Scientists previously had not been able to find the source of the disease, but Preston wanted to visit and see if he could figure it out. The author visited Kitum Cave, a tourist spot in Kenya where two victims of the Marburg virus had been before getting sick. After all this work, they find out that Ebola Reston kills only monkeys but has no symptoms in humans. The operation is difficult because it involves people in space suits, sedating monkeys, and dealing with an escaped monkey who bites one scientist. They also collect samples from the monkeys and disinfect the facility. The United States Army along with the Centers for Disease Control then contain the virus so that it doesn’t spread to humans by moving all infected monkeys into an isolated facility where they can be studied without infecting anyone else.Ī team of scientists enters a Reston facility to euthanize hundreds of monkeys. Several years later, some monkeys at Reston die from a new strain of Ebola that has never been seen before this is when Nancy first encounters it again. One day while performing an experiment involving Ebola, Nancy’s space suit rips open and she almost gets exposed to it. They both work at Fort Detrick in Maryland as Army veterinarians specializing in hot agents (deadly viruses). Two of these scientists are Nancy Jaax and her husband, Peter Jahrling.

He also focuses on a few American scientists who work with these viruses in order to learn more about them. In the book, Preston describes several outbreaks of filoviruses and their effects on different people. Both outbreaks cause hundreds of deaths, but Preston provides particular details about Mayinga N., who contracts Ebola while working in Ngalemia Hospital and dies after being quarantined in Kinshasa for two days. Later on, an even more deadly outbreak occurs when dirty needles are used at a medical clinic in various villages across Zaire (now known as Congo). The first is a Sudan strain of the disease that strikes a quiet storekeeper named Yu G. In the next few chapters, Preston describes two outbreaks of Ebola.

Then he provides background information about how the first outbreak occurred at a vaccine factory in Germany. The author describes his symptoms and bloody death in extreme detail, giving you an immediate sense of what it’s like to be exposed to this virus. The book begins with the exposure and death of a French expat in Kenya due to Marburg. He also explains how AIDS was a virus whose effects on humans are still being measured and explored. Preston describes how other viruses have spread around the world, particularly in Africa where some were more devastating than others. The Hot Zone is a book that tells the true story of an Ebola virus outbreak in Reston, Virginia.

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston