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Summary Of The Hot Zone By Richard Preston

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The Hot Zone by Richard Preston is a terrifying true story about events circling the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Reston, Virginia in the late 1980s. The novel also covers additional virus outbreaks that later connect to the outbreak of Ebola Reston. One New Year’s morning, French emigrant Charles Monet explores the Kitum Cave with his friend in Kenya. Seven days later, Monet begins hemorrhaging. In the following days, becomes clear that he has contracted Marburg virus. The Sudan strain of the Ebola virus contaminates storekeeper YU G. and his district. Ebola Zaire hops to each village as a result of dirty, used needles and infects nurse Mayinga N. at Ngaliema Hospital. Four years after Monet’s death, we are introduced to Colonel Nancy Jaax, a veterinarian and scientist in the U.S. army. Nancy specializes in Biosafety LEvel 4 hot …show more content…

From the gentlest to the most fatal, the Ebola trio is ranked as Marburg, Ebola Sudan, and Ebola Zaire. However, in a quest to determine a new strain of Ebola, scientists discover a harmless-to-humans but fatal-to-monkeys agent known as Ebola Reston. Marburg virus can affect humans like nuclear radiation by virtually damaging all the tissues in their bodies. Ebola and Marburg are both viruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers, organ failures, brain damage, and death. AIDS, a virus emphasized alongside the Ebolas, is stated to be the most environmental disaster of the twentieth century (page 227). A virus is an infective agent that usually consists of a protein coat with a nucleic acid molecule. Viruses do not reproduce through asexual reproduction. Instead, they attach themselves to the cells in their victim’s body to create more viruses. Over the years, vaccines for certain viruses have been created to help humans combat them. However, for viruses such as Ebola, there have been no drugs approved to cure them. Scientists are still developing vaccines to save

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