Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9412020015
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY SIDNEY BARRITT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Remember "The Andromeda Strain"?
That was the book that launched Michael Crichton's career 25 years ago. A meteorite originally from a galaxy far-away is brought to Earth. This innocuous rock bears microscopic passengers, a strain of bacteria highly infectious and toxic to humans, and the humans with no previous exposure to this germ have no immunity. Scary! Highly unlikely but scary nonetheless.
"The Hot Zone" tells a similar story but with a slightly different twist - it's true! "The Hot Zone" really happened.
The story may have started in the rain forests of Central Africa but it played out in the cozy Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.
A virus, heretofore unknown, jumped species from monkey to man in Africa and discovered a very vulnerable host. The first victim died horribly in ways beyond Stephen King's imagination. Then others died, too, no more easily. A few survived by the proverbial skin of their teeth, and then the epidemic died for reasons that remain as obscure as those for its birth.
However, it reappeared in a colony of monkeys imported into the United States for scientific research. The bulk of the story is the effort of the scientists first to recognize the perpetrator of the epidemic in the monkeys and then to contain it from spreading to the human population. Several people did become infected but they did not die and the virus, called Ebola Zaire after its place of origin, did not spread into the community. Again, the reasons for its rising and dying remain a mystery. Perhaps the virus changed just enough not to be deadly to its hosts this time. Next time - and there surely will be a "next time" - we may not be so fortunate.
The recent Hanta virus epidemic in the Southwestern United States delivers a similar warning. The population explosion on this planet is bringing us in closer contact with microscopic inhabitants that simply do not like people and that will attack under provocation. Those with a different cast of mind would say that Planet Earth has a mind of its own and will strike out at a species that outgrows its place and threatens to become dominant. In a manner of speaking, there are microbes out there for whom people are only a ready source of meat.
Richard Preston is not yet in Michael Crichton's class as a storyteller but he is dealing with a true story here, and that places some limits that fiction does not impose. The book is currently on the best-seller list - deservedly so. It may even have the makings of a real horror movie. If the special effects wizards can simulate infection and death from Ebola virus, only the strong of stomach will stay until the end.
Sidney Barritt is a Roanoke physician.
by CNB