Hot Zone Questions 1, 2, 3

1. The Hot Zone was, in my opinion, one of the best books I've read. This was mainly because it was something that was real and not a piece of fiction. I liked how it was suspenseful enough to get the reader involved in the story line and feel like they were experiencing what the characters were living through. I don't have many dislikes about this book, I thought it was a well written piece of literature. The explanations of the ebola virus were anything but boring because it is hard to believe something so small has the ability to destroy an entire human population. I think you had us read "The Hot Zone" before AP Biology because we were introduced to many biological terms and the life of a true "biologist."

2. Biological Facts:
1. Ebola has 3 types: Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Reston. What this virus does is enter the body (with an incubation period of 2-21 days) and attack every organ with congealed blood. This makes someone bleed out from every oriface of their body. If another person touches infected blood, they are easily effected.
2. A hot suite is a group of biosafety Level 4 laboratory rooms. A researcher must take many precautions before dealing with a hot agent. First, a researcher must change out of their clothes and put on a type of scrubs suit to change into a biocontainment suit. Negative air pressure is used in case of a leak so that air will flow into the zones rather than out having a disturbing effect on the normal world.
3. A crystalloid or "brick" is a pure crystal like block of packed virus particles that grows inside a cell. After a cell is infected with the ebola virus it bursts and develops crystalloids.

3.The following article, "First Origin of Malaria may have been found" relates to Richard Preston's "Hot Zone." Malaria, like Ebola, has been said to be around for many years, even ancient times. Both diseases jumped from animal to human and chimps are said to be the primary source. Some chimps harbor two parasites which come from a common origin. This is like how ebola has many different strains from a common origin as well. Lastly, there is always a growing understanding of malaria and ebola but no one can pin out it's exact source of development or how long it has been around.