about their innocent lives and encountering this THING unbeknownst. Again the omniscient narrator and he's beginning to get on my nerves.

Here's poor Mr. Yu G in his office at the cotton warehouse. There are bats. There may be rats. And all of a sudden, BAM. Poor sister Mayinga N. Beloved and wanting to make a better chance for herself, BAM. The 10 year old boy,  Peter Cardinal, that one really got to me. He was an amateur geologist.  BAM.

I guess the point is it's hard for scientists to discover what is causing it so they can save more people but the stories are so poignant. It could be anybody, not knowing it's there, going out or working their jobs.

And I found this quite chilling:

The Ebola virus, in its Sudan incarnation, retreated to the heard of the bush, where undoubtedly it lives to this day,. cycling and cycling in some unknown host, able to shift its shape, able to mutate and become a new thing, with the potenaial to enter the human species in a new form.

Now THAT is scary.

And then after all this, and I can't find it in the book, they send a box of vials of the hot blood and they know it is, to...the CDC and there it is found to have broken thru and is soaking the box and they KNOW it's a "hot agent," or whatever the term is, and the woman, Patricia Webb,  puts on gloves but nothing else? Apparently she didn't die?  That's nice for Atlanta.

I actually have a cousin who worked at the CDC but not in this particular area, it would seem to me that somebody who knew the box was full of dangerous infectious material would have been more careful. Why wasn't she?

 Does it matter? Nothing apparently happened to her but when they injected it into monkey cells  they all died.

The way the book depicts this disease is that it's almost  bad luck.. Maybe you have a cut in your glove or on your hand. You're toast. But maybe you don't...then you're OK. I don't know if this is intentional or not but it's kind of unnerving, and very sad for the people who died.

Is the message wise up and don't have rents in your gloves or chip bat guano from caves?  How can the child be blamed for his spelunking? Nobody knew this existed.

is the message stay home and stay out of caves, Africa, the Sudan, etc., etc.? Stay out of airports? Yet nobody related to Mr. Duncan has been infected, is that right?

This was a strange section, to me. I'm not saying I don't like the book, or that I'm not enjoying reading it or this discussion,  I am.  I'm saying I am struggling to see the message in the way he's presenting  it here. There's always a reason why an author writes something the way he does, I'm struggling to see how these poor innocent people had any hand in their own destruction.

[MaryPage]

Be of good heart, Ginny!  The great thing about this book, and others written since, is that you will be able to see the Big picture about Ebola from its first visit (that we know of) to our shores and go forth into the future with some information and understanding.

There have been viruses (which are not really "life" as we know it, being neither flora nor fauna) since before man emerged on this planet, and there are thousands and thousands of them coming at us, both old and known ones and new and unknown ones.  Here is some food for thought:

http://www.livescience.com/47340-viruses-scarier-than-ebola.html

[PatH]

Interesting link, MaryPage.  Five viruses scarier than Ebola, but I bet most of us don't find them scarier.  That's because we know more about them, and how they fit in in the world.

Be of good cheer, Ginny, we're done with the goriest part.

[ginny]

 hahha I appreciate all the good cheer, but  I apparently am not expressing myself well.

I am trying to figure out from the way the author has chosen to present this material, (and it is his choice) what he's getting at. Why he's telling it this way. What conclusion he expects the reader to have from the way he's manipulating the way he's telling it. This is something I sort of always do, perhaps not as much in non fiction, but I think it applies as well, maybe more so.

He's chosen to present this material, no matter what the material IS, (that's  really immaterial,)  in a certain way. I am trying to figure out why. I wondered if anybody else had noticed. Apparently not.  hahahaha

I'm not in the least depressed, or in need to cheering up or knowing what the end is, I don't care what the end is. I sense a real effort to influence the reader and  I'm trying to figure out what he is doing  right now and why he is doing it this way, and what the message to the reader is supposed to be,  BECAUSE the way he is doing it , whether or not the reader knows or cares, does influence the message.   This is really not a fact question or a question about Eboia and probably should not  have been raised. It's an opinion question.

It's just an idle mind's Thoughts  Upon Reading This Passage. :

[pedln]

Ella, that Timeline is very very useful, and some of the references listed below it are linkable.

