With the current hubbub about Ebola, of course we’re flocking to read The Hot Zone, Richard Preston’s nonfiction medical thriller from 1994. The book is selling like hotcakes these days, and it’s on deck for TV adaptation. So I read it this past weekend to give you the lowdown: in the context of 1980s discovery and experimentation, what we learned about Ebola is terrifying. But today, the book has its detractors, of course, some with good reason and some without, and it bears repeating: the book presents DATED information, and you have to read this with that in mind. Yes, the book reads like a great medical thriller. Preston interviewed Army doctors and pathologists, CDC officials, and everyday civilians who worked to identify, eradicate and decontaminate something that was killing monkeys in a Reston, VA warehouse in 1989. The monkeys were shipped from the Philippines to the US and were intended for medical research. The company which imported the monkeys noticed that several of them were dying in one room in unusually large numbers.
A virus was thought to be the cause, and Army doctors at USAMRIID eventually identified the virus as a strain of Ebola. Accomplishing the mission without exposure and keeping a lid on the press are what keeps us glued to the pages. - More
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