Chapter one introduces the reader to Charles Monet. He is a French expatriate working on a sugar plantation in western Kenya. The story begins on New Year’s Day, 1980, when Charles and a woman take an overnight trip to Mount Elgon, a formerly active volcano. During their trip, they visit Kitum Cave. After returning to his quiet life, Monet becomes ill. The reader knows that he is experiencing a catastrophic illness, but Charles and those who treat him are unaware of how serious it truly is. He experiences headaches and backaches for several days before spiking a fever and vomiting violently for a long period of time.
His eyes turn red, his face becomes expressionless, and his personality changes. Finally, a coworker drives him to a hospital in the city of Kisumu. Doctors at the hospital cannot explain Monet’s illness, and their antibiotics have no effect, so they put him on a crowded plane to Nairobi Hospital. During the flight, Monet becomes so ill that he vomits huge amounts of blood with black specks. The author explains that this is vomito negro and that it is saturated with whatever virus is making Monet sick. His blood has been clotting in his blood vessels and internal organs, and by now his body has depleted the clotting agent.
He is bleeding from his nose, as well as internally. By the time he reaches the hospital, Monet “crashes” and falls to the floor in a river of virus-infected blood. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 1 Something in the Forest Analysis The author develops the first chapter with extreme attention to detail. In the plot structure of The Hot Zone, Part 1 acts as the exposition. The landscape of the region is used to foreshadow the potential for fear and death that may follow throughout the book. In fact, humans’ fear of death becomes a recurring theme throughout the book.
The sugar fields have been burned for acres around, the dark clouds gather to create a rainstorm, and the cave is full of frightening images. Likewise, the graphic description of the progression of Monet’s illness allows the reader to understand, step-by-step, the fate that awaits anyone else who becomes infected. It is quite clear from the narrative that Charles Monet is the first, but certainly not the last, human who will encounter a terrible virus during the course of this story. The origins of the outbreak are foreshadowed as Monet handles a dying bird, feeds a wild monkey, and encounters bat guano and crystals in the cave.
The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 2 Jumper Summary In this short chapter, Charles Monet is placed on a gurney and wheeled into the intensive-care unit. Dr. Shem Musoke, a young, well-liked doctor is unsure of what is happening, but he recognizes that Monet cannot breathe. When Dr. Musoke attempts to insert a breathing tube, he realizes the patient has developed severe brain damage. During the insertion, the patient vomits blood upward and it gets into the doctor’s eyes and mouth. Because Monet’s blood will not clot, attempts to give him a transfusion only cause him to bleed more; and he dies that evening.
The autopsy shows that his recently living body resembles a several-days’ dead corpse on the inside. Within a few days, Dr. Musoke begins showing signs of illness. He treats himself for malaria and typhoid fever, but neither treatment is helpful. His doctor, Antonia Bagshawe believes he may have gall stones and orders exploratory surgery. During the procedure they find no gallstones, but Musoke’s blood refuses to clot. He is then placed in the care of Dr. David Silverstein, who suspects he has some sort of virus. Silverstein sends blood samples to the Institute of Virology in Sandringham, South Africa, and the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 2 Jumper Analysis Having already described the onset of the illness in Chapter 1, the author is able to use this brief chapter to set the pace for how quickly the virus begins to spread. It is also important in telling this true story to trace each step in the progression. The author also creates an effective atmosphere of fear by showing that doctors, who are almost always viewed as being superhuman, can so easily contract this virus. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 3 Diagnosis Summary Several years later, the author visits with Dr.
David Silverstein, who has gained a huge reputation in Nairobi. Silverstein relates a 2 a. m. phone call that informed him that Dr. Musoke’s blood tested positive for Marburg, a virus about which little is known. It was named after a town in Germany where, in 1967, citizens contracted the virus from monkeys transported from Uganda to a local laboratory. Many of the monkeys had been brought in by a trader who was more interested in money than the health of the animals. The virus is different from most because rather than being ball-shaped, it is a filovirus, or has tendrils like hair or worms that tangle together.
They can also roll up into loops, a very unique trait. The other well-known filovirus is Ebola. Marburg kills one in four humans who receive medical treatment and is so dangerous that the international community immediately tries to identify the source. The best they can do is to hypothesize that it was a “hot” island in western Africa populated by sick monkeys that were trapped and sold in other countries. This is also a popular theory about the origin of HIV and AIDS. The viruses mutate enough to spread from monkeys to humans and can have a catastrophic effect.
Sixty-seven individuals were quarantined at Nairobi Hospital. Not only did no other cases appear, but Dr. Musoke eventually recovered completely. This occurrence is considered a “microbreak. ” When a virus is on the verge of making a large outbreak into humans, several of these microbreaks may occur at different times and places. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 3 Diagnosis Analysis The author places less focus on the symptoms of the illness and shifts toward the pathology of “hot” viruses in general. The immediate threat is lessened since no new cases appear, and Dr. Musoke recovers.
The discussion of how these extremely deadly viruses work and their possible origins builds a foundation for the reader. The reader begins to understand through the earlier graphic descriptions of the effects of the virus the basic evolution of a hot virus outbreak. The sense of the chapter is that things are returning to normal – for now. The allusion to HIV and AIDS eventually develops into one of the book’s themes. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 4 A Woman and a Soldier Summary The setting now shifts to 4 years later in the town of Thurmont, Maryland, home to Major Nancy Jaax.
She and her husband, Jerry, both serve in the Veterinary Corps of the U. S. Army at Fort Detrick in the nearby town of Frederick. She is a petite, determined woman who oversees their family of two children, a parrot, a python, and two dogs. She has faced obstacles as a woman in the Army and studies martial arts as a way to advance her career, as well as to smooth out her hand motion, which others felt was too quick and could be a hindrance when working in dangerous situations (? This sentence is very awkward and raises more questions than it answers, but I can’t fix it. What kind of obstacles?
How does studying martial arts advance an Army vet’s career? What dangerous situations call for smooth hand motion? Did her superiors criticize her performance during an emergency at an earlier time? ). Jaax is extremely busy with her family and job. She tries to save time, for example, by pre-cooking and freezing meals. When she opens a can of beans for dinner, she cuts her right palm very badly. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 4 A Woman and a Soldier Analysis This is a basic introduction to Major Nancy Jaax. She is a family woman who also cares deeply about her career.
The author tells the audience not only about her actions, but also why she performs them. For example, she takes up martial arts to compete better with the men and to become more graceful. Nancy is tough enough to be able to break four boards with a back kick and take down 6-foot-tall men, but she appreciates it when her little girl climbs into bed with her. When she cuts her hand, the author mentions that she cannot stand the sight of blood because she knows what some blood contains. This sets up the next chapter, which describes her work. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 5 Project Ebola Summary
The following morning, Major Nancy Jaax rises early to study for her pathology-board exams before leaving for work, where she is in training for veterinary pathology, the study of disease in animals. Her building at Fort Detrick is the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID (pronounced “you Sam rid”). USAMRIID researches ways to protect soldiers from biological weapons or naturally occurring diseases. Jaax is anxious to check in on several monkeys that had been recently infected with the Ebola virus to experiment with possible cures.
The project is headed by a civilian Army scientist named Eugene Johnson who has developed a reputation for being a little crazy in his enthusiasm for working with such a deadly virus. Various areas of USAMRIID are categorized by Biosafety levels ranging from zero to four (the number one is skipped for some reason). Jaax is cleared up to Level 2, but she could not progress because she was allergic to the vaccines. To continue her work with infectious agents, she skipped ahead to Level 4, for which there were no vaccines anyway.
This is her second day, and she goes through the many steps required to don a “space suit” and prepares to autopsy the monkeys that have died overnight from the Ebola virus. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 5 Project Ebola Analysis This chapter explains both the procedures used to keep the population safe while “hot” biochemical agents are studied and the need for such standards. Simply dressing to enter the Level 4 area requires Jaax to remove all her clothing and put on a sterile scrub suit and surgical cap before entering the Level 2 area, where she is exposed to ultraviolet light and receives socks.
She then enters Level 3, where she tapes her socks to her pants and her rubber gloves to her cuffs before entering an antechamber and donning the actual suit, which is then plugged into an air hose that inflates the suit. The author carefully describes how much precaution is needed. Eugene Johnson is also introduced in this chapter. “Gene” is characterized both through his own actions and through the opinions of others. It is apparent that Gene is a very capable scientist, but some colleagues take issue with his messiness and the fact that he does not always publish his findings.