I hope I'm not jumping the gun here -- am not sure just where I'm reading (on four different devices, not syncing, not wise) -- have finished The Monkey House.

I've been looking at Ella's timeline resources, seeing if there are familiar names  -- there are , noted in the quote below.

Jahrling PB, Geisbert TW, Dalgard DW, et al. Preliminary report: isolation of Ebola virus from monkeys imported to USA. Lancet. 1990;335(8688):502-505.

The quote below here is from the Washington Post article of August, 1989

One of the deadliest known human viruses has turned up for the first time in the United States, in a shipment of monkeys imported from the Philippines by a research laboratory in Reston.

A task force of top-level state and federal experts on contagious diseases spent much of yesterday devising a detailed program to trace the path of the rare Ebola virus and who might have been exposed to it. That includes interviews with the four or five laboratory workers who cared for the animals, which have since been destroyed as a precaution, and any other people who were near the monkeys.

Federal and state health officials played down the possibility that any people had contracted the virus, which has a 50 to 90 percent mortality rate and can be highly contagious to those coming into direct contact with its victims. …

  From the Washington Post,  August 1989.

This is a fascinating book.  It reads easily, but at the same time is not easy to read.  So many characters, so many government & NGO places, so many scientific details.

[pedln]

I'm not in the least depressed, or in need to cheering up or knowing what the end is, I don't care what the end is. I sense a real effort to influence the reader and  I'm trying to figure out what he is doing  right now and why he is doing it, and what the message to the reader is supposed to be, BECAUSE the way he is doing it , whether or not the reader knows or cares, does influence the message. 

  (Ginny)

Is part of your opinion because you are reading it now, here, in 2014, after a media blitz?

There are times when I think, wow, preston had to do a lot of research, read all these WHO reports,etc. and then track people who could point him towards others to interview.  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.

[ginny]

Good question. I don't know. I know the reaction I'm having has nothing at all to do with Ebola.

 Every time you read a book you have reactions.  I think Pat asked us originally what our reactions were as readers. The reader always has a personal reaction.

Usually reactions are caused by the way the author presents the material and why he presents it the way he does. For instance, I also keep thinking about Nancy Jaxx. Why was it necessary to tell us she had quick nervous hands, all about her hands. On and on and on. You'd have thought she was liable to incarceration because of her hands. That portrayal of her, which was immaterial, her quick hands, was in some ways a condemnation of her  and her character. And her judgment.

 Why was it necessary to explain the trying to open up a can with a knife and the slit. So we'd know she was wearing only one bandaid?  So? It was a dangerous inconsiderate thing to do? And she immediately died of Ebola as a result? Or she could have?  But she didn't. Why assassinate her character? I thought  that was worse  than the physical descriptions of the blood, etc.  I expect she still has the same quick hands, Colonel and chief of pathology that she is?

We were all incensed at her....there for a while. And then what? Luck again?

 But that one description got us as readers and we felt angry at her...well, the various points everybody raised.  And she is supposed to be a hero here, fighting Ebola, and she has flaws? Is that it?

 And now we've got more people chipping at caves, or working in an office with bats and possibly rats or  wanting to get away and have a career...I'm trying to make sense out of what he's saying.  It really has nothing at all to do with Ebola. Absolutely nothing.

So nice to talk to you again, Pedln! I always admire your views.

[MaryPage]

My personal opinion, for what its worth, is that Preston attempts to write in a highly readable manner;  to liven up his material and make us get into it personally.

He has been contributing to The New Yorker since long before he wrote THE HOT ZONE, and some of the material in the book was in earlier articles that appeared there.  I am now left to wonder if he is gathering material for a sequel to The Hot Zone, and that this latest New Yorker article will be in that book.

I think he writes to sell, as this is the way he makes his living.

[JoanK]

GINNY: I'm glad you asked that question: why did he present the material THAT way, not another way? It's a question that we don't ask enough, and so often get "taken in" by biased reporting (I'm not saying that Preston is doing that).

I would say: first, he is definitely sensationalizing the situation (but maybe it's not just to sell books, he genuinely feels that it is a sensational situation, and people should be more scared than they are).

Second, for him, it's definitely a story about people. Although he presents scientific information, that's not what you take away from the story. Journalists are taught (I think) that the way to get wide interest in a story is to personalize it: tell it through the experience of one individual.

And he is very good at it, at getting you to be in the lives of these people, and experience what they did. We all feel we KNOW Nancy Jaaks. (Maybe his brother contributed here: that's what his writing does). People tend to do what they're good at.

[JoanK]

Unlike GINNY, I DIDN'T GET MAD AT Nancy Jaaks: I identified with her completely. Like her, I worked for years in male-dominated fields. If you haven't, you don't understand the pressure to prove yourself. Many such women feel they can't show any weakness.

She had had to fight for the right to work under these conditions, and this was the first time she had actually gotten to do so. If she had said " Oh, I'd better not: I have a cut" it might very well have been the last time. And it was reasonable to think that four pairs of gloves were protection enough (as they were in the end).

Whether she should have sought the job when she had children is another question, one I can't answer.  

[MaryPage]

I agree with both of your posts, Joan.

Here is something about our author.

http://richardpreston.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Preston

[ginny]

Thank you Joan K, how nice to be in a discussion with you again and MaryPage for attempting to address the issue I raised. What a thoughtful post!

I think if you go back and look at the "we" I referred to, it's  about 95 percent of those participating here who expressed some negativity about the "bandaid" incident, some more forcefully than others and  that's what I meant about "we," that is, the members of this discussion.

I am not and have not been angry at Nancy Jaxx. I don't know the woman and feel nothing for her, so far she's cardboard, and no I don't feel from the very careful bits he's chosen to share with us, that I do know her. We know she has nervous hands, takes chances, really wanted to succeed, cut herself, wore a bandaid handling bad blood, felt it in her glove, ...does not like Victorian houses and that's about it. That's not enough to make any kind of understanding of the person herself.  What it IS,  is superficial judgment/ descriptions  intended to hook the reader.

The info that's being shared by this author is quite controlled, possibly biased,  and after "our" outbreak here of disapproval I thought I'd like to explore why we felt that way. We've not had her side. Yet.

As far as if one has ever been in the situation of being a woman in a man's world, I would not rule out any of us here, automatically. We don't all have the same reactions to things, however,  which is what is supposed to make a book discussion better.

I really  liked Joan K's thoughts here...perhaps his brother helped him, I do see some things that might suggest that happened.

I also appreciated the thoughts that he might deliberately be sensationalizing the people to make the point that (1) Ebola is dangerous, we should all take it seriously  (2) to sell books. (3) the message is the people.



If those are his main points, however, the jury is out, with me. I am less afraid after reading this book. If he's done it to sell books, he's a shill and now that I see HE is the one who finished Micro that explains a great deal. I appreciate that information.  So not impressive.

 If the message is the people,  again he's failed miserably with me,   because he can't seem to portray anybody without one or two negative traits, without the balm of positive ones.  The woman at the CDC. Careless?  Stupid? We're all in danger?  There's a message here and I don't know what he's hinting at.

Nancy Jaxx. The guy fishing, gee whiz, if you were after character assassination that one wins a prize. He's thoroughly unlikeable, profane, and if I remember correctly (and I don't have the book to hand) his segment interrupted a long graphic description of Ebola on yet another helpless victim. Is that right? So his clinical admiration of the virus seems particularly jarring. I'm sure he feels that way and I'm sure many scientists do, it's just the choice of the juxtaposition of the info and where it's put in the book. Can nobody see the reader is being manipulated? But for  WHAT?

Lots of sturm und drang with anti climactic results. I think perhaps I'm saying that this author for whatever reason  has deliberately chosen to present these people this way and I'm trying to figure out why. There has to be a reason. If the only reason is sensationalism,  then shame on him. And possibly shame on us for swallowing it without question.

I won't belabor this point again, but I'm over here in the corner stewing on it.

[PatH]

Nancy Jaaxs doesn't seem cardboard to me.  We do have some more appealing details.  She and Jerry had almost never been apart since they were married, and missed each other in the rare separations.  They let the children snuggle in bed with them.  Although they had similar jobs, she did all the housework and cooking, and the cooking was basic survival stuff.  In spite of her iffy start in level 4 work, her old boss at Fort Detrick "...remembered her competence in a space suit and wanted to get her back."  I don't think I would have done such dangerous work when my children were small, but I understand her willingness to take risks.  You care enough about your work that it seems worth it.