英語長文章：The Hot Zone

The Hot Zone is a nonfiction medical novel from 1995, as fascinating as it is frightening, about the Ebola virus. Multiple interwoven narratives going entirely around the world -- from Mount Elgon in Kenya to Reston, Virginia in the USA -- bind us into the harrowing account. Medical processes fill the book with gripping details of the way epidemiology and outbreak control work, as well as exactly what makes the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) job so pressing and necessary. This novel is helped along in that by densely-packed, fascinating information mixed with its deadly serious character. As some may recall, in the mid-90s this topic was a source of much anxiety -- Outbreak and 12 Monkeys, for example, both came out in 1995.

Beginning in the Kenyan jungle with the story of the likely "zero patient", the author analytically explains the disease's progression and purpose, showing us how a doctor approaches this kind of situation. Though fortunately only small-scale outbreaks have happened thus far since the virus' emergence, we can see exactly how close to crisis humanity has come through epidemics and the evolution of modern diseases. Later, the story drives us through different kinds of procedures for biosafety and why "filoviruses" (Ebola, Marburg, etc) are so significant to the modern world.

The book's second incidence details the discovery of the Reston virus (one of the five viruses in the Ebolavirus genus) as it surfaced in freshly-important laboratory monkeys. A U.S. Army virologist leads us to witness the work of the organizations that protect us, in addition to the grim truths that drive their logic and decisions. The book also includes documentation of the author's firsthand hazmat suited visit to Kitum Cave, which was then speculated to be the home of Ebola's elusive carrier.

If you've ever wondered how doctors working with the most extreme pathogens ("hot agents") handle themselves, this is the book to read. The writing carries a meticulously researched and electrically engaging technical perspective, rich with insight and close vision that only a truly good read can provide — it's easy to see why it made American Scientist's list 100 books that shaped a century of science. Pick up The Hot Zone for a thrilling, intense narrative run through the medical sciences as they attempt to cope with the skyrocketing threat presented by this new breed of disease.