A headline scrolled across the bottom of the screen about an Ebola outbreak in Africa.
Yikes.
Seventeen years ago I read a book called The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. How do I know it was seventeen years ago? We'd just moved to Toledo, Ohio. I didn't know anyone, so I joined a book club at the library. I was twenty-three years old, and I think the closest person in age to me was oh, about sixty-five! But I loved going. It introduced me to books I never would have read, including this one.
So, anyway, I started reading The Hot Zone (which, by the way, is non-fiction!!) and became so horrified I had to finish it in one day. The book seared in my brain, and the one thing I pray I never contract? The Ebola virus!
I will not go into all of the gory details describing the symptoms, but the fact there are people suffering from this right now gives me chills.
BBC News: Africa shared the scoop on the current outbreak. I've linked the article HERE. What surprised me the most? "'Guinea has banned the sale and consumption of bats to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola virus,' its health minister has said." (BBC News: Africa)
People actually eat bats?
I'm squeamish. I'm also paranoid. My entire life I've believed bats to be little more than mosquito control and rabies agents. To hear that anyone considers them a delicacy messes with my head.
"'Bats, a local delicacy, appeared to be the "main agents" for the Ebola outbreak in the south,' Rene Lamah said." (BBC News: Africa)
Lesson learned. Stop eating bats. Repeat after me.
STOP EATING BATS!!
Have you read The Hot Zone? Is there a book so horrifying, you've never been able to forget it?
Have a terrific weekend!!