The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 6 Total Immersion Summary Major Nancy Jaax and her supervisor, Lieutenant Colonial Anthony (Tony) Johnson, enter a room with monkey cages facing each other on either wall. One side has two control monkeys that have not been infected and the other side has several monkeys with Ebola derived from a nurse who had treated an Ebola patient in Zaire in 1976. Two monkeys have “crashed and bled out,” and Jaax is careful to determine that they are dead before removing one from his cage.
Like Monet, they have bloody noses and red eyes, and their faces are expressionless masks caused by the destruction of connective tissue beneath the skin. Jaax and Johnson don a third pair of gloves and begin to dissect the first animal. While wearing space suits, partners constantly check each other for leaks or tears, and Johnson notices one on Jaax’s right hand. Although she is terrified, she has to endure the entire decontamination process, during which she worries that if she is infected, there is no money at the house to pay the babysitter.
The decontamination process reveals that the innermost glove taped to her cuff kept the Ebola blood from entering the cut on her hand. Most experts believe that at this point, the virus can spread only through fluid contact. Shortly after all the infected monkeys die, the two control animals begin showing symptoms, and it is determined that Ebola can be transmitted through the air. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 6 Total Immersion Analysis Viruses are pieces of DNA or RNA that are neither living nor dead. They are sticky and attach themselves to cells, which they then use to replicate themselves.
Either the cell explodes and releases new virus particles, or it discharges them slowly. Once enough cells are destroyed, the host dies. The author makes the point that the Ebola virus itself may be nearly as old as the planet, and no matter how immune from disease humans believe they are today, a microscopically small agent exists that has the potential to decimate the population. The author refers to this agent as a slate-wiper because 9 out of 10 infected people would die. The author postulates in Chapter 5 that an airborne strain of Ebola could circle the globe in about 6 weeks.
Throughout the book, viruses are personified to some degree and can even be viewed as the story’s antagonist. Again, the extensive measures the scientists take to protect themselves from the virus works to reinforce the theme of a fear of death. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 7 Ebola River Summary The story shifts to the summer of 1976 and follows the progression of the Ebola Sudan and Ebola Zaire strains of the virus. The latter is the one injected 7 years later into the monkeys at USAMRIID.
It begins with the death of a storekeeper in a cotton factory in southern Sudan. He is known at Mr. Yu. G., and is considered the “index” case. A few days later two of his coworkers die, but not before at least one spreads the agent by touching and sexual contact.
It passes through 16 generations and kills 50 percent of those infected. Ebola Zaire hits the hospital in the town of Maridi, where it kills patients and medical personnel alike. Perhaps because it kills its host so quickly, before they can infect others, the virus suddenly vanishes. Two months later and 500 miles away, a twice-as-deadly filovirus emerges in Zaire at a mission hospital that uses five syringes a day to administer medicine to hundreds of people.
The virus erupts in 55 villages around the hospital as a result. One nun from the village, Sister M. E. , was taken to the city of Kinshasa where she infects Nurse Mayinga. Disregarding her own symptoms, the nurse travels around the city before returning to the hospital to die. As the epidemic grows, samples of the nurse’s blood were sent around the world to identify the illness. It was found to be related to Marburg. Dr. Karl Johnson of the CDC names it Ebola after a river in the area where it was discovered. The World Health Organization and international doctors travel to the area to try to stop the outbreak.
Eventually, it dies out on its own. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 8 Cardinal Summary At this point, the narrative jumps to September 1987, where a container of blood samples from a dead Dutch boy is smuggled to Eugene Johnson. The child, whose name was Peter Cardinal, died at Nairobi Hospital in Kenya of what Johnson identifies as a new strain of the Marburg virus. Johnson discovers that the boy had recently visited the Kitum Cave, which is the very same cave that Charles Monet visited in the first chapter.
The child’s death was very similar to Monet’s except that rather than “bleeding out” through his orifices, the boy bled out under his own skin. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 8 Cardinal Analysis Although the story has moved forward in time, the author is still using flashbacks to build the history of the Marburg and Ebola viruses. The flashbacks make it clear at the beginning of this chapter that viruses never completely disappear from the planet; they simply go into hiding, living in animals or insects or even killing the occasional human without creating a large-scale outbreak.
