Jordan Milne

Biology Honors

03/15/09

Book Talk

            For my book talk I chose to read Virus: Ground Zero by Ed Regis.  The book is about the Ebola virus and is much on the same topic as was The Hot Zone.  I really like that book so I decided to read this one.  This book is about the history of the CDC, Centers for Disease Control, and a recollection of an Ebola outbreak in Kitwik, Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire.  It can get very confusing when the author jumps from the story to history and back again.  It also becomes annoying, especially when the book is picking up speed and then you are reading about one of the officials in the CDC.  I was tempted to skip the history lesson and just read about the outbreak but I didn’t.  I really think Ed Regis could have blended the book more by dividing it up into separate chapters rather than switching stories every other paragraph.

            I did like the science part however it explained in detail what it is like to have to deal with an outbreak of a deadly disease.  The book talked about the logistics and planning that goes into cutting the chain of transmission from host to host.  Also, the book took you deep underground into the virus research labs of the CDC and explained much of what goes on there from cultures to experimentation for vaccines, a is actually quite interesting.

            The book offered more than information about the Ebola virus, it also talked about the eradication of Smallpox and other diseases.  You can tell Regis really put a long time and effort into what he wrote in this book.  It would have taken a very long time to research.  Also Regis often refers to The Hot Zone in his writing and the different view he has taken about Ebola.  The Hot Zone made Ebola out to be a kind of doomsday disease where the entire world would be affected, but Regis on the other hand, explains how with simple boundaries such as gloves face masks and quarantine, Ebola’s chain of transmission can easily be cut. 

            I would really like to learn more about the CDC and what they do in the United States and around the world.  Microbiology is an interesting subject to me in general but particularly viruses and other diseases.  I also recommend this book to someone who has read The Hot Zone before hand and has known somewhat of the history of Ebola.  I think the reader should be mature enough to handle a few scenes with a lot of gore

            In conclusion, this was a very interesting informative book that was based along the same subject line as The Hot Zone.  Although in some parts it got long to read, I was able to push through it until the book picked up pace.  If you are interested in viruses this is a great book because it gives a lot of good background information on the history of the study of viruses.

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