Product Description
IT STRIKES WITHOUT WARNING--A HORRIFYING, LETHAL DISEASE WITH NO NAME. AND NO CURE. . . .

Now, from the molten center of the "hot zone," comes a terrifying, completely authentic novel of medical suspense by William T. Close, M.D., the American physician who lived in Zaire for sixteen years, and who worked desperately to contain the first outbreak of the virus in 1976. Haunted by the images from this wrenching time, and unable to forget the people he knew and lost, Dr. Close was compelled to tell their story. EBOLA, inspired by his personal experience and based upon extensive research, is an unforgettable portrait of this devastating drama, which all began with an invisible, unknown killer . . . .

EBOLA

At a Catholic mission in Yambuku, a remote area of Zaire, Mabalo Lokela, a local teacher, visits the clinic with a raging fever. Sister Lucie, a Flemish nun and nurse, gives him a shot of an anti-malarial drug, wipes off the syringe, and awaits her next patient. Within days, Mabolo is dead. Soon after, others become ill and die. Less than three weeks later, Sister Lucie, too, is dead. As panic erupts and the villagers flee from the sickness . . . as the roads leading out of Yambuku are blocked and the dying are turned away . . . as the single radio connecting the village to the outside world brings only bad news, the valiant nuns and medical personnel left behind at the mission can only pray and wonder: will the world ever hear their plea for help?

And always there is the virus, from which there is no escape . . . .

... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Very well-written account of the outbreak in Yambuku, but...
If you're looking for a strictly clinical scientific documentary, this book isn't what you're looking for. If you're looking for an "exciting" and highly sensationalized medical thriller, this book isn't what you want.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a book that explores the hearts and minds of those who lived and died during the Yambuku outbreak, most of all the Flemish nuns and priests who risked their lives in an attempt to save others from a horrifying, incurable new disease, then this book is for you.

What Close's 'Ebola' is is a very-well written novelization of the events in Yambuku, both educational and gripping. This is one of those books that puts a very human face on one of the deadliest new diseases out there... no one with an ounce of sensitivity will be able to finish this book and not be deeply affected by it.

Not what I expected
Found this on the shelf of a second hand store for a very cheap price.I was expecting a lot more science in this book and it wasn't there.It's mostly written from the standpoint of the nuns of the Yambuku mission that witnessed this first outbreak.Although the characters claim to be terrified, that feeling never really came across to me- the reader.I also found some of the writing strange- the attraction to Veronica (a nun) by Dr. Aaron Hoffman was just weird.You knew nothing was going to happen because she was a nun and he was married.It came across as a lame attempt to make nonfiction spicy.Also, although he never says it directly, Dr. Close clearly does not like the French.
Regardless, the book did give me interest in the subject and I just picked up "The Hot Zone."I also learned a lot about African culture from the book as well.Readers may be interested to head over to the CDC's public health image library (google it) and search for "Ebola."There are several interesting pictures related to the book there including pictures of the mission at the time and some of the subjects of the book.

Excellent Documentary style Book
One of the most educational and eye opening books that I have ever read. I love this book and it is the reason i started buying other virus books. It really opened my eyes up to the terror that is truely out in the world that is put there by mother nature. Sometimes difficult to follow, but a facinating subject from a Dr. who was in the thick of the outbreak. Very good book with an objective for everyone to think about viruses like this.

Great Book!
Even Victor eats roaches yearly, so, I needed goats loving ewes doing almost yelling come here under caves kiting every lowly beast. Enough limits took all kin, even sewing artwork lesson almost reaching gave each boy limits. All candy kiting carries over coming knife in niches. Harold inside safe, almost stuck silly.

More about the people than the virus
Ebola, by William T. Close, M.D., is a moderately dramatized account of the first outbreak of the Ebola virus in Zaire in 1976. The book's cover and introduction make it a point to inform you that Dr. Close was there to witness the outbreak firsthand and "worked desperately to contain the first outbreak of the virus", but the book is written in the third person and Dr. Close never makes an appearance. It's clear that he changed the names of the other people involved, but why change his own name in a book he's writing? Strange.

Also somewhat strange is the fact that the word "Ebola" never appears in the main narrative. This is understandable given the book's focus on the characters rather than on the virus, but since the book's title is Ebola, I was expecting a little more information on the virus itself. Close's choice to focus on the characters rather than the virus is at times a good thing and at times perplexing.

The story begins slowly, establishing the look and feel of the village of Yambuku, its people, and the Flemish nuns running the mission there. As the first victims of the virus begin to appear, the foreshadowing gets a little ham-fisted. It almost feels like Close is intentionally portraying the nuns as unconcerned and even careless merely for the sake of adding to the suspense.

After the first hundred pages or so, things finally start to pick up and the really interesting stuff begins. The dedication of the nuns in caring for the victims under some of the harshest conditions imaginable, even as they themselves begin to contract the virus, is touching, and it's what makes the book worth reading.

Unfortunately, while the middle of the book is gripping and generally well written, the last third goes completely off track. When two doctors from the WHO finally arrive at Yambuku, the virus has already killed hundreds of villagers and is beginning to burn itself out. Without the constant influx of Ebola victims, the author seems to lose his bearing, and the story inexplicably shifts its focus to a schoolboy crush one of the doctors (who is married) has developed on one of the nuns. It's so awkward it's almost creepy at parts. After this confusing twist is resolved, the book just keeps on going for no discernable reason, following the nun as she flees Yambuku when it seems like the virus might reappear. Nothing interesting happens to the nun, the virus doesn't return, and the book just ends, having strung you along for the last hundred pages or so for no real reason.

There's another creepy thing about this book, and that's the author's apparent fascination with breasts. He describes them at every possible opportunity, often in unnecessary detail. The reader is kept constantly aware of the statuses of the breasts of nearly every female character, villagers and nuns alike. At one point we're even forced to read a description of the teats of one of the village's mangy dogs. I like breasts as much as the next man, but Close seems to think (and write) about them far more than is warranted, especially for a story primarily about Flemish nuns.

On the whole, while I wasn't crazy about it, the book did tell a compelling story. I think a better author could have made it even more compelling, but since Dr. Close was apparently there, he'll have to do. However, if you're looking for technical descriptions of Ebola, its effects, and its treatment, look somewhere else. This is a book about villagers and nuns and how they dealt with an outbreak; it's not a book about Ebola. ... Read more

Product Description
At a Catholic Mission in Yambuku, an oasis of peace and efficiency in northern Congo's vast jungle forests, Mabalo Lokela, a teacher, receives an anti-malarial shot for a raging fever and headache. Sister Lucie, a Flemish nursing sister, swishes out a syringe with a weak disinfectant. The next patients are injected with the same syringe and the sick man's virus spreads.

Lokela was the first Congolese victim of a new African hemorrhagic disease that became known as Ebola fever. When Sister Lucie dies a few days later, panic erupts and hospitalized patients flee into the forest. With the convent connected to the outside world by a single primitive radio, the mission nuns can only pray and wonder if anyone will act on their cries for help. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A Fascinating Perspective
To be truthful, I was a bit disappointed when the author admitted at the beginning of the book that this was a novel.I had expected more technical information.However, the book was a very good read and gave an interesting perspective of the first Ebola outbreak from the view of the people directly involved - the villagers and the Catholic missionaries.Dr. Close bases this book on fact, but for the sake of interest, combined some characters and filled in some holes in the story with what he believes happened.Since he was there, nobody can argue the facts.The book does not give any technical information on Ebola and how it works and how it is stopped.It does however, go into decriptions of how this awful disease is spread and how it affects entire villages.Without the technical details, the book is a quick read and though a subject like this could not be called enjoyable, I found it fascinating to read.

Wow!Excellent Book
This is a really good book.It keeps you coming back for more without being too intense.It nicely describes the horrible nature of the epidemic without too many of the horrific details.By the end I felt like I knew the characters.
This is a really good, really well written book.

