The Hot Zone Part Three and Four Discussion

[Abbie]

Hi everyone,

For this discussion we will be covering part three and part four of “The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston”. We look forward to your discussions and hope you have enjoyed this book as much as we have! Good luck on the start of the new semester! Below is a short summary of part three and part four:

Part three of The Hot Zone describes the efforts made by the U.S. Army to tackle and contain the outbreak of the Ebola-like virus in Reston, Virginia at the Reston Primate Quarantine Unit. Additionally, Part Three details the tedious processes used during the containment and decontamination which highlights the psychological members of the military team faced. Part four of The Hot Zone discusses the potential origin of the Marburg virus in the Kitum Cave of Kenya. In the final part of the book, after personally traveling to Kitum Cave, Preston details the difficulty in navigating the cave and the potential dangers it poses in terms of encountering viruses such as Marburg’s. Lastly, Preston highlights the impact humans have had within the area and the potential danger of emerging infectious diseases.

Below are discussion questions. Feel free to answer any of the question listed below!

1.What were the three main priorities established for the operation?

2.What role does teamwork play in the handling of the crisis, and how does it affect the outcomes?

3.What did the incident with the loose monkey symbolize in the larger context of the Ebola outbreak?

4.How does the environment contribute to the emergence of viruses like Ebola?

[Jordan]

4.How does the environment contribute to the emergence of viruses like Ebola?
The last chapter titled “Camp” touches on this. Page 304-305 describes viruses like dry air and dust and darkness. Page 310 dives deeper into the context explaining that the emergence of diseases, particularly rainforest agents, “appears to be a natural consequence of the ruin of the tropical biosphere.” Humans are considered parasites, and nature is adapting to what we humans are putting out there (eg, overpopulation, pollution, tons of concrete cities, cancerous rot-outs in developed countries, etc). Consider Earth having an immune system and trying to purge anything not good for it out. The most fascinating example of this is on page 311 when the author says “I find it extremely interesting to consider the idea that the chimpanzee is an endangered rain-forest animal and then to contemplate the idea that a virus that moved from chimps to us is suddenly not endangered at all.” This is why it is so important to take care of the Earth and Creation itself.