Book "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

tennmike

It was rainy all day so I read a book. "The Hot Zone" is about the Ebola virus, actually several related viruses, and how they have spread. Most of the book deals with the Ebola Reston virus that showed up in Reston, VA with monkeys from the Philippines. The Army and CDC had to go in and clean up the mess at the research lab that had the outbreak. It was an airborne strain of virus. Four humans caught the virus, but none died from it.

If you want a good non fiction read that is really interesting, I'd recommend this one. Ebola is a meat eater virus, and there are several billions of meat bags on this planet for the taking. If one of the bad strains that affects humans goes airborne, we're screwed.

shotgunshooter3

Great book. I read it about ten years ago and need to reread it. While I'm not particularly concerned about a massive outbreak here in the US, I do think few people truly realize how bad the effects are of the virus.

LMLarsen

Wasn't so much fun at the time; Wife and I were living about three miles from the Reston lab when it happened, and of course CDC said nothing until it was all over.

tennmike

The actual effects of the virus on the human body are really bad. The descriptions in the book are a pretty hard read. And depending on which strain of virus it is, a 50% to 90% rate of death is the norm. And they still don't know what the carrier is or where it comes from, except for the general areas where it starts. The AIDs virus came from the same area the Uganda and Zaire Ebola virus originates.

tubabucknut

I have it on the bookshelf. I haven't read it yet. I guess I better move it to the top of the stack.

tennmike

tubabucknut wrote: »

I have it on the bookshelf. I haven't read it yet. I guess I better move it to the top of the stack.

I read it in one afternoon, but I read pretty fast. It's well worth the read, especially for the Reston, VA info. The Reston strain didn't like human cells, thankfully. If it had, and being an airborne strain, it could have been really bad.

bellcat

It is a good book....I read it about the time the movie 'Outbreak' came out