Virus Outbreak In The Hot Zone

Breaking news, Virus Outbreak
Quiet and undetected like a ninja, a virus can quickly attack. Richard Preston describes the stealth behaviors of the different viral strains of Ebola and its development in the non-fiction novel, The Hot Zone. The Hot Zone explains the outbreak of the Ebola virus, demonstrating the danger of exposure to this virus. Several outbreaks and deaths are described in the novel, but through all Preston’s research and writing on the book, he has learned how to keep himself safe during his explorations. Viruses are spread from the lack of resources such as clean medical supplies, funding, and a general lack of medical treatment knowledge. In the novel, The Hot Zone, the Ebola virus was first discovered in Africa. It was a new type of virus that was unknown to the people there. When the virus started to infect patients in the hospital, it was not only because of the virus itself that caused it, but it was also the lack of clean medical supplies. When nuns were giving patients injections for protection from the Ebola virus, Preston described, “There were five needles a day to give injections to patients” (Preston 102). The nuns at the hospital were reusing dirty needles for hundreds of patients and as a result, caused an Ebola outbreak. To clarify, when reusing dirty needles it is very dangerous because infected patients can leave behind miniscule traces of infected tissue which then can be injected

These examples demonstrated different types of situations that would emerge when a virus breaks out. There are many ways to prevent a virus from spreading as well as many other factors that contribute it to infect people. With this in mind with enough resources and knowledge about medical treatment, a virus outbreak can be