An eloquent, gripping, chilling account
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a deadly virus currently spreading from Gabon to the Republic of the Congo. Unfortunately, it today's world of international transportation and air travel, Ebola outbreaks offer very real risks of being spread quickly to virtually any part of the world (including the United States) is just a matter of hours. William Close draws upon his more than 16 years in Africa (he became personal physician to the President of Congo and chief doctor to the Congolese Army) and his expertise with respect to Ebola to provide an eloquent, gripping, chilling account of the doctors, nurses and victims affected by the Ebola virus in the Catholic mission and surrounding villages now the focus of teams of international doctors and scientists trying to understand and contain the latest lethal outbreak. Ebola: Through The Eyes Of The People is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the Ebola threat, both realized and potential, and its status as a modern day plague with horrific potential.

Book that is Okay
This book gives an enteresting view on how the disease Ebola has effected African people. The best part of the book is how the virus kills just about everyone in the book. It gives it a dramatic type feeling and the reader gets a better perspeckive on the Ebola Viruse. It rocks the rolls. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

All the Germs Is So Scary for the People
Disease make the life too hard, so we need to not get the sick too much.Me like book too much cause it helps the people to know not to get the disease that makes the life so hard they not know no pleasure.Thanks you very much for reading my report on this most important book on the diseases that make the life too hard for the people.

A MUSAT READ
Everyone who is interested in government involvement in health-you have to read and keep this wonderful book for future reflections.A real eye opener.The author presents information that has been in my mind as what it is--in a clear informative manner.Please folks get this book.You won't be sorry.

Excellent and Scary!!!
This book sat on my shelf for 4 months.I am glad I finally read it.I love it.He also turned me on to Henrietta Lacks story.I hope to have the book in my hands soon.Simply fascinating!!!!

Emerging Viruses: Highlights
Dr. Leonard Horowitz brings a unique view of history into focus that reveals his quest for truth and knowledge while promoting universal health and well being. This is in stark contrast to a system apparently bent on global power and domination and the suppression of a holistic approach to health care.

Following WWII, the OSS, the wartime precursor to the CIA, arranged for numerous Nazi war criminals to escape to various locations around the world, allowing them to continue their various experiments but under the hidden control of U.S. authorities. Hitler wrote in MEIN KAMPF, "If you tell a lie long enough, eventually it will be believed as truth.... [and] the greater the lie, the more people will believe it." Horowitz contributes the demise of America's free press to the FBI and the CIA and reminds us that during the height of the Cold War, Richard Nixon was president, Henry Kissinger was in power, and George Bush was in Congress. Groups active in the Council on Foreign Relations were focused on population control and urged policy makers and industrialists to reduce the size of the U.S. population to that of the 1940s.

Population control is one thing; the means for controlling population is quite another. Horowitz reminds us that biological methods for reducing the Indian population were used through the use of blankets contaminated with smallpox, and he contends that the Rockefeller Foundation, in collusion with the CIA,has tampered with present population figures by controlling funding for scientific and academic research. Of particular concern are the percentage of the U.S. population that received polio vaccines prior to 1964, who are at risk of carrying the contaminant SV40 and spreading it to family members as well as others within their communities. Though authorities have argued that SV40 is not a health issue for the population, independent researchers have concerns that SV40 may contribute to more virulent viruses over time, notwithstanding its link to various forms of cancer. Present trends indicating marked increases in the diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and other behavior-linked illnesses in children "may be the inadvertent consequences of stealth virus vaccine contaminants"

There has been much debate about the origin of modern day ailments, including AIDS and Ebola. Though authorities would generally have us believe that AIDS jumped species naturally to initially infect people, Horowitz emphasizes the fact that it did so simultaneously, on two separate continents and in the two exact regions where AIDS-like virus and vaccine experiments were taking place. There is also the indication that our intelligence community requested research for the creation of just such auto-immune viruses. How they have been used as covert weapons against perceived threats remains in contention.

Horowitz summarizes the use of biological research for clandestine operations by quoting the former Foreign Minister of Ireland and 1974 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Sean MacBride, ".... a democracy and the rule of law [can] not survive side by side with a state agency that engages in covert operations ranging from assassinations to levying mercenary armies to directing lethal biological weapons experiments and public health policies. Even if there is, now, an attempt being made by some to check the activities of the CIA and other U.S. Intelligence agencies, the whole concept of secret government and army within a government is a menace to the democratic system."***

The shocking truth!
In Emerging Viruses we learn the truth behind AIDS and other laboratory produced viruses.Horowitz has done a great service in writing this book, and is very brave to continue to speak out in public about it.Reading his book will open your eyes and help you see where viruses come from.He speaks about vaccinations and how they are hurting everyone they attempt to help.Soon he writes we could have mass FORCED vaccinations.Three other books on the subject are very important too.

