A careless choice made by one person can certainly impact the society as a whole in such ways that can be life-changing. No one in the world could have even dreamt of encountering with Ebola, a lethal and deadly virus, with a mortality rate similar to that of the infamous Black Death during the Middle ages which wiped out a third of the world’s population. However, destiny proved them wrong, for Ebola became an explosive topic worldwide with its highly contagious nature. Furthermore, because of its vagueness in modern science, many people carried and transmitted the disease without knowledge of doing so themselves. In the novel, The Hot Zone, Richard Preston describes the horrid consequences that manifested as a result of the inadvertent decisions …show more content…
In the beginning, a schoolteacher was said to have visited a roadside market and bought fresh antelope meat, which was placed alongside with a freshly killed monkey bought by his friend. He then began to feel sick after consuming the meat which his wife cooked and went to Yambuku hospital for a medicine injection afterwards. However, an ominous event was about to take place when the author mentioned, “At the beginning of each day, the nuns at Yambuku Hospital would lay out five hypodermic syringes on a table, and they would use them to give shots to patients all day long.” (Preston 102). This is a significant issue which assisted the spread of the virus, as the schoolteacher broke out with Ebola and became the first known case of Ebola Zaire. Perhaps he himself contracted the virus, but chances are that other people who came to get shots before him could also potentially harbor the virus, and therefore, transmitted the disease to him through blood contact from the used needles. This can be a possibility because the author wrote “The nuns and staff occasionally rinsed the needles in a pan of warm
In the beginning of The Hot Zone By Richard Preston, readers are introduced to the appearance of a virus similar to Ebola that strikes in western Kenya during 1980 and eventually costs the life of Charles Monet, a Frenchman living by himself. When Monet and his friend travel to the Kitum Cave, he returns to his home and becomes ill on the seventh day. The author then describes Monet’s symptoms and illness in graphic details, providing a sense of terror for the readers. When a doctor named Shem Musoke treats Monet in the Nairobi Hospital, he develops the symptoms of the virus himself. Due to the fact Musoke feels particularly unwell after treating Monet, he is then opened up during an exploratory surgery and his liver appears to be red and
Nancy Jaax almost became infected when she tore her space suit while performing an autopsy on an infected monkey. Luckily she didn’t, but danger can happen around any corner. Even though Doctors new a lot about Ebola it was still very scary and unpredictable to work on. The beginning of the book gives the reader a very description of what Ebola is and does to its unlucky victims. “Ebola the slate wiper, did things to people that you do not want to think about.
Has an ordinary cold ever came out of nowhere and infected you, your friends and your family. This is the case for 14 year old Matilda Cook in Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson but this is not an ordinary cold, it is a raging yellow fever outbreak in the United States capitol Philadelphia (the capitol is later moved to its current location Washington D.C.). Matilda’s personality was altered a great amount over the course of the outbreak for example she started to become a more responsible worker and she was treated and respected more like a grown adult.
(Gladwell, 14). From this would have to “[...] reframe the way we think about the world.” (Gladwell, 257). This information helps the author with their purpose, specifically with the second part of the purpose, the question “[...] what can we do to deliberately start and control positive epidemics of our own?” (Gladwell, 14).
He highlights the outbreaks of Ebola Sudan and Ebola Zaire, which simultaneously appeared in dozens of villages as a result of the use of dirty needles and poor living conditions within those villages. Amid the horrific outbreaks and victims of the filoviruses, Preston also focuses on several American scientists and military personnel who spend their lives within “space suits” researching hot agents. Despite the dangers surrounding them at every corner when working with lethal viruses, each of these scientists strive to learn as much as possible, in the hopes of one day finding a vaccine that will save the human race. As the book continues, we see that a monkey facility in Reston, Virginia is marked as a “hot zone” with a new, unknown strain of Ebola wandering in and out of the monkey facility infecting and ultimately killing many who inhabit it. While the SWAT team is tasked with entering the building and euthanizing hundreds of monkeys in the facility, they must also keep in mind that if the news of a lethal virus got out to the public it would ultimately would cause even more chaos.
