Virus Hunter: Thirty Years of Battling Hot Viruses Around the World - Hardcover

C. J. Peters; Mark Olshaker

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385485573 ISBN 13: 9780385485579

Publisher: Doubleday, 1997

Synopsis

The commander of the army virology unit that battled the Ebola virus in The Hot Zone--and the current Chief of Special Pathogens at the Centers for Disease Control--teams up with the bestselling coauthor of MindHunter to chronicle his extraordinary thirty-year career fighting deadly viruses.

From Central and South America to a deadly outbreak of a mystery virus in the American Southwest, from fieldwork in Egypt and the mountains of Kenya to immobilizing an army unit to stop a gut-wrenching outbreak of Ebola only miles from Washington, D.C., Virus Hunter takes us backstage in the inevitable clash between biology and human lives.

Because of new, emerging viruses, and the return of old, "vanquished" ones for which vaccines do not exist, there remains a very real danger of a new epidemic that could, without proper surveillance and early intervention, spread worldwide virtually overnight.  And the possibility of foreign countries or terrorist groups using deadly airborne viruses that are easily obtained rather than unwieldy explosives looms larger than ever in the future.

High-octane science writing at its most revealing and best, Virus Hunter is a thrilling first-person account of what it is like to be a warrior in the Hot Zone.

About this title

Review:

Books such as Richard Preston's The Hot Zone thrust the deadly Ebola virus into the spotlight, but they can't match the first-person perspective of Virus Hunter. Author C. J. Peters is an ex-army colonel who has spent his professional life studying deadly pathogens in the lab and in the wild. He spins a drama- and adrenaline-filled true tale of virus hunters, which is gripping despite its occasional tendency to grow verbose and detour into personal history. Peters offers a look at crippling diseases not only through the eyes of a scientist, but also with the perspective of an insider in the defense establishment, painting a chilling picture of the potential of biological terrorism or outright warfare.

From the Publisher:

"Virus Hunter is a terrific book, at the top of my list. The adventure of a lifetime, it's the inside story of the hunt for threatening and emerging viruses, told with grace and clarity by a working scientist at the hot center of his field. C.J. Peters has had leadership roles in the army and now at the CDC, and he has much to tell that's never been told before."
--Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0385485573
• ISBN 13: 9780385485579
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336