The Poisoned Needle: Suppressed Facts about Vaccination
The Vaccination Myth: Courageous MD exposes the Vaccination Fraud!
Vaccination Horror: An anthology of important works on vaccination pseudoscience


Keep an open mind and read! ... Read more

Product Description
In this case study, readers will embark on an improbable journey through the heart of Africa to discover how indigenous people cope with the rapid-killing Ebola virus. The Hewletts are the first anthropologists ever invited by the World Health Organization to join a medical intervention team and assist in efforts to control an Ebola outbreak. Their account addresses political, structural, psychological, and cultural factors, along with conventional intervention protocols as problematic to achieving medical objectives. They find obvious historical and cultural answers to otherwise-puzzling questions about why village people often flee, refuse to cooperate, and sometimes physically attack members of intervention teams. Perhaps surprisingly, readers will discover how some cultural practices of local people are helpful and should be incorporated into control procedures. The authors shed new light on a continuing debate about the motivation for human behavior by showing how local responses to epidemics are rooted both in culture and in human nature. Well-supported recommendations emerge from a comparative analysis of Central African cases and pandemics worldwide to suggest how the United States and other countries might use anthropologists and the insights of anthropologists to mount more effective public health campaigns, with particular attention to avian flu and bioterrorism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good book for Intro students
This is a great introduction into what medical anthropologists do in the field.It gives a clear and interesting look into African cultures and epidemic illnesses.I especially like this book because it is readable in the sense that it's not caught up in its own cleverness and bogged down with layers of super-academic speak. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ebola Virus
It was a good book and it had alot of information in it. I had to do a book report on it and I think i got an A!!! ... Read more

Product Description
(Horizon Bioscience) National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg, Canada. Presents a comprehensive overview of the current research on ebola and marburg viruses. Covers the genomics and molecular biology, pathogenesis, replication, epidemiology, pathogenicity, approaches to vaccine development, and immune response. For researchers and practitioners. ... Read more

Product Description
This sourcebook has been created for patients who have decided to make education and Internet-based research an integral part of the treatment process. Although it gives information useful to doctors, caregivers and other health professionals, it also tells patients where and how to look for information covering virtually all topics related to ebola hemorrhagic fever, from the essentials to the most advanced areas of research. The title of this book includes the word official. This reflects the fact that the sourcebook draws from public, academic, government, and peer-reviewed research. Selected readings from various agencies are reproduced to give you some of the latest official information available to date on ebola hemorrhagic fever. Following an introductory chapter, the sourcebook is organized into three parts. PART I: THE ESSENTIALS; Chapter 1. The Essentials on Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: Guidelines; Chapter 2. Seeking Guidance; PART II: ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND ADVANCED MATERIAL; Chapter 3. Studies on Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever; Chapter 4. Books on Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever; Chapter 5. Multimedia on Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever; Chapter 6. Physician Guidelines and Databases; PART III. APPENDICES; Appendix A. Researching Alternative Medicine; Appendix B. Finding Medical Libraries; Appendix C. Your Rights and Insurance; ONLINE GLOSSARIES; EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER GLOSSARY; INDEX. Related topics include: Ebola virus infection. ... Read more

Product Description
Electron microscopy has a special place among the wide range of techniques available for viral research. With electron microscopy, a virologist can follow the course of viral infections by visualizing cell damage and viral replication. Each virus family has its own structural and functional attributes, but attention is usually focused on the pathogenic and health-threatening viruses. The Ebola and Marburg filoviruses are notorious among these.

In Ebola and Marburg Viruses: A View of Infection Using Electron Microscopy, the authors combine recent published and unpublished literature with insights developed in over 30 years in electron microscopy and 15 years in virology to tell the story of filoviruses and how they invade and conquer their hosts. The book describes the dynamic properties of these viruses and follows the stages of filoviral infection from the individual cell to the whole organism, constructing the sequential events of filoviral infections.

