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The Demon in the Freezer
The first major bioterror event in the United States--the anthrax attacks in October 2001--was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense.
Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at Usamriid, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox--and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers: at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But "the demon in the freezer" has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines.
Usamriid went into a state of Delta Alert on September 11, 2001 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, D.C. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government’s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill. Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at the CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails.
Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at Usamriid, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox--and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers: at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But "the demon in the freezer" has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines.
Usamriid went into a state of Delta Alert on September 11, 2001 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, D.C. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government’s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill. Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at the CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Richard Preston
21 books1,321 followersRichard Preston is a journalist and nonfiction writer.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
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March 23, 2023
Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. I expect the end of the world, the people part of it in any case, is likeliest to be the result of loose pathogens. In Demon in the Freezer, published in 2002, Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone and The Cobra Event takes a look at two of the top candidates for the job, smallpox and anthrax.
Richard Preston - image from NY Times
In October 2001, a photo-retoucher for the National Enquirer died as a result of a deliberate attack with anthrax. While the CDC was looking in to this, Senator Tom Dashle, among other mostly liberal figures, received mail tainted with the deadly material, and the investigation heated up. Was the USA under attack by Al-Qaeda again so soon after 9/11?
Preston follows several of the people involved in the research, documenting such comforting events at the CDC as faulty gloves and a researcher puncturing her super safe blue space suit. More importantly he looks at the eradication of smallpox in nature and the subsequent attempt to eliminate, or at least sharply limit the availibillty of remaining samples of the disease.
They were to have been divided between CDC facilities in Georgia and a comparable site in the Soviet Union. A treaty was signed by most of the world, Richard Nixon signing for the USA, banning the use of bio-weapons. Most of the signatories kept their word. Sadly, the Soviets not only held onto their stores, but shifted them around like a pea in a hucksterish street game when inspectors came a'calling. Thankfully a high level Soviet scientist defected and spilled the beans. Not that that prevented the Soviets from continuing their activities, but at least the rest of the world was put on to their game.
The author looks at the details of both anthrax and smallpox through the eyