The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
by Richard Preston
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Book Summary Information
Author: Richard PrestonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-06-15
ISBN: 0385495226
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Anchor
Book Reviews of The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
Book Review: Preston is a prophet
Summary: 5 Stars
Somehow I managed to overlook this book reading it now fifteen years after it's publication and a full twenty years after the ultimate Reston "event". Well, I've been busy with other areas of study for example evolutionary biology (you better bet there are many connections between that area of study and the topic of this book).
Frankly, I'm glad I waited this long to read "The Hot Zone". A lot has happened that directs me to suggest that Mr. Preston is a futurist and visionary though his visions are of hell on Earth for the human species. Naturally, in the past decade and one half I've heard of Marburg and Ebola viruses and their effects on humans. However, I had no idea that these "life forms" could replicate so fast so as to render their hosts soggy mush-animals still living though most major internal ( and ugh external ) organs had already died.
Viral replication so fast that huge (relative term) "bricks" of crystalized virus become so large that they can be clearly seen with a light microscope.
The book teaches us that Ebola/Marburg comes from some repository organism or environment in the central rain forest of Africa-the same breeding ground that he points out gave us AIDS. As "Dirty Harry" would say "swell". On page 293 the author expresses the opinion that " The paving of the Kinshasa Highway affected every person on earth, and turned out to be one of the most important events of the twentieth century." I agree but would add that without the most lethal invention of the 20th century neither the Amazon or African Rain Forest would be being consumed by replicating humans. That invention? The chain saw.
Reference is made to the human population of the Earth as being about five billion and whether the ecosystem can support that number of humans. Ah, what a difference a decade and one-half can make! What is it now? Perhaps 6,500,000,000. Mr. Preston states he believes the
Earth is mounting an immune response to a dangerous parasite-humans-who are , as he puts it, "...the flooding infection of people...." I think he's right. And, what will the ultimate human population be when Ebola Reston finally mutates into a 90+% killer of humans-an airborne infective agent as contagious as influenze?, Uh, I just finished reading "The Great Influenze" whose overall death rate in the U.S. was .0065%. It nearly toppled the society. What would 90+% mortality do?
The more humans there are the more chances there will be for random interaction, chance, and probability to result in genetic recombinations too horrible to contemplate. The recent new Swine Flu is an example in point. There is no telling at this time whether or not it will become virulent as more and more "passages" take place through the human population.
I was online after reading this book searching for photos and descriptions of places of note such as the Kitum Cave on Mt. Elgon. I was amazed that there is a thriving tourist trade taking mostly Westerners into the cave and surrounding region. One blogger casually mentioned this book and how silly it was of Preston to have entered only while trying to protect himself at level 4. Clearly this casual tourist saw no risks.
So, that highway comes to mind.....that brings more and more tourists who take their bodies ( aka "meat" from the book ) back to their homes across the entire planet each possibly harboring a species ending virus with a relatively long incubation period. Just as the Swine Flu spread worldwide in mere weeks ( except in several places with the good sense to at least try to slow it's spread like China ) new viruses can go worldwide from the remotest jungle hiding place in days.
It seems to be taken for granted that tourists are not going to get Ebola by visiting it's home territory. But, it will only take one. One, perhaps who has a mild case of influenza as well. Perhaps Ebola Zaire will get frisky with influenza?
We all know how mutable flu can be. We all know how entire blocks of genetic material can be swapped between species specific viruses ( bird/swine/human in the new flu ). We all can have nightmares that such promiscuity could render Ebola Zaire an airborne and highly contagious disease.
The only small criticism I might make of this book....really more of a suggestion...is that the author ( who is now on my very short list of current writers whom I deeply respect ) should do an updated edition.
Do I think that a naturally produced virus could come "out of nowhere" and eradicate the entire human species? After reading this book I'd have to say yes. This is nature at the most beautiful....pure form and function, pure adaptation and natural selection, pure mindless pursuit of a single goal: replication. The pure and efficient processing of meat into virus particles.
As for the subtext of the book....the bravery, creativity, and intelligence of those persons who responded to the Reston event.....they stepped up and put their lives on the line immediately woman and man alike. Yet, the truth of it is, that at Reston the Ebola virus scored a bullseye on the human race. Had it been Zaire or Sudan variants this would be a far different world inhabited by far fewer human beings because nobody stopped anything at Reston regardless of their bravery. Ebola Reston stopped itself. It likes monkey meat, blood, and organs. It does not so much like humans. It can live in us but is still a well mannered guest.
The question is, given that Preston makes a very convincing case that Ebola Reston is an airborne respiratory disease, how many molecules in the the RNA of this lifeform have to be modified in order to cause an abrupt change in it's diet-a change that would put humans on the menu?
The population of the Earth will continue to climb; incursions into the rain forests and other hidden places will continue; and chaotic interactions between humans and dangerous lifeforms will grow more frequent. Mr. Preston is a fine researcher and writer.....but he's proven himself, I think, an even better seer. I wish his projections were not so highly probable.
Summary of The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of theappearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.
The dramatic and chilling story of an Ebola virus outbreak in a surburban Washington, D.C. laboratory, with descriptions of frightening historical epidemics of rare and lethal viruses. More hair-raising than anything Hollywood could think of, because it's all true.
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