The book also demonstrates that, rather than a curiosity, the electron microscope is an integral tool in studies of viral infection and the pathological process. Ebola and Marburg Viruses: A View of Infection Using Electron Microscopy includes over 100 outstanding micrographs of filoviruses and the cell and tissue damage they cause during infection, as well as time course studies of Marburg infection in test animals.

The book is addressed to investigators in the widely diversified fields of medicine and biology. For this reason, the authors, Dr. Elena Ryabchikova and Dr. Barbara Price, have carefully elucidated concepts familiar to virologists that may be unfamiliar to nonvirologists. The book is also designed to provide opportunities for investigators specializing in viruses to correlate their findings with the work of electron microscopists. ... Read more

Product Description
Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Ebola," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Ebola in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Ebola when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Ebola, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Ebola, Marburg Virus, Lassa Fever, Dengue Fever, Dengue Shock Syndrome, Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease, Hantavirus, Reston Ebolavirus, Crimean-congo Hemorrhagic Fever, Viral Hemorrhagic Fever, Filoviridae, Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever, Bunyaviridae, Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever, Bolivian Hemorrhagic Fever, Brazilian Hemorrhagic Fever, Kyasanur Forest Disease, Lujo Virus, Venezuelan Hemorrhagic Fever, Rocio Viral Encephalitis, Simian Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Chapare Virus. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 132. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Ivory Coast ebolavirusReston ebolavirusSudan ebolavirusZaire ebolavirus Ebola is the virus Ebolavirus (EBOV), a viral genus, and the disease Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), a viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF). The virus is named after the Ebola River Valley in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), which is near the site of the first recognized outbreak in 1976 at a mission hospital run by Flemish nuns. It remained largely obscure until 1989 when several widely publicized outbreaks occurred among monkeys in the United States. The virus interferes with the endothelial cells lining the interior surface of blood vessels and with coagulation. As the blood vessel walls become damaged and destroyed, the platelets are unable to coagulate, patients succumb to hypovolemic shock. Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids, while conjunctiva exposure may also lead to transmission. There are five recognized species within the ebolavirus genus, which have a number of specific strains. The Zaire virus is the type species, which is also the first discovered and the most lethal. Electron micrographs show long filaments, characteristic of the Filoviridae viral family. The genera Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus were originally classified as the species of ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=57246 ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Congo River, Ebola River, Luapula River, Ubangi River, Ruzizi River, Lualaba River, Aruwimi River, Kasai River, Semliki River, Chiloango River, Kwango River, Mbomou River, Lomami River, List of rivers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lukaya River, Sankuru River, Uele River, Luvua River, Fwa River, Lukenie River, Fimi River, Lulonga River, M'pozo River, Lubu River, Inkisi River,. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 68. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Luapula River is a section of Africa's second-longest river, the Congo. It is a transnational river forming for nearly all its length part of the border between Zambia and the DR Congo. It joins Lake Bangweulu (wholly in Zambia) to Lake Mweru (shared between the two countries) and gives its name to the Luapula Province of Zambia. The Luapula drains Lake Bangweulu and its swamps into which flows the Chambeshi River, the source of the Congo. There is no single clear channel connecting the two rivers and the lake, but a mass of shifting channels, lagoons and swamps, as the explorer David Livingstone found to his cost. (He died exploring the area, and one of his last acts was to question Chief Chitambo about the course of the Luapula.) The channel boldly marked as the 'Luapula' and confidently shown on many maps flowing south out of Lake Bangweulu at 11°25'S 29°49'E can be seen on satellite images such as Google Earth to actually peter out into green vegetation around 11°46'S 29°48'E. Below the Bangweulu swamps and floodplain the Luapula flows steadily in an arc south-west turning north-west then north, with some rapids and well-known set of cataracts, Mambilima Falls near the main road. A far less well-known site is Tangwa, about 40 km south where the river has eroded a gap through rocky hills carving huge caves, arches, and ...http://booksllc.net/?id=513468 ... Read more