Elbows-Deep in Ebola Virus - Richard Preston

[Manny1222]

Monkeys? Someone send Bruce Willis to blow that shit up!

[faeleia]

richard preston is now my fav author with his EPIC anecdotes collected into easy reading. i wished i could tell him how much i enjoyed his books!

[Marasg89]

@DannyBruiz Your an idiot. The flu medicine you use to get rid of the flu was once on of those viruses they "fucked with". Your welcome, you uneducated close minded fuck :)

[DannyBruiz]

I agree that Ebola is part of nature.

But I think Microbiologists are always messing with these Natural Microbes.

Killing Monkeys to study their Microbiology, Accessing their organs to dissect, create, incubate, mix, control, and basically fuck with nature's viruses to see what will happen. Well guess what folks? This is what happens.

Why don't these geniuses get a clue...QUIT FUCKING WITH NATURE!

[Poleschs]

I hate these people spreading unnecessary fear to the public, he has no clue about viruses or infections, get a real job, idiot.

[Erionnacirema]

I say LEAVE THINGS ALONE of this "nature" It's NOT for Mankind to KNOW EVERYTHING about this world.

I'd rather continue to WATCH the "Godzillas" or "SMOG-Monsters" or "Manna-Cors" or "Leviathians" in the old Black & White movies, or on the modern Sci-Fi Satelite channels.

I can "turn them OFF" when I've had enough of them. Mankind WILL, though, OPEN a "dimensional doorway" and LET IN things that he can't CONTROL.

[Erionnacirema]

QUESTION (raising up my hand....)

Why the HELL are these scientists even "messing with" this germ?

PLAYING around in Mother's Nature's "Petri  Dish" may, one day, EXTERMINATE all members of OUR species, Homo Sapiens.

IF that was to occur, it won't make any difference whether the "light - skinned" humans KNEW MORE about the Microbe, than anyone else.

So, what's the POINT of "experimenting" with it ?

LEAVE it ALONE !

[emillionULTIMA]

@Erionnacirema Maybe because if we to "mess around" with this virus, we'll find a way to cure it if an out break were to occur. Y'know, just saying.

[cf80to01]

@Erionnacirema The scientists are not "messing with" this virus. They are trying to develop a viable intervention. As international travel becomes ever easier, what happens if a person infected with ebola (before symptons appear) boards an aircraft, lands at JFK, reboards, lands at O'Hare...etc...?

[thatsexyerikkid]

@Erionnacirema Ebola outbreaks occur sporadically, by "messing" with these lethal viruses, the hope is that we may find a cure, which can save an untold number of lives in the future. Ebola is absolutely horrible and anyone that contracts it may be thanking their lucky stars some day scientists were brave enough to work with it in order to find a cure, sadly we haven't found one yet.

[EnglishLord81]

If you want evidence watch Len Horowitz on Ebola and Aids (you tube) or read The River by Ed Hooper. When I read these comments I'm appalled at how many of you deny that these things are read yet it's patently obvious that you know nothing about these subjects, done no research and read absolutely nothing. It's all there waiting to be discovered if you can be bothered...

[jbrown677]

There really should not be any "close calls" when working with such a deadly virus.

[MrMetalhead1980]

Im reading Richard Preston's book, "The Hot Zone" and it is amazing and gruesom!

[Sugarhigh352]

@MrMetalhead1980 That book inspired me. Now I'm preparing for college to eventually become a level 4 researcher.

[TheLycanz311986]

i also read it.. and its so nice.. vry intllegent .. and now im reading the cobra event.. your my idol mr. Richard Preston

[ilcoffeetv]

i've read the book a few years back, really exciting, n it is so reall!!

[miamiwax]

damn jerry can't cook

[TheVinster]

"The Hot Zone" is one of the only books that we read in school that I truly enjoyed.

[bellaboo130]

@TheVinster you had to read that for school?! that's awesome...i wish my school made us read interesting books...

[dragracer222]

@TheVinster we had to read it in my biology class, it was a wicked book.

[WinterHaven]

This is the most boring speech I ever heard.

[stellarblue51]

She was foolish for reporting to a hot lab with an open cut as large as the one you describe on her palm. WHO/CDC regs prohibit agency personnel for certain research when health criteria does not meet NLCDC envelope.

[SaddleCat1]

The Ebola virus made it into the US via research monkeys to Fort Detrick, MD. It could have EASILY jumped to humans, and no doubt almost did. The facility there had to be permanently closed down and 'nuked' with pots of clorox on hotplates, while all doors were completely sealed. There's no vaccine or cure (90% fatality rate) for this Level 4.

[SaddleCat1]

I read the "The Hot Zone". Marburg and Ebola (espescially Ebola Zaire) are incredibly insidious. Ebola can turn the human body literally into a bag of jelly in about 10 - 12 days...

[o0BFBC20o]

@SaddleCat1 Im reading the book for the first time now. Its not my first reading on ebola and I know about it but the way Preston describes it is worse than what ive ever read. Its definetly a scary thing.

[omniexistus]

It jumped from monkey to human via beastiality

[omniexistus]

she was thinking dang can't do the family shit

[areeyaXXashley]

anything affected by Ebola can easily effect anything else that physically touched it in anyway.

[Rmister1]

yes, im safe because i live in the weston world, and ebola is one of the most rare viruses in the world, you are more likely to be struck by lightning 7 times and be a plane crash at once

[diviengi]

what is the origin of this virus? and how does it attack?

[lavascoop]

there is no known origin and it directly attacks the imune system

[areeyaXXashley]

@diviengi

it was first started from this river in Africa. and then it went onto animals and everything.

it can live on the inside and outside of any living organism aka animals and human.

[tankluster]

The origin is unknown, Preston believes it to come from Africa somewhere off of Kinshasa Hwy (birthplace of AIDS). Probably deep within the Congo. The first two discovered were transmitted probably by blood/body fluids and a third strain was airborne but it wasn't quite as lethal as the first two. The virus can mutate so, hopefully, we will not encounter anything worse and it never reaches our continent!

[inthabuilding]

only col. sam daniels is an expert!

[U91H3D]

the only cure is robust igm antibodies to ebola which the immune system dose not produce enough levels in most cases

[jbb2924]

there is no cure ass!

[Groudie101]

this is scary...the thing is there are worse viruses

[werecatgirl]

like what?

[wellthatsnotenough]

Love all Richard Preston books!

[usecori]

That 's most mothers' 1st response! :D OMG, he can't cook for the kids? Yup. I ran that thru my head when I cut myself on an HIV/Hep C patient. Thank God I ended up with neither (after 6 mo of the tests, and my Hep C vaccine( I found out) had not taken so i was extra lucky).

[timhschmidt]

There is no Hep C vaccine.

[Oxstayne]

Ebola is isane

[EvolutionDebunked]

the gov't made the virus

[redeyedol]

Anything that happens to Africa or some impoverished nation, a conspiracy-obsessed paranoid schizophrenic blames a certain government for its creation.

Get over it, Ebola is part of nature and exists to let mankind know that we are not as mighty as we believe ourselves to be.

[karlkarlkarl1234]

@redeyedol

You can't really blame people for being skeptikal since the US army has openly created the AIDs virus in the past.

[cf80to01]

@karlkarlkarl1234 Can you please provide a link to the proof of the US Army creating AIDS? If you say that the evidence is out there, all I have to do is look, I'll know you are blowing wind up everyone's ass.

[VivekRajcoomar]

@redeyedol there is such a thing as bio-warfare/terrorism (?)

there is also such a thing as covert war, weapons testing, accidents, false flags, ect.

to believe wholeheartedly either way ("tinhat" or "sheep"), with the limited evidence available to the public, is both close minded and naive.

also, this is why we need things like Wikileaks.

[darmader]

@redeyedol

hundreds of years with bio engineered warfare leads to something idiot!

[Oxstayne]

they think the virus was found in HUGE CAVE that had a petrafied forest

[mosaicglass]

EvolutionDebunked

Prove it.

[mymusoke]

Haha, that bastard exaggerated! In The Hot Zone there was a MUCH less disgusting description, and that was probably the real story. My girl Nancy wasn't elbow deep, the doctors in Africa who operated on Dr. Shem Musoke were. Love you Preston.

[hangemhigh2000]

ForaTv. I don't know where you got this guy, but he is insane. He's got it all backwards, if he even knows what he't talking about. But it still great stuff to see what becomes of spoiled rich college kids. Got to love youtube for that. Whatever.

[ogdocvato]

Synthetic viruses are made by splicing genes or gene fragments into the genome of an existing virus. This is a very inefficient process for producing a "level 4" agent. Mother nature is still much, much better at evlolving pathogens that can be "slate wipers" due to the sheer size and diversity of Earth's biomass.

[lnfk]

I read both the hot zone and demon in the freezer :D both very interesting books! :D I need to find more books like this, not only about ebola, but about other diseases and viruses as well. Especially the rare ones

[hothead182]

if you like those youll like lab257

[lnfk]

Looks interesting! I'll be sure to check it out :] thanks

[Poohole47]

That guys wrong about the "single particle" to become infected.

Takes at least 10 particle's to become infected.

[MrPixmaman]

no your wrong because ebola is really deadly and also can spread by infecting one human cell

[maulerz5bigal172]

this is in a book- the hot zone

[Onehitter74]

damn man-made virus

[lcmorgan1221]

That, friend, is a fascinating concept, 1 which I have heard before. My only problem is, I have never seen nor heard any argument besides how lethat Ebola is. Let me mention AIDS, Malaria, and The Bubonic Plague as three examples of naturally occuring killers, unless of-course you believe that AIDS was man-made also. All I'm asking for is proof, or at least some convincing evidence. The question is, would any government risk a worldwide pandemic to test a bioweapon? Perhaps Iran, North Korea?

