The Hot Zone: Part 3

This section of the novel was definitely the ultimate climax of the story. After all the research and guess work about Ebola, cutting through the red tape with the CDC and the Hazleton company, the Institute was able to go into the field and fight the Ebola threat. It's hard to believe that the author wasn't there himself because the incredible detail of the mission was so exactly recounted. I was surprised by how delicate people had to be when the author spoke of Gene Johnson staying up at night writing a script for the entire operation! It was difficult to hear how many animals were sacrificed in the sterilization operation but at least they would not suffer through the Ebola outbreak. The near misses with all the media crews were very intense as well! But in the end I was shocked that the virus was a mutant Ebola and in fact harmless to humans, much like the suspected SHF virus. I mean, how lucky could we get? If one protein in the bacteria cell was structured differently, the whole United States would be facing a new Black Plague! What really blew my mind was the Hazleton company's ignorant actions after the sterilization. After the USAMRIID team went through days of chemical scrubbing to kill the whole monkey house, Hazleton brought monkeys from the same forest in the Philippines to the Reston site. And no surprise that they were hot with Ebola once again, but within a month of the scare? Talk about a slap in the face. It's a good thing the monkey importation laws were changed because careless corporations could be the cause of a major outbreak of Ebola in the United States. Lots of drama with biological sterilization!