The book is a non-fiction thriller detailing the story of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Richard Preston, the author of the book, starts his story by describing how the deadly disease was discovered. In 1976, a woman named Sembo Ndobe went to Yambuku Catholic Mission hospital for treatment. The hospital is located in Zaire. Ndobe had labor pains and was complaining of a high fever. A nurse at the hospital named Sister Beata volunteered to help her. Eventually, both the patient and the nurse succumbed to this mysterious disease. After a virologist by the name of Jean Jacques Muyembe visited the area, he discovered that the outbreak was caused by a virus. The disease was later called Ebola.
The disease would take another 38 years before re-emerging in West Africa. In 2014, a baby was infected by the virus and he died a few days later. His mother, sister, and grandmother would also die of the same disease. Ebola would become an epidemic and spread to Europe and America. Medical doctors, researchers, and nurses put their lives in line to contain the disease. Preston describes the disease as highly contagious that claimed the lives of patients and medical officers. One notable case was that of Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan. Dr. Khan treated many patients but he contracted the disease.
Medical doctors debated whether to administer an experimental drug called ZMapp to Dr. Khan. Finally, they failed to give him the drug and he succumbed to the virus. Many people who later took the drug, get healed. The book makes it clear that future outbreaks may occur and people should be careful. Ironically, the book was published five months before the outbreak of the corona virus. Therefore, the author was right in his assessment. To prevent future outbreaks, people should stop interfering with wild animals in an inappropriate manner.