This is reinforced by the fact that the Cardinal strain appeared in the Danish boy 7 years after Monet succumbed to it. While hot viruses are parasites, it is easy to think of them as predators or personify them as villains especially since they appear to lie in wait and then surprise the unsuspecting victim in a vicious, deadly attack. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 9 Going Deep Summary After traveling to Kenya to investigate Peter Cardinal’s death, Eugene Johnson convinces the government to let him explore Kitum Cave in the spring of 1988, and he recounts that story to the author years later.
Thirty-five members treated the cave as a Level 4 hot zone and conducted all their work in the cave while wearing space suits and following all Level 4 protocols, such as taking decontamination showers after leaving the cave. The team took 17 monkeys and many guinea pigs into the cave to leave at various places in an attempt to expose them to the virus so that some would get sick, and the researchers would have a specific place to look for the Marburg virus. During their stay, they collected between 30,000 and 70,000 biting insects, trapped and dissected hundreds of small animals, and eventually killed and studied all the monkeys.
They did not find a trace of Marburg, although local people often shared stories of someone they knew dying a horrible bloody death from what may have been the virus. In the summer of 1989, the Jaaxes were stationed at the Institute of Chemical Defense in Maryland. Nancy Jaax’s former commander at USAMRIID changed jobs and promoted Nancy into his former position. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 1, Chapter 9 Going Deep Analysis Eugene Johnson is intent on finding the origin of the Marburg virus. He conceives, orchestrates, and leads the expedition to Africa.
Despite his obsession with the virus, he never loses his perspective regarding how deadly Marburg is. When the researchers go to Africa, they bring army-issue body bags and discuss what they want done with their remains should they die at Kitum Cave. The fear of death is very pervasive in this chapter, but so is the need to learn more to protect the greater public at large. Despite the lack of findings in Africa, Johnson keeps their equipment at USAMRIID, perhaps knowing it will someday be needed. The final detail of the chapter moves Nancy Jaax back into the story.
The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 1 Reston Analysis The first chapter of Part 2 of the book is really the beginning of the rising action of the story. A great deal of the chapter is devoted to showing how the planned community of Reston was designed. It is an orderly suburb where catastrophic disasters are unthinkable. That such a safe, ordinary community could be placed in jeopardy by an uncontrollable virus was impossible to contemplate. In the monkey house the majority of dying animals are located in Room F at the end of the hall.
The recently wild monkeys are agitated from being in captivity, and the broken heating system is making everything that much more unbearable. The growing chaos in the monkey house is juxtaposed with the order of the planned community outside. The suburb of Reston symbolizes the typical American community, while the interior of the monkey house symbolizes the havoc that ensues once a Level 4 virus has been unleashed. Just as a human host deteriorates over the course of the virus’ cycle, so does the building. Jerry Jaax discovers in this chapter that his brother John has been murdered.
Jerry does not take this news well, and he begins to lose more and more sleep while obsessing about catching the killer. He is characterized by his own actions of constantly calling the police on the case, but the reader also learns that his wife believes he may be clinically depressed. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 2 Into Level 3 Summary Dan Dalgard decides to call USAMRIID and sends samples of blood and spleen to a civilian virologist named Peter Jahrling. Jahrling dresses in surgical scrubs and takes the monkey meat into a Level 3 laboratory for tests.
Somewhere along the line he jokes, “Good think this ain’t Marburg. ” While he and his assistants are growing the virus in test tubes full of monkey cells, Dan Dalgard learns that the animals in Reston seem to be doing better. His relief is short lived, as that night eight more monkeys die. Half the monkeys in room F are now dead. A few days later monkeys begin to die in other rooms, as well. Believing the animals have simian hemorrhagic fever, which is fatal to monkeys and harmless to humans, Dalgard euthanizes the remaining monkeys in Room F. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 2 Into Level 3 Analysis.
By describing the way Peter Jahrling is dressed and the haphazard way Dan Dalgard has wrapped the monkey tissue, the author shows that no one is unduly concerned about the virus that is killing the monkeys in Reston. Although it is a sad situation, no one seems to feel it is any threat to humans. Suspense is built around the fact that it takes days to grow the virus in test tubes, and no one involved realizes the urgency with which they should be working. The dramatic irony is that the reader is aware of the urgency, and this works well to create tension. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 3 Exposure Summary.
