Errors In The Hot Zone

The medical field is a vast land of beauty but with great beauty comes immense horror. There are many deadly viruses and diseases found in the medical field. In the novel, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, the author discusses the many deadly viruses found in the field. The viruses are widespread due to the errors that occur when the viruses are in the presence of human beings. The effects of the errors performed by the human race include a decrease in population and wildlife. The viruses are spread in many different ways in the novel, but all are due to human mistakes. One of the most common forms of errors found in the medical field is the recycling of soiled equipment. The repeated use of dirty medical equipment is found commonly in the poor regions of the world

This is an example of the errors the human race performs that leads to disaster. One error can seem pointless to one person but in reality that one error can lead to a whole chain of errors which in time results in disaster and catastrophe. The needles get contaminated and are used from person to person mixing each person’s blood with another making diseases and viruses spread like wildfire. The errors performed at Yambuku hospital lead to Ebola Zaire outbreaks in the fifty-five villages surrounding the hospital. The virus has manifested in the villages making the one error lead to a massacre of the people from within their own bodies. The virus only affected the ones that had gotten shots with the needles at the Yambuku hospital but soon the virus spread in a variety of ways and led to more deaths. Preston goes further into the errors made by the people at Yambuku hospital with Nurse Mayinga. Preston writes “She knew she was becoming sick, but she did not want to admit to herself what it was” (100). Mayinga had contracted the virus when she had gotten in contact with Sister M.E.. Instead of going into the hospital that Nurse Mayinga worked at,