Gladwell did an exceptional job by getting his point across. This entire book shows the three main factors of spreading an epidemic. The law of the few with the Mavens, Connectors, and Salesmen; the Stickiness factor that deals with the content of the message; and the power of context, which explains how important the environment and surroundings are in an epidemic. For each of these factors, there are many examples clearly supporting how they are vital to spreading the epidemic. Each of these examples powerfully describe how important that surrounding are.
The #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Hot Zone, authored by Richard Preston works with its main goal of educating society on the sinister topic of the Ebola virus. It endeavors and adequately completes its goal to reveal the terrifying truth of the origins of this pernicious virus to the whole of society. It is due to the fact that the Ebola Virus is both highly deadly as well as an infectious disease that it comes as no surprise that it is characterized as an exotic “hot” virus. While the book takes place in and discusses many different places, the book’s main focus is on the continent of Africa, and the outbreaks that occur there. The first known outbreak of the Ebola Virus was located in a Central African rainforest, during the time when
It is believed that the fruit bats first carried the disease Ebola. Being that it is contagious, scientists and doctors believe the disease first transferred to humans when people ate the fruit bats. With the Red Death, you died within thirty minutes. In those times, they were not sanitary. They could have had the symptoms for a long time and not known about it until it became severe, the day, or hour, they would die.
These examples help connect not only the three rule of epidemics, but also the three groups of people necessary to the pattern creating epidemics. Overall The Tipping Point answers questions about human behavior and how society works. The main focus of the book were the tipping points that could be reached by changing small details within an environment like the removal of graffiti in New York’s subways reduced crime rate. And overall, Gladwell proved that our environment is the biggest influence on our lives, behaviors, and
A Synthesis of “The Power of Context (Part One)” Understanding epidemics--widespread outbreaks of ideas, diseases, trends etc.--can be very beneficial, both for understanding past epidemics and for helping the spread of or prevention of future outbreaks. In Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell effectively and rightly establishes his theory on epidemics--that situations have immense influences over people--in the chapter “The Power of Context (Part One).” He uses the Broken Window Theory, the Zimbardo Prison Study, and the Good Samaritan test to thoroughly prove this theory correct.
The Hot Zone is deals with Ebola and Marburg: in what ways these viruses affect people, how people have contracted these diseases, and how scientists have studied and researched this virus in the effort to find a cure or vaccine. Richard Preston (1994), author of The Hot Zone does a fine job of keeping the characters of the book believable and convincing, “ ‘Son of a *****!’ she thought, ‘they’ll put me in the slammer’ ” (p.89) This quote reflects how when somebody makes a mistake their minds can’t help but to race and jump to conclusions to what will happen to them.
Knowing that the Yanomami didn 't have any antibodies since they had not been victims of a massive epidemic, Chagnon and Neil decided to give the Yanomami people vaccinations for the measles. They knew that the kind of vaccination they were using could be bad for the indigenous people but they used it anyways. The particular kind they used was called Edmonton B. which was known to be bad for immune depressed people such as the Yanomami(Mann). It was also known to cause extreme symptoms for people with anemia, chronic exposure to malaria and dysentery, all three of which are things that the Yanomami suffered from. The symptoms were especially bad because the vaccination they used was made to be used with a dose of gamma globulin which is basically extra antibodies that would make their symptoms more mild however Chagnon and Neil did not administer the gamma globulin.
Nobody knew how the epidemic had started.”. Mr. Chiu was wrongfully accused of causing a disturbance while waiting for a train to take him and his bride back home from their honeymoon. When he was released from the police’s horrid
As their next-door-neighbors begin dying, two men are driven to action: Reverend Henry Whitehead, whose faith in a benevolent God is great, and Dr. John Snow, whose beliefs about contagion have been rejected by the scientific community, but who is convinced that he knows how the disease is had spread. “The Ghost Map” records the
The bubonic plague and other epidemics provide an early example of the challenges that still exist today when doctors must decide whether they are willing to face personal risks when caring for their