The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

“The sick monkeys were put in boxes and shipped out to a small island in Lake Victoria, where they were being released. With so many sick monkeys running around, the island could have become a focus for monkey viruses. It could have been a hot island, an isle of plagues. Epidemiologists have since discovered that the northwestern shore of Lake Victoria was one of the initial epicenters of AIDS. Did HIV crash into the human race as a result of the monkey trade? Did AIDS come from an island in Lake Victoria? A hot island? Who knows. When you begin probing into the origins of AIDS and Marburg, the light fails and things go dark, but you sense hidden connections.” – Chapter 3, pg. 29

“Ebola does things to people that you do not want to think about. The organism is too frightening to handle, even for those who are comfortable and adept in biohazard suits. Many do not care to do research on Ebola because they do not want Ebola to do research on them.” – Chapter 5, pg. 45

“The classic Ebola face made the test monkeys look as if they had seen something beyond comprehension. It was not a vision of heaven.”
– Chapter 6, pg. 55

“The workers at Reston had had symptom-less Ebola virus. Why didn’t it kill them? A tiny difference in the virus’s genetic code had apparently changed its effects tremendously in humans. And if it should mutate in some other direction… Imagine a virus with the infectiousness of influenza and the mortality rate of the black plague. The Level 4 strain could turn into a cough and take out the human race.” – Chapter 28, pg. 254

“In a sense, the earth is mounting an immune response against the human species. It is beginning to react to the human parasite, the flooding infection of people, the dead spots of concrete all over the planet. Nature has interesting ways of balancing itself. Perhaps AIDS is the first step in a natural process of clearance.” – Chapter 31, pg. 287

“Ebola seemed to vanish off the face of the earth – but viruses never go away, they only hide.” – Chapter 31, pg. 291

So those were some of my favorite book quotes from The Hot Zone by Richard Preston.

Holy crap. This book is insane! The first chapter is ridiculously unsettling. I may never look at the person sitting next to me on a flight the same way. Remind me not to visit Reston, Virginia (and screw Africa). The way Preston describes the effects of Ebola and Marburg makes your stomach turn (think black vomit and liquefied organs). My virology teacher advised me not to read this book before bed, or risk nightmares about virus-infected bats. I think one Amazon reviewer put it best – WARNING: DO NOT EAT SPAGHETTI WITH RED SAUCE AFTER READING THIS BOOK. YOU WILL REGRET IT. But just like you can’t stop watching a horror movie once it has started, you can’t stop reading this book. And in the typical fashion of Freddie and Jason, these viruses have set themselves up for a sequel. Preston definitely leaves you

with the feeling that we are one plane ride away from a Stephen King-esque type of situation. Call it sensationalist spin, but an author capable of getting the general public to read a book that contains the phrase 'transmission electron microscope' gets my seal of approval. I'm more interested in his speculation on the origins of HIV. It would be horrific if the deaths of 25 million people resulted from the actions of one man (a rich monkey trader). Although, this seems unlikely because I recall the virus originating much earlier than the 1960's. Perhaps his theory is outdated. I keep forgetting this book was written back in 1994!