:: the hot zone ::

ever heard of marburg? well, it's a virus, and until I read the hot zone by richard preston, I hadn't either. here's an excerpt explaining it. 

"Marburg is one of a family of viruses known as the filoviruses. Marburg was the first filovirus to be discovered. The word filovirus is Latin and means 'thread virus.' The filoviruses look alike, as if they are sisters, and they resemble no other virus on earth. ... In Germany, the effects of the Marburg virus on the brain were particularly frightening, and resembled the effects of rabies: the virus somehow damaged the central nervous system and could destroy the brain, as does rabies."

also, marburg kills one out of four people who get it. 

creepy, huh? 

surprisingly, the hot zone isn't about marburg, but a specific outbreak of another virus, a new, previously undiscovered "sister" strain. 

"Marburg was the mildest of the three filovirus sisters. The worst of them was Ebola Zaire. The kill rate in humans infected with Ebola Zaire is nine out of ten. Ninety percent of the people who come down with Ebola Zaire die of it. Ebola Zaire is a slate wiper in humans."

so what happens when a man from the african wilderness goes to the big city for treatment, crashes and bleeds out in a roomful of people -- with a deadly virus that is airborne and untreatable? or when a shipment of monkeys arrives in washington, d.c. and begin to die and people don't find out it's a strain of ebola until too late? what do you do? (well, we're all alive now, so nothing too bad could have happened, but the possibilities are terrifying.)

   the hot zone is about both the scientific and personal sides of the contraction of these viruses. richard preston covers the stories of several inside people; well-known victims, first-hand witnesses, and one man who actually survived, layering science and facts with objective viewpoints and a pretty fast-paced narration.
   beginning with the first in a train of victims, he describes "charles monet" as he gets ebola and dies of it. the rest of the book follows nancy and jerry jaax -- a married couple in a biological unit of the army -- and their part of the mid-80s outbreak, interspersed with other sides of the story: who and what led to the culmination of it all at the reston monkey house, and the scientific dangers and political undercurrents swirling around that final "hot zone". at the climax, a level 4 biohazard operation is kicked into effect as monkeys are dying, covered in blood, and... we couldn't stop it. 
  quite the book to read at midnight.
  richard preston's short, terse sentences add a lot of tension to the storytelling. the interspersed scientific facts really helped me understand the underlying causes (as far as we know them) and added a layer of horror, since this actually happened, and actually does scary things to people. it's not just some what-if fantasy story: we really don't know how it spreads -- though it appears to spread in every way possible, from blood to breathing -- nor do we know how to stop it, since we don't even really know how it does what it does.
   it is a riveting book.

as far as warnings go... there is some language. not a lot, but it's definitely there. neither is this a book for the squeamish: there are some graphic descriptions of what the virus does to the human body (if you can't handle the wikipedia page on vomito negro, don't even start this book. an [uncredited] excerpt is here, if you're still unsure). fascinating, but gross. 
   the hot zone might inspire nightmares and fears of worldwide pandemics. it might inspire disgust and horror. it might inspire relief, or a fear of airsickness bags forevermore. if you're courageous enough to read about all the horrific things this parasitic virus does to the animal called homo sapiens, be prepared to be awestruck that such variety exists in our world and for thoughts of, "what would I do if that were me?"
   and enjoy the ride. it's not every day that you can come into contact with such fascinating, deadly diseases, nor the realization that modern science doesn't always have the answers. 
   yes, it must have originated from somewhere in kitum cave; but where? how does it spread? and... what would we do if it came back?