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The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story, by Richard Preston
Ebook The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story, by Richard Preston
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“The bard of biological weapons captures
the drama of the front lines.”
-Richard Danzig, former secretary of the navy
The first major bioterror event in the United States-the anthrax attacks in October 2001-was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense.
Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at Usamriid, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox-and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers-at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But the demon in the freezer has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines.
Usamriid went into a state of Delta Alert on September 11 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, D.C. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government’s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill.
Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails.
- Sales Rank: #26455 in Books
- Brand: Fawcett
- Published on: 2003-08-26
- Released on: 2003-08-26
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.90" h x .80" w x 4.10" l, .33 pounds
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 304 pages
- Great product!
Amazon.com Review
On December 9, 1979, smallpox, the most deadly human virus, ceased to exist in nature. After eradication, it was confined to freezers located in just two places on earth: the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and the Maximum Containment Laboratory in Siberia. But these final samples were not destroyed at that time, and now secret stockpiles of smallpox surely exist. For example, since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the subsequent end of its biological weapons program, a sizeable amount of the former Soviet Union's smallpox stockpile remains unaccounted for, leading to fears that the virus has fallen into the hands of nations or terrorist groups willing to use it as a weapon. Scarier yet, some may even be trying to develop a strain that is resistant to vaccines. This disturbing reality is the focus of this fascinating, terrifying, and important book.
A longtime contributor to The New Yorker and author of the bestseller The Hot Zone, Preston is a skillful journalist whose work flows like a science fiction thriller. Based on extensive interviews with smallpox experts, health workers, and members of the U.S. intelligence community, The Demon in the Freezer details the history and behavior of the virus and how it was eventually isolated and eradicated by the heroic individuals of the World Health Organization. Preston also explains why a battle still rages between those who want to destroy all known stocks of the virus and those who want to keep some samples alive until a cure is found. This is a bitterly contentious point between scientists. Some worry that further testing will trigger a biological arms race, while others argue that more research is necessary since there are currently too few available doses of the vaccine to deal with a major outbreak. The anthrax scare of October, 2001, which Preston also writes about in this book, has served to reinforce the present dangers of biological warfare.
As Preston eloquently states in this powerful book, this scourge, once contained, was let loose again due to human weakness: "The virus's last strategy for survival was to bewitch its host and become a source of power. We could eradicate smallpox from nature, but we could not uproot the virus from the human heart." --Shawn Carkonen
From Publishers Weekly
Never mind Ebola, the hemorrhagic disease that was the main subject of Preston's 1994 #1 bestseller, The Hot Zone. What we really should be worrying about, explains Preston in this terrifying, cautionary new title, is smallpox, or variola. But wasn't that eradicated? many might ask, particularly older Americans who remember painful vaccinations and the resultant scars. Officially, yes, nods Preston, who devotes the first half of the book to the valorous attempt by an army of volunteers to wipe out the virus (an attempt initially sparked by '60s icon Ram Dass and his Indian guru) via strategic vaccination; in 1977 the last case of naturally occurring smallpox was documented in Somalia, and today the variola virus exists officially in only two storage depots, in Russia and at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (in the freezer of the title). To believe that variola is not held elsewhere, however, is nonsense, argues Preston, who delves into the possibility that several nations, including Iraq and Russia, have recently worked or are currently working with smallpox as a biological weapon. The author devotes much space to the anthrax attacks of last fall, mostly to demonstrate how easily a devastating assault with smallpox could occur here. He includes an interview with Steven Hatfill, who has received much press coverage for the FBI's investigation of him regarding those attacks; his description of meeting Hatfill, hallmarked by a quick character sketch ("He was a vital, engaging man, with a sharp mind and a sense of humor.... He was heavy-set but looked fit, and he had dark blue eyes") is emblematic of what makes this New Yorker regular's writing so gripping. Preston humanizes his science reportage by focusing on individuals-scientists, patients, physicians, government figures. That, and a flair for teasing out without overstatement the drama in his inherently compelling topics, plus a prose style that's simple and forceful, make this book as exciting as the best thrillers, yet scarier by far, for Preston's pages deal with clear, present and very real dangers.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-This book about smallpox begins with the anthrax attacks of October, 2001, and, by the end of this thriller, Preston has chillingly linked the two topics. All of the anthrax evidence from the Hart Senate Office Building was taken to the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, MD, and it is here that the author first brings smallpox into consideration by introducing Peter Jahrling, the organization's senior scientist. He believes that smallpox, which has killed more people than any other infectious disease, is the greatest biological threat facing humanity. Preston relates the history of smallpox from 1000 B.C. to the outbreaks in the 1970s. He goes into great detail about the World Health Organization's campaign to eradicate it and the lost opportunity to destroy it forever. His final chapter introduces the idea of genetically modified smallpox that might be resistant not only to vaccines, but also to acquired immunity. The author draws readers into his narrative by humanizing his facts; researchers, WHO workers, and smallpox victims relay parts of this vivid and alarming story. Fans of Preston's The Hot Zone (Anchor, 1995) will definitely want to read this work for that subtle blend of information and horror that he is so adept at providing.
