The+Hot+Zone+Comprehension+Questions

The Hot Zone Comprehension Questions

The Hot Zone, “The Shadow of Mt. Elgon,” Ch. 1			Wiseman

1.	Who was Charles Monet? Describe him. Where was he from? Where was he living? Who did he spend time with? What was his job? 2.	Describe Mt. Elgon. What makes it special? What makes it interesting? 3.	On their trips where did Monet and his girlfriend stop? What did they see? 4.	What did Monet and his friend do on New Year’s morning? 5.	What large animals visit the cave and why? 6.	Describe the cave as they entered. What did they see? 7.	When Monet returned from home what had he acquired? 8.	Describe the initial progression of Monet’s condition. 9.	When Monet went to the hospital, what did the doctors decide to do? 10.	Describe what happens to Monet on the plane. 11.	What is “extreme amplification?” 12.	What does Monet do after he gets off the plane?

Define these words:

hot virus			expatriate	host Biosafety Level 4 		hot agent	amateur naturalist obliterate			a loner		obscure

Hot Zone by Richard Preston, Chapter 2, “Jumper”		Wiseman Vocabulary

l.	...They lifted Charles Monet onto the gurney...and wheeled him into the intensive care unit. A call for a doctor went out...: a patient was bleeding in the ICU. ... he was obviously having some kind of massive hemorrhage. 2.	Dr. Musoke felt for a pulse. It was weak and sluggish. 3. A nurse ...fetched a laryngoscope, a tube that can be used to open a person’s airway. 4. There was no movement in the eyelid. The pupils were dilated. Brain damage: nobody home. Dr. Musoke tilted the patient’s head back to open the airway so that he could insert the laryngoscope....he cleared out mucous and blood. 5.     The patient was apparently in shock from loss of blood. He had lost so much blood that he was becoming dehydrated. There wasn’t enough blood to maintain circulation, so his heartbeat was very sluggish and his blood pressure was approaching zero. He needed a blood transfusion. 6.	Everywhere he stuck the needle, blood ran from the puncture and the blood would not coagulate. 7.	Monet’s coma deepened and he never regained consciousness.

Comprehension

l.	What happened to Dr. Shem Musoke 9 days after he was covered in vomit while attending Monet? Describe the progression of the condition. 2.	What did David Silverstein do with the tissue and blood samples of Musoke? Why? 3.	Describe David Silverstein. 4.	What was the unusual agent found in Musoke’s blood? 5.	What is the history of the Marburg virus? 6.	What is virus amplification? 7.	What was the kill rate of the Marburg virus? How is that compared to the kill rate of yellow fever, which is considered to be highly lethal? 8.	What is a filovirus? 9.	What effect did the Marburg have on the brain? What did it resemble? 10.	Marburg is a virus in a family of three filoviruses. What are the other two? What are their kill rates? 11.	 How are the effects of the Marburg similar to nuclear radiation? 12.	What did international health authorities want to know? Why? 13.	Why did they not think that the monkeys were the original hosts? 14.	Who was Mr. Jones and what role did he play in the transportation of this virus to Germany? 15.	What was disturbing about the exportation of possibly infected monkeys? 16.	What was the lead regarding Kitum Cave? 17.	Where were some of the monkeys trapped? 18.	What other epidemic started in the Lake Victoria area? 19.	What are some of the theories of the origin of AIDS? 20.	What happened to Musoke? What did they do with the staff that helped him? 21.	What do they call what happened at Nairobi hospital?

The Hot Zone, Ch. 2, pp 33-47	(alternate set of questions)		Wiseman

1.	Who is David Silverstein and what does he do? (p. 33) 2.	 Who called Silverstein in the middle of the night and why? (p. 34) 3.	What kind of virus did the tests show in Musoke’s blood? (p.34) 4.	When Silverstein investigated the Marburg virus, what info did he find? (p.35) What is the Marburg virus? Where was it first discovered? When did it first appear? How did the virus travel there? 5.	Who was the first person to be infected with Marburg virus? (p.35) How many people were infected after that? (p.35) 6.	What was the kill rate of the Marburg as reported? (p.36) 7.	What kind of virus is the Marburg? (p. 37) 8.	Describe the filoviruses? (p. 37) 9.	What are the effects of the virus on the brain? (p. 37) 10.	What did the effects of the Marburg resemble? (p. 37) 11.	What are the other two types of filoviruses like the Marburg? (p.38) 12.	What is the kill rate of Ebola Zaire? (p.38) 13.	What effect did the Marburg have on the internal organs? the hair? the testicles? the brain(p. 38-39) 14.	Why did it appear that the monkey was not the natural host of the Marburg? (p. 39) 15.	What is the story of the shipment of sick and infected monkeys in 1967? (p.40-41) 16.	What was happening in the rural areas in Uganda not far from Kitum Cave from 	1962 to 1965? 17.	In the stories of monkey trading what is so disturbing in terms of the spread of the virus? (p.43-44) 18.	The epicenter of what other condition occurred near Lake Victoria where Marburg broke out? (p.44) 19.	What is the theory about the origin of AIDS? (p.44) What happened in late 1960s? 20.	What did Dr. Silverstein decide to do at Nairobi hospital when he found out the effects of a 21. What happened to Musoke? (p.47) 22.	How does Preston refer to what happened at Nairobi Hospital? (p.47) 23.	What did they do with samples of Musoke’s tissue? (p.47)

Vocab Ch. 2	Jumper				Wiseman Match the vocabulary below with a synonym listed below. ___hemorrhage	___fetch	___inhale		___tilt		___thrash ___probe		___liquify	___coagulate	___autopsy ___unbearable

1.	go get 2.	examine 3.	turn to liquid 4.	bleed uncontrollably 5.	examination of dead body 6.	move about wildly 7.	breathe in 8.	lean 9.	insupportable 10.	clot

Write the parts of speech for each vocabulary item. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate form of the appropriate vocabulary item.

Noun			Verb			Adjective		Adverb

hemorrhage		hemorrhage		hemorrhaging	        --- ---			fetch			fetching		--- bleed clot breathe examination

1.	The ______________ in the brain caused his death. 2.	The brain _______________, causing death. 3.	The _______________ wound caused his death. 4.	Jack and Jill went up the hill to _________ a pail of water Jack came down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. 5.	_______________ of boiling eucalyptus will relieve sinus congestion. 6.	Clinton said he smoked marijuana but that he never ___________. 7.	Second hand smoke is external smoke _________ by the non-smoker. 8.	The young gazelle ___________ helplessly as the cheetah overtook and grabbed him by the neck. 9. 	The doctor _____________ the patient to determine the condition.

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, “A Woman and a Soldier,” pp. 48-55 1.	How do you feel when you read the description of Thurmont, Maryland? What runs through your mind as you think of this small, average American town? 2.	Who is Mary Nancy Jaax? Describe her. 3.	Describe her family. How does the description of the family work in increasing the tension of this saga? 4.	What is the family’s pet? What can he do? What was his name? 5.	What is one characteristic that Nancy had been criticized for? Why does this make us nervous? 6.	How does she feel about housework? 7.	Describe the house. What is the story with this house? 8.	What other pets does the family have? 9.	Describe Jerry. 10.	What does Nancy do with the butcher knife? Why does this alarm us? 11.	What is Nancy’s reaction to blood? Why?

The Hot Zone, “Project Ebola,” pp. 56-75			Wiseman

1.	What was Nancy going to do on September 26, 1983? What was she training for? What was she studying? 2.	What is Nancy’s specialty? 3.	Who comes in to help Nancy in the mornings with the children? 4.	In the description of Fort Detrick, Preston talks about the vent pipes. What are they? What does this suggest may happen? 5.	What is USAMRID? What is its mission? What do they do? 6.	What were the labs working on after World War II? 7.	What had Nixon done in 1969? How did this affect USAMRID? 8.	When you enter the building, how it it? 9.	What did Nancy want to check as soon as she came in? 10.	What had happened to the monkeys? 11.	What did the Ebola virus do to the monkeys?

The Hot Zone pp 60-75				Wiseman 1.	What’s the training procedure when you begin to work with Biosafety unit? 2.	Why was Nancy pulled out of the vaccination program? 3.	Why did she finally end up working with hot viruses? 4.	What is the Ebola virus named after? 5.	When was the first occurrence of Ebola? Where did it happen? Describe it. 6.	Describe Gene Johnson. How do people regard him and how did he get that reputation? 7.	What was the general feeling about working with Ebola? 8.	What was Gene Johnson’s recurrent nightmare? 9.	Describe Ebola. 10.	How is Ebola transmitted? What is the theory? 11.	Why are monkeys used in medical experiments? 12.	How did Jerry Jaax feel about Nancy working with Ebola? 13.	Who was her boss? What was the story between Jerry and Johnson? 14.	Describe what Nancy did that morning in preparation to work with the monkeys. 15.	Describe the Level 4 lock area.

The Hot Zone, “Total Immersion,” pp. 75-95			Wiseman 1.	Describe the hot zone in the monkey house. 2.	What happened when the control monkeys saw the researchers? 3.	How were the monkeys infected with Ebola? 4.	What strain had these monkeys been infected with? What’s the history of this strain? 5.	What symptoms were these monkeys exhibiting? 6.	Why was Jaax distressed? 7.	What is the procedure for handling a dead monkey? 8.	What did Johnson and Jaaz do with the dead monkey? 9.	Describe a virus as on pp. 83-5. 10.	When they are opening the skull to look at the brain what does Nancy discover? 11.	How are they detoxed? 12.	What is the slammer? 13.	As she is inspecting the breach she experiences the Puke factor? What is it? 14.	What was the last test that Nancy performed on the inner glove to test for leaks? 15. What frightening event happened to the control monkeys? What did this imply?

