This part of the book is by far the most interesting to me. It actually made me want to keep reading it. The process that they have to go through in order to enter the hot zone still amazes me. I would never be able to go in there and kill all of those monkeys like that, but I understand that it needed to be done in order to keep the people safe. In this part, I learned that they were dealing with a new strain of virus, a new addition to "the sisters" (Marburg, Ebola Sudan, and Ebola Zaire). They names this new virus Ebola Reston, which is very similar to Ebola Zaire. In fact, Ebola Reston and Ebola Zaire are so similar that it's hard to say how they are different. However, Ebole Reston is the most dangerous of the sisters. I find it extremely interesting that Ebola Reston can tell the difference between a monkey and a human bering, being almost harmless to humans but very deadly to
monkeys. People are not positive that this virus can travel through the air, but it is very likely, which is a really scary thought. People are still not sure where exactly this virus came from. Could it be the crabs that the Reston monkeys ate? Could it still be from somewhere in Kitum Cave?
Yes, very true. From looking at the two pictures of Zaire and Reston, I would never be able to tell!!!! I still think that the monkeys got it from Kitum Cave. And if it does pass through the air, I cannot imagine how many scary people would want to use it as warfare!!
ReplyDeleteI think the scariest thing of all is that the virus has the ability to adapt! Next time it pops up, who nows what it will be able to do!
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