The Hot Zone: A Scary Truth
Richard Preston weaves a true tale about a chilling story of an Ebola virus (A disease-causing agent smaller than a bacterium, consisting of a shell made of proteins and membranes and a core containing DNA or RNA. A virus depends on living cells in order to replicate.) outbreak that occurs in a suburban Washington, D.C. laboratory in 1989. In this laboratory, monkeys being used in scientific experiments quickly sicken and die due to a filovirus (A family of viruses that comprises only Ebola and Marburg.). From this introduction, Preston tells about an explosive chain of lethal transmissions (Sore of biological meltdown wherein a lethal infectious agent spreads explosively through a population, killing a large percentage of the population.), which begins far from this Washington, D.C. laboratory and allows the laboratory to become a hot zone (Area that contains lethal, infectious organisms.). In graphic detail, Preston presents a meltdown of a man's body, Charles Monet, which is invaded by a filovirus in a part of the African rain forests that also presents the world with the HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus, the cause of AIDS. It is an emerging Level 2 agent from the rain forests of Africa. Exact origin unknown. Now amplifying globally its ultimate level of penetration into the human species is completely unknown.) virus through the Kinshasa Highway (AIDS highway. The main route by which HIV traveled during its breakout from the central African rain forest. The road loinks Kinshasa, in Zaire, with East Africa.). This becomes the first known index case (First known case in an outbreak of infectious disease. Sometimes spreads the disease widely.) and allows extreme amplification (Multiplication of a virus everywhere in a host, partly transforming the host into virus.) to occur as the virus spreads its billions of replicated copies triggering a chain of lethal transmissions which could ultimately threaten the entire population of the United States and the world if it turns into a major outbreak.
The history of these filoviruses, the Ebloa and Marburg (Closely related to Ebola. Was initially called stretched rabies.) viruses, are presented by Preston in a detailed manner and capture the interest of the reader by showing their ability to destroy the human race and the impact that they have and will play in the lives of the story's true-life characters, especially those in the United States.
Humans feel a need to transcend boundaries even if the consequences are numerous. A prime example of this is found in Chapter 1 of Visit Sunny Chernobyl. The engineers exceed the safety limits of the reactors to understand what will happen, and the results of disregarding the limits were catastrophic. Another excellent example is in Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and Enkidu overreach the periphery of the gods, and the result of their actions is the death of Enkidu. Consequences always follow pushing boundaries, but humans never stop exceeding perimeters.
The book jumps to a distressing story about Peter Los in 1970 in West Germany who became ill due to smallpox. After ten days he was hospitalized but medical staff did not realize he had smallpox, which is highly contagious. Preston gives vivid descriptions of the disease and how it ravages the body. Los survived his illness, but caused an epidemic that killed many others that had become exposed to him. “Today, the people who plan for a smallpox emergency can’t get the image of the Meschede hospital out of their minds.
The case study The Blast in Centralia no. 5: A mine Disaster No One Stopped is a useful lens through which to identify potential pitfalls for national security organizations. The most powerful lessons that ought to be learned by the case study are twofold. First, political interference in the work of governmental organizations can lead to dysfunction and mission failure. Second, the failure to conduct independent oversight over a governmental organization—especially when its performance has been openly questioned—permits that dysfunction to continue unabated.
AUTHOR: Richard Preston PUBLISHER: Random House DATE OF PUBLICATION: 1994 Setting: The setting g takes place in two major places. Reston Maryland which is a suburb of Washington DC. and the second major area is in Kenya Africa.
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: the True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. New York, NY: Clarion Books, 2003. Print.
The fight against the zombie metaphor within World War Z gives the reader a purpose for finding a way to hold on to hope, and to ultimately celebrate life, ideally a healthy one, itself. With the zombie metaphor referring to uncontrollable fears in today’s modern society, the thriller is a realistic speculation about an airborne virus entering the human species and spreading on a global scale. With influenza outbreaks being a familiar scenario within modern society, the fear of an uncontrollable disease sends shockwaves of fear through the human race, especially when a vaccine has yet to be found and distributed, as in the film. The fear of a viral infection spreading stems from the idea that people do not simply “give” another individual the virus; a virus is a form of life that evolves and mutates in order to survive environmental changes.
This lead to the demise of the population when the disease was transported through the heart of an infected man. Once the doctors completed the heart transplant, the man came to life with the generic grey blood and he was much more hostile.... ... middle of paper ... ...
If one compares the epidemiology and social impact of these diseases they prove to be quite similar. The current AIDS epidemic has the potential to be the most dangerous and destructive plague of the millennium. No one knows exactly how the AIDS virus erupted. However, one presently dominant theory states that AIDS originated from monkeys in Africa
The Web. The Web. 24 Mar. 2011. The. http://liboc.tctc.edu:2058/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CH1420001374&v=2.1&u=tricotec_main&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w> The "Plague".
The World Health Organization states that Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) was first apparent in 1967 in Germany, specifically in the Marburg and Frankfurt areas of Germany, hence the name, Marburg virus. The transporters of this disease were believed to have been monkeys from Uganda, and it is a very deadly and fatal disease in which the virus is similar in strain as the one that causes the Ebola virus. Although rare, MVD has the ability to be extremely deadly within an infected society. Outbreaks can prove to be dramatic and if not communicated within the proper societal channels, can be overwhelming to the human race. Outbreaks in history from the Marburg virus have been contained appropriately however, it is vital for health and protection agencies to collaborate in order to contain any future “accidental” or “man-made” outbreaks (World Health Organization, 2012).
Every since the industrial revolution, society has moved to jobs, factories, manufacturing goods and products, and larger cities. This process called industrialization is when an economy modifies its way of living from an agriculture based living to the production of merchandise in factories. The manual labor that is required for farm work is replaced with mass production on assembly lines. Andrew Blackwell visits this idea of industrialization in Visit Sunny Chernobyl but to a higher extent. Blackwell states “today that society is an industrial one, resource hungry and plant-spanning, growing so inefficiently large, we believe that it is disrupting its own host… It’s not just about living sustainably. It’s about being able to live with ourselves,”
The Ebola virus and Marburg virus are the two known members of the Filovirus family. Marburg is a relative of the Ebola virus. The four strains of Ebola are Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Reston, and Ebola Tai. Each one is named after the location where it was discovered. These filoviruses cause hemorrhagic fever, which is actually what kills victims of the Ebola virus. Hemorrhagic fever is defined as a group of viral aerosol infections, characterized by fever, chills, headache, fatigue, and respiratory symptoms. This is followed by capillary hemorrhages, and, in severe infection, kidney failure, hypotension, and, possibly, death. The incubation period for Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever ranges from 2-21 days. The blood fails to clot and patients may bleed from injection sites and into the gastrointestinal tract, skin and internal organs. Massive destruction of the liver is one distinct symptom of Ebola. This virus does in ten days what it takes AIDS ten years to do. It also requires bio-safety level four containment, the highest and most dangerous level. HIV the virus that causes AIDS requires only a bio-safety level of two. In reported outbreaks, 50%-90% of cases have been fatal.
Ebola, a major threat to today's society, is threatening all parts of today's culture. In this paper one will be presented with six major points of analyses. The first an outbreak timeline, the next three are a basic overview of the deadly virus. In the fifth, one will be presented with what things are being blamed for these violent outbreaks. And in the sixth and final point one will be shown what is being done to better the situation.
In conclusion the virus that had raged its way through Europe was so deadly, virulent and lethal that victims were reported to go to bed healthy and died in their sleep. This disease ripped society apart. This plague has killed many and ruined the lives of others.