Crisis in the Red Zone – The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History, and of the Outbreaks to Come By Richard Preston

ABOUT BOOK

Crisis in the Red Zone (2019) presents an engrossing account from the front lines of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. From the first infected patient through the many lives claimed before the crisis was resolved, this is a tragic and hopeful story of what happens when a hidden and dangerous virus reveals itself.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Richard Preston is an award-winning author who has taught nonfiction writing at both the University of Iowa and Princeton University. His previous books include The Hot Zone (1994), The Wild Trees (2007) and The Demon in the Freezer (2007).

Learn what happened on the ground during the 2014 outbreak

Like many people around the world, you may have been glued to the news as the Ebola crisis unfolded in the summer of 2014. But only now, piecing together hundreds of interviews with the survivors, can we truly understand what happened in West Africa.

Some mysteries remain, but many answers have emerged thanks to genetic research and the blood samples that were taken throughout the epidemic. Scientists have identified precisely where the disease started, where it moved and how it changed.

This is a tale of the people on the front lines, the sacrifices that were made trying to control an increasingly desperate situation and how this virus preys upon the very behaviors that define our humanity.

In the Hot Zone with Virus X – Richard Preston

A short warning before we begin: These descriptions of blood, death, miscarriage and abortion

1) Who the unlikely first victim of the Ebola outbreak was?

2) Which experimental drug saved the lives of health workers in the crisis zone?

2) How the outbreaks in 1976 and 2014 required the same solution?

KEY POINTS

1) Learn what happened on the ground during the 2014 outbreak.

2) The Ebola virus first emerged in Zaire, Africa in 1976.

3) After a virologist visited the village, researchers at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia named the mysterious disease.

4) Ebola is a highly contagious and deadly virus that emerged again in 2014, in West Africa’s Makona Triangle.

5) As the virus emerged, the Kenema Government Hospital tried desperately to contain the crisis.

6) The unique characteristics of the Makona Triangle led to many challenges in controlling the outbreak.

7) As things worsened, the medical staff fell ill, and fear increased.

8) When key personnel became sick, debates about an experimental vaccine heated up.

9) Though many died, some people defied the odds and survived.

10) Much like 1976, the 2014 virus subsided when people began to change their behavior.

Yale Key Note: Ebola Breakout from the Hot Zone

BOOK SUMMARY

The Ebola outbreak that took place in West Africa in 2014 was the result of an incredibly efficient and contagious disease that can infect humans through just one particle. The Ebola virus exploits our compassionate human nature and the desire to care for the ones we love. Thus, the disease is difficult to contain. The outbreak took a massive toll on the nations of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Only when people were willing to isolate their loved ones and trust the medical community did the outbreak subside.

Crisis, mysteries, red zone