[baboonaki]

I am also a fan of the man-made theory. It is true we dont have any proof to show whether it is man-made or not but consider this. Even though malaria is a lethal disease there are natural antibodies and ways so as not to get infected.Greeks for example and maybe other nations around meditteranean can have a form of anemia.This form doesnt kill them but prevents them from being infected.The plague occured in the medieval years so it isnt that wise to comparing it with nowdays.

[baboonaki]

On the other hand, from what i read ebola is much more lethal. With an avarega of 5-10 days to live, and the conclusion of turning the host's organs to a mush-like substance i feel that this virus is extemely lethal to be natural.

[KthoniaEcate]

oh!i have read hot zone.i found it quite fascinating.ebola is an extremely interesting subject to study!as long as you keep far far away from it that is,,,

[FSFchannel]

haha loser.

[Nilll3]

sometimes I think im bisexual!! rawr.... mmm girls..

im sad gs

[mossert]

i just finished the book. crazy!

[mkrulz77]

yea that was a scary ass book, i finished it in a day and a half

[carcosa]

Ebola is just astoundingly sick.

The most interesting part of Hot Zone was the part about the hot island in Uganda where the monkey dealer had been putting all his sick monkeys for 20 years. The implication was that both AIDS and Ebola might have originated from that island, or at the very least from the monkey trade.

[RedTailedDuck]

It is an interesting possibility,but some people will say this did not ever happen and that both viruses are man made. I disagree with this but it is a possibility.

[carcosa]

"but some people will say this did not ever happen"

But then you would need to explain how they were doing recombinant DNA in the late 1960s, and that would be a tall order. The reasonable and simple explanation is natural emergence.

We keep finding new ANIMAL species. The idea that we have encountered all viruses is utter hubris.

[RedTailedDuck]

That is why I myself disagree with the proposed theory.There is a Public Law,however,that proposed creating a biological weapon back IN the 60's.People who like this theory say that the gov't is so far advanced that it Could and DID create these viruses...for more information and endless debate a believer and of this theory go to the Ebola page by Westthea...

[carcosa]

"People who like this theory say that the gov't is so far advanced that it Could and DID create these viruses"

These people invariably also believe that the government is run by lizard sorcerers.

[RedTailedDuck]

Probably. It is not inconceivable that the government is ahead in technology...the question is how far ahead. They have super weapons,came up with the atomic bomb,and secret planes. Whether they have viruses of their own creation(thus breaking international law mind you)is unknown and,in many ways, an inconceivable improbability.

P.S. Please go comment to Westthea...be enlightened to the evils of the U.S. Gov't!(more like the disillusion of a man created virus)

[carcosa]

"Whether they have viruses of their own creation(thus breaking international law mind you)is unknown and,in many ways, an inconceivable improbability."

No :/ Now there are certainly recombinant viruses, developed at VECTOR/Bioprep in the former USSR among other places.

The question was whether they could do it in the 1960s/early 70s and the answer is unequivocally no.

[chrisflvs442]

we gave nazi scientist diplomatic immunity IN the united states to work on super weapons in ww2

[chrisflvs442]

its not a possibility, the ebola strain, and its sisters, are way to complex of proteins for scientists to create it back then, also, it is documented proof that it emerged from the rainforests.

[chrisflvs442]

those two viruses came from aids highway, not an island

[carcosa]

and how did they get to aids highway? Look into the hot island, it's quite disturbing...

[chrisflvs442]

rain forest, they allready knew marburg came from that cave in the volcano. the monkeys from that island never came back to africa, they were used to fill short shipments of monkeys for meat trade, or monkey houses

[carcosa]

Right, and what happens when serum from that hot island enters the vaccine production process?

[chrisflvs442]

? what the fuck u talkin about

[carcosa]

Well, monkeys from that hot island were sent to western countries for use by pharmaceutical companies. The implication is that they were infected with SIV, before SIV was known, and that live SIV was inadvertently (or what the heck, maybe advertently) placed into the smallpox vaccine and other drugs.

[AXVulkon]

lol how meany replys to 1 question

[bxnyfordham]

That shows you the strength of maternity

[mdvaden]

Well, I like The Wild Trees that he wrote, but now I question the "non-fiction" aspects of his book.

I found two groves, and the location of one was the OPPOSITE of what he wrote. Preston also leads people to think that a mere handful of botanists know where these redwoods are, but that's not right.

For more, Google:

mdvaden + Grove of Titans Redwoods

Look at the URL or description. Should be at the top. But its about the trees he wrote about.

[ogjimkenobi]

His book "The Hot Zone" is one of the best books I've ever read. I can't wait to pick this new one up and give it a read.

[Daritto7117]

I totally agree. It was such an awesome book. The Level 2,3,4 and the Ebola monkeys in Washington DC was so freaky!!

[basoon27]

it was great. i read it just recently and it was awesome