On November 17, an intern at USAMRIID named Thomas Geisbert checks on the test tubes. Geisbert is characterized as an outdoorsman who loves to hunt and fish, but who is also engrossed in his job. He notices that the cells are dying, puffy and full of black specks. He and Jahrling think that some bacteria must have contaminated the samples, and they sniff the test tubes to try to detect a bacterial odor. They decide to take a closer look, and Geisbert prepares some of the liquid for the electron microscope. It is late on Friday, however, and Geisbert leaves for a week-long hunting trip.
The chapter ends on an ominous note about how a filovirus incubates in a human for 3 to 13 days before the headaches begin. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 3 Exposure Analysis While the main goal of the chapter is to depict how Tom Geisbert and Peter Jahrling are exposed to the unknown virus, it is done in a very subtle way. As if it were just another simple detail of the story, the author describes off-handedly how Jahrling waved his hand over the test tube to bring the scent to his nose. Jahrling then offers it to the intern to teach him the method of detecting certain bacteria.
The dramatic irony is that the audience knows the characters have been exposed to a filovirus while the characters themselves do not. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 4 Thanksgiving Summary The Jaxx family is living through a horrible Thanksgiving. They have turkey with Nancy’s dying father on the family farm and then drives to Andale, Kansas, for another dinner with Jerry’s family. His family is still in turmoil following his brother’s murder. They spend a couple of extra days to take Nancy’s father to the hospital for cancer treatment.
Dan Dalgard has been anxious all weekend to get the test results from Jahrling, who says he believes the monkeys have simian hemorrhagic fever, but that he cannot be certain just yet. This is bad news for Dalgard because it has such a high fatality rate in monkeys. He is also concerned because it is showing up in animals that are far away from Room F. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 4 Thanksgiving Analysis So many things are going wrong. This creates a sense in the reader that these are real people, dealing with really difficult issues. That is underscored by the fact that it is a true story.
It is also interesting to consider these personal tragedies against the backdrop of a potential Level 4 virus at large in the human population. While human tragedies are all-consuming to those involved, a tiny virus has the potential to dwarf that suffering. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 5 Medusa Summary Tom Geisbert returns to work on November 27 and uses a diamond knife to cut his prepared specimen into slices about the size of a period on a page. The slices are suspended on a drop of water, lifted out on a tiny grid, and taken to the electron microscope.
Each slice has many cells in it, and examining it under the electron microscope is like looking at the landscape from an airplane. He sees that the cells have been blown apart, and that they appear to be crawling with microscopic worms. Geisbert experiences what is known in this line of work as “the puke factor” when he realizes that the cells look just like those drawn from Peter Cardinal who had died from Marburg. One of Tom Geisbert’s first thoughts is that he and Peter Jahrling have been handling it without proper precautions and that they have, in fact, inhaled the air over the test tube, checking for odor.
As he goes about taking and developing photos, he is constantly trying to decide whether he may be ill. In addition to the snake-like protrusions, he sees that the dark specks in the cells are “inclusion bodies. ” These are crystal-like blocks in the cells that contain and replicate the virus. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 6 The First Angel Summary Tom Geisbert develops his pictures of what looks to be the Marburg virus and takes them to Peter Jahrling. As he looks at the photographs, Jahrling remembers his comment while working with the monkey tissue, “Good thing this ain’t Marburg.
” He decides it does look like a filovirus and interrupts a meeting with Colonel Clarence James Peters by quickly flashing the photographs so no one else in the room would see them. Peters orders more tests, and Jahrling sets up one that will better determine the type of filovirus. After meeting with Colonel Peters, Tom Geisbert and Peter Jahrling shut themselves into Jahrling’s office and decide not to tell anyone they had sniffed the test tubes of infected cells. They want to continue working and stay out of “The Slammer,” USAMRIID’s long-term quarantine area.
They agree to check their blood continually for infection. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 6 The First Angel Analysis Recognizing the infection as a filovirus has some very ominous implications. All three of the filoviruses identified thus far have the potential to devastate the human population. There is real cause for concern because several people have now been exposed, and if the virus is growing, or amplifying, in them, they are exposing many more people daily as they go about their lives.
The author does not make judgments about their decision, however, and the reader is left to make his or her own determinations of these men’s characters. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 7 The Second Angel Summary The next morning, Tom Geisbert confirms that the monkeys at Reston have the filovirus. Peter Jahrling calls Dan Dalgard to let him know there is a danger, but he does not share how big of a potential danger it really is. All necropsies are suspended to lower the humans’ exposure to infected blood. Meanwhile, Jahrling is conducting his test to determine the type of virus they have.