The Hot Zone, pp. 95-153						Wiseman

1.	What was the first identified case of Ebola in Sudan?(95) 2.	How did Yu G get the virus? What are the theories? (95) 3,	Who died after Yu. G.? Who did he pass it on to?(97) 4.	What strain of Ebola was this? (97) 5.	What is the fatality rate of Ebola Sudan? (99) 6.	What happened to the virus outbreak? (99) 7.	What does Preston think happened to the Ebola Sudan virus? (100) 8.	What strain emerged 2 months later 500 miles away? (100) 9.	What unsafe health practices did the nuns follow at the Yambuku Hospital? 10.	What is pavementing? 11.	What are petechiae? 12.	Why does Ebola attack the connective tissue with such ferocity? 13.	What happens to the tongue? (106) 14.	What happens to the heart? (106) 15.	What happens to the eyes? (106) 16.	What is a hemispherical stroke? (106) 17.	What happens to the liver? (107) 18.	Why does the victim go into seizures? What purpose does the seizure serve for the virus? (108) 19.	What happens to the cadaver? (109) 20.	After Sister M.E. died what did the other hospital personnel do? 21.	Who broke with the virus next? (110) 22.	What did Nurse Mayinga N. do when she began to feel sick? (110) 23.	Why did WHO think that Nurse Mayinga would become the “vector for a world-wide plague”? (113) 24.	What did President Mobutu Sese Seko do about the potential epidemic starting at Ngaliema Hospital? 25.	What did the doctors do with tissue samples from Sister M.E.? 26.	What was Karl M. Johnson? (115) 27.	How did the blood samples arrive at the CDC? (115) 28.	When Frederick A. Murphy, a virologist looked at the samples what did he find? 29.	How does Patricia Webb describe the virus to her husband? 30.	When Preston interview Dr. Johnson, who is fly fishing, what does he say about nature? (120) 31.	How much of a threat to the human species does Johnson think a letha virus would be? (121) What does he think about this possibility? (121) 32.	What does Johnson say about the beauty of the virus? (122) 33.	Who was the other CDC doctor to work with Johnson? (122) 34.	Describe the experience of the two doctors who go to Bumba to inspect the situation. (125-127) 35. What was amazing about the exposure of people to Nurse Mayinga? (130)

The Hot Zone Part Two  The Monkey House, p. 157--172 1.How is Reston, MD? 2.Why does Preston call it “a visible symbol of the American belief in rational design and suburban prosperity?” Do you think he has any special purpose in describing this place in this way? 3.What was Hazleton Research Products using an office building in this area for? What does this division of Corning Inc do? 4.What was the Reston Primate Quarantine Unit? 5.About how many monkeys are imported into the country each year? Why do these animals have to held for a while before they are delivered? 6.Who was Dan Dalgard and what was his international reputation? 7.How had the shipment of monkeys that arrived on October 4 1989 come to Reston? How was the transport? 8.What kind of monkeys were they? Why is this kind of monkey used in laboratories? Describe this kind of monkey. 9. Describe the relationship between this kind of monkey and humans. 10. Describe the lifestyle of this monkey. 11. When this shipment arrived at Reston, how many monkeys were dead? Why didn’t the veteranerian think this strange? 12.What happened that changed Jerry Jaxx’s life forever? 13.When did the colony manager notify Dalgard? Why? How long didDalgard wait to come? 14.What did Dalgard find when he inspected the monkey house? 15.When 2 of the monkeys died that night what did the colony manager do? 16.What did he find when he did the autopsy that caused him to call Dalgard? 19.What finally worries Dalgard? What did the blood in the guts of the monkeys look like to Dalgard? 20.As more monkeys died what did Dalgard start to do? What in his description of the monkeys’ condition was similar to the effects of Ebola in humans?

The Hot Zone,  Into Level Three, p 173-179				Wiseman 1.Who does Dalgard consult about the condition of monkey 053? 2.Who is Peter Jahrling? 3.How did the tissue samples from the monkey arrive at Jahrling’s lab? 4.What is the Level 3 lab? How is it? 5.What is the method to cultivate a virus? What did the lab technician do to the tissue from monkey 053? 6.What was the diagnosis of the infectious agent from Jahrling’s lab? What did Dalgard do? 7.Why is a freezer such a dangerous place for hot viruses to be transmitted?

The Hot Zone, Exposure, p. 180-190 1.Who is Thomas Geisbert? What did he do at the Institute? 2.Why did he enjoy his work? 3.How had the different shapes of the viruses become implanted in his mind? 4.When did they decide to look at the flask in which the monkey viruses were growing? Why? 5.When Geisbert looked at the sample from the flask in the microscope what did he see at first? 6.What does Geisbert then see? Why does he bring in Dalgard? What dothe two of them see?