Jody Sharp, Harford County Public Library, MD
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
True Masters are Minimalists
By California Dreaming
I usually like reading true-crime books, and I generally don't seek out books written by any particular author; I just want a good read about a great story that I've heard about. But there is one exception: Jack Olsen. He may no longer be with us, but his books surely live on, and I'm always taking a peek to see if another one of his works has recently become available in the Kindle format. Some people have even called him "An American Treasure," and I don't have any problem with that statement.
And Richard Preston is surely right up there as well. This is my second read from him, the first being, "The Hot Zone," and I was mesmerized while reading that, just like I was mesmerized while reading "The Demon in the Freezer." With both of these gentlemen though, I will say that, if you read any of their works, you may have trouble sleeping at night. After all, Mr. Olsen liked to write about serial killers while Mr. Preston likes to write about viruses. And it's hard to say which one of these real-life scourges might kill you first.
Most authors use flowery language to get their points across, while neither of these gentlemen ever seem to add one unnecessary word. It's as if they write a chapter, backtrack, and then remove any words that are unneeded. It is the case that, when telling a story, words often do just get in the way; natural language is somewhat flawed, after all. But you wouldn't know it while reading the works from these two masters.
I do like how Mr. Preston describes a new character for the first time in a chapter. He must have a template, and he must follow that template religiously. You might read something like, "John Smith is a doctor at John Hopkins. He has gray hair, parted in the middle, with a slight frown on his face." Etc. I like it. Why reinvent the wheel, after all? But Mr. Preston's writings are far from just workmanlike; when he gets into the meat of a subject, you know that the potatoes are soon coming. However, you just hope that you'll be able to keep down a meal after reading an unsavory description of how some poor soul dies from, say, smallpox.
Keeping in the spirit of both writers, I'll keep this review short and sweet. But I will add the following: for fans of Richard Preston, I highly encourage you to try a book or two from Jack Olsen as well. You surely won't be disappointed, either way.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
good storytelling of an important and scary topic.
By T.willy
This is a terrific book which vividly describes the often secretive or unheralded world of the dedicated international teams who research and control or eradicate dangerous diseases or bioterrorism agents. It should be required reading for all high school and college students to give them historical and current day perspectives on the almost unimaginable danger these agents possess. It may help temper a few of our "outrages" over the "failure" to find Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction," or current activism which welcomes potentially "under vetted" refugees or travelers from politically dangerous countries or regions of the world. One traveler carrying a bioweapon disease or agent into an unprepared region can wreak massive havoc on the populations and set off a rapidly spreading firestorm of illness, suffering, and death.
Thank you for the book, Mr. Preston!
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Scary, true and still relevant
By Ashutosh S. Jogalekar
Like most kids of my generation I had read Preston's scary Ebola book, "The Hot Zone", but I had not gotten around to reading his book on smallpox. The volume benefits from Preston's masterly and riveting narrative-investigative style that always keeps you on the edge of your seat. His writing is a case study in understanding how even mundane observations and details about people and events can enrich good non-fiction writing.
Smallpox does not appear as dangerous as Ebola, but in some sense it's even more so because of its relatively slow and easy spread. As in the Hot Zone, some of the best accounts of the book feature high-strung and courageous scientists working in Level 4 hazardous areas, slicing up smallpox-ridden monkeys and looking at anthrax spores. The book focuses on the anthrax mailings after 9/11, on the amazingly successful smallpox eradication program which eradicated the disease in 1975 and the smallpox biowarfare program in the former Soviet Union.
The latter is probably the scariest part of the book. The Soviet Union kept on secretly working on smallpox even after the US and other countries dismantled their own programs in the 1970s. Something like 20 tons of smallpox have gone missing since the end of the Cold War and, encouraged by the eradication of the efforts, the WHO and other organizations have destroyed almost their entire stocks of smallpox vaccine. In addition there's no tested drug for smallpox. Combined with the ability to create engineered versions of the virus that are immune to vaccines, these three facts might contribute to a disaster of catastrophic proportions surpassing AIDS (at its peak smallpox was killing about 6 million people every year).
Fortunately there's a select few highly dedicated scientists and doctors who are trying to create new vaccines, but government regulations largely prevent them from working on the virus. As of now there are only two recognized places in the world where smallpox exists - the CDC in Atlanta and the Moscow Institute in Russia - but almost nobody thinks that these are the only two places. Hopefully we won't have to find out about the existence of other sources the hard way.
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