It involves introducing the unknown virus to blood that is infected with known agents. If the virus comes into contact with its own kind, the sample will glow. Peter Jahrling is horrified when he looks through his microscope, and blood from Nurse Mayinga of Zaire is glowing. The filovirus is not Marburg. It is the even more fatal Ebola Zaire. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 7 The Second Angel Analysis It is tempting to see the revelation of the filovirus as the climax of the story, but this chapter makes sure the action continues to rise.
While waiting for the test results, Dan Dalgard is becoming agitated. Tom Geisbert goes home to his young children. The monkey keepers continue about their work at the monkey house in Reston. Agitation is one of the symptoms of the illness caused by the viruses. Geisbert could be infecting his toddlers. The monkey keepers are repeatedly being exposed to a Level 4 hot agent. The tension is definitely growing. Each ordinary detail takes on a new meaning when the reader considers that these people may be infected. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 8 Chain of Command Summary.
Peter Jahrling repeats the test and again it shows that he has been exposed to Ebola Zaire, which kills approximately 9 out of 10 humans. He calls Colonel Peters, and they take it up the chain of command to Colonel David Huxsoll. They call all the proper parties, including Major General Phillip K. Russell, and decide to bring Lieutenant Colonel Nancy Jaax on board as well. Because of their expertise, both she and Jerry would be involved. One of their major concerns is that Gene Johnson showed previously that Ebola can be transmitted through the air. The group now faces several problems.
Because there is no cure or vaccine, they decide to use biocontainment at the monkey house. Rather than letting the disease run its course, they plan to euthanize the animals and minimize their suffering. Finally, there is a political aspect to the operation that could become ugly. For example, the Army has the ability to run the operation, but not the mandate. Meanwhile, the CDC has the authority but is not equipped to handle the problem. Russell calls Frederick Murphy of the CDC personally. Murphy is one of the original discoverers of Ebola. The politics get even more convoluted as more groups get involved.
There is the company that runs the monkey house, the Virginia state health authorities, county authorities, the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency; in addition to the Army and the CDC. Because the monkey house sits on private property, permission has to be granted for anything to happen, and the company is not very forthcoming about letting the Army into their domain. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 8 Chain of Command Analysis As if the potential for a national health emergency is not enough, the number of organizations that need to be involved makes everything more complicated.
The company’s reluctance to have the Army intervene sets the tone for the power struggles that ensue in this type of situation. Politics and bureaucracy become a central theme of the story. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 9 Garbage Bags Summary Colonel Peters calls Dan Dalgard the next day and asks him whether they can send some folks down. Dalgard is fine with their picking up some tissue samples but dodges Peters’ request to see the monkey house. Dalgard gets a shock when he learns that one of the animal caretakers has gone to the hospital over the weekend with a heart attack.
Dalgard worries it could have been caused by a blood clot resulting from Ebola in the body. He chooses not to tell the hospital that the man has been exposed. Nancy Jaxx and Colonel Peters travel in civilian cars to Reston where Jaxx is able to look at some of the monkey’s tissue under a microscope. It is so full of inclusion bodies that some sections of cells had simply exploded and liquefied. Peters requests some samples of monkeys and they are directed to a gas station out of town where they are met by the monkey house manager, who has a van full of dead monkeys in plastic garbage bags.
Jaxx and Peters are horrified at the lack of protection between the dead animals and themselves. Despite their fear and the fact that it was probably illegal to transport dead animals with infectious diseases across state lines, they load the bags into Peters’ trunk. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 9 Garbage Bags Analysis Colonel Peters and Gene Johnson have both begun to think that USAMRIID may have to quarantine the monkey house and destroy every living thing inside. Because the sight of so many uniformed military personnel might cause alarm, the caravan dresses in civilian clothes.
In life, as well as in the book, the military symbolizes protection–and the need to be protected. Peters wonders what difference it would have made if something like this could have been done when AIDS first emerged from the jungle. Johnson realizes that such an operation would have to be very carefully planned and executed. The Hot Zone Summary | Part 2, Chapter 10 Space Walk Analysis The only glass allowed in the hot zone is in the form of slides for microscopes.