Institute, from Level 2 to Level 4, are kept under negative air pressure, so that if a leak develops, air will flow
into
the zones rather than outward to the normal world. The suite known as AA-5 was a group of negative-pressure biocontainment rooms that had been set up as a research lab for Ebola virus by a civilian Army scientist named Eugene Johnson. He was an expert in Ebola and its sister, Marburg. He had infected several monkeys with Ebola virus, and he had been giving them various drugs to see if they would stop the Ebola infection. In recent days, the monkeys had begun to die. Nancy had joined Johnson’s Ebola project asthe pathologist. It was her job to determine the cause of death in the monkeys.
She came to a window in a wall. The window was made of heavy glass, like that in an aquarium, and it looked directly into the Ebola suite, directly into Level 4. You could not see the monkeys through this window. Every morning, a civilian animal caretaker put on a space suit and went inside to feed the monkeys and clean their cages and check on their physical condition. This morning there was a piece of paper taped to the inside of the glass, with handwritten lettering on it. It had been left there by a caretaker. The note said that during the night two of the animals had “gone down.” That is, they had crashed and bled out.
When she saw the note, she knew that she would be putting on a space suit and going in to dissect the monkeys. Ebola virus destroyed an animal’s internal organs, and the carcass deteriorated abruptly after death. It softened, and the tissues turned into jelly, even if you put it in a refrigerator to keep it cold. You wanted to dissect the animals quickly, before the spontaneous liquefaction began, because you can’t dissect gumbo.
When Nancy Jaax first applied to join the pathology group at the Institute, the colonel in charge of it didn’t want to accept her. Nancy thought it was because she was a woman. He said to her, “This work is not for a married female. You are either going to neglect your work or neglect your family.”One day, she brought her résumé into his office, hoping to persuade him to accept her. He said, “I can have anybody I want in my group”—implying that he didn’t want her because she wasn’t good enough—and he mentioned the great Thoroughbred stallion Secretariat. “If I want to have Secretariat in my group,” he said, “I can get Secretariat.”
“Well, sir, I am no plow horse!” she roared at him, and slammed her résumé on his desk. He reconsidered the matter and allowed her to join the group.
When you begin working with biological agents, the Army starts you in Biosafety Level 2, and then you move up to Level 3. You don’t go into Level 4 until you have a lot of experience, and the Army may never allow you to work there. In order to work in the lower levels, you must have a number of vaccinations. Nancy had vaccinations for yellow fever, Q fever, Rift Valley fever, the VEE, EEE , and WEE complex (brain viruses that live in horses), and tularemia, anthrax, and botulism. And, of course, she had had a series of shots for rabies, since she was a veterinarian. Her immune system reacted badly to all the shots: they made her sick. The Army therefore yanked her out of the vaccination program. At this point, Nancy Jaax was essentially washed up. She couldn’t proceed with any kind of work with Level 3 agents, because she couldn’t tolerate the vaccinations. There was only one way she could continue working with dangerous infectious agents.She had to get herself assigned to work in a space suit in Level 4 areas. There aren’t any vaccines for Level 4 hot agents. A Level 4 hot agent is a lethal virus for which there is no vaccine and no cure.
Ebola virus is named for the Ebola River, which is the headstream of the Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo, or Zaire, River. The Ebola River empties tracts of rain forest, winding past scattered villages.
into
the zones rather than outward to the normal world. The suite known as AA-5 was a group of negative-pressure biocontainment rooms that had been set up as a research lab for Ebola virus by a civilian Army scientist named Eugene Johnson. He was an expert in Ebola and its sister, Marburg. He had infected several monkeys with Ebola virus, and he had been giving them various drugs to see if they would stop the Ebola infection. In recent days, the monkeys had begun to die. Nancy had joined Johnson’s Ebola project asthe pathologist. It was her job to determine the cause of death in the monkeys.
She came to a window in a wall. The window was made of heavy glass, like that in an aquarium, and it looked directly into the Ebola suite, directly into Level 4. You could not see the monkeys through this window. Every morning, a civilian animal caretaker put on a space suit and went inside to feed the monkeys and clean their cages and check on their physical condition. This morning there was a piece of paper taped to the inside of the glass, with handwritten lettering on it. It had been left there by a caretaker. The note said that during the night two of the animals had “gone down.” That is, they had crashed and bled out.
When she saw the note, she knew that she would be putting on a space suit and going in to dissect the monkeys. Ebola virus destroyed an animal’s internal organs, and the carcass deteriorated abruptly after death. It softened, and the tissues turned into jelly, even if you put it in a refrigerator to keep it cold. You wanted to dissect the animals quickly, before the spontaneous liquefaction began, because you can’t dissect gumbo.
When Nancy Jaax first applied to join the pathology group at the Institute, the colonel in charge of it didn’t want to accept her. Nancy thought it was because she was a woman. He said to her, “This work is not for a married female. You are either going to neglect your work or neglect your family.”One day, she brought her résumé into his office, hoping to persuade him to accept her. He said, “I can have anybody I want in my group”—implying that he didn’t want her because she wasn’t good enough—and he mentioned the great Thoroughbred stallion Secretariat. “If I want to have Secretariat in my group,” he said, “I can get Secretariat.”
“Well, sir, I am no plow horse!” she roared at him, and slammed her résumé on his desk. He reconsidered the matter and allowed her to join the group.
When you begin working with biological agents, the Army starts you in Biosafety Level 2, and then you move up to Level 3. You don’t go into Level 4 until you have a lot of experience, and the Army may never allow you to work there. In order to work in the lower levels, you must have a number of vaccinations. Nancy had vaccinations for yellow fever, Q fever, Rift Valley fever, the VEE, EEE , and WEE complex (brain viruses that live in horses), and tularemia, anthrax, and botulism. And, of course, she had had a series of shots for rabies, since she was a veterinarian. Her immune system reacted badly to all the shots: they made her sick. The Army therefore yanked her out of the vaccination program. At this point, Nancy Jaax was essentially washed up. She couldn’t proceed with any kind of work with Level 3 agents, because she couldn’t tolerate the vaccinations. There was only one way she could continue working with dangerous infectious agents.She had to get herself assigned to work in a space suit in Level 4 areas. There aren’t any vaccines for Level 4 hot agents. A Level 4 hot agent is a lethal virus for which there is no vaccine and no cure.
Ebola virus is named for the Ebola River, which is the headstream of the Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo, or Zaire, River. The Ebola River empties tracts of rain forest, winding past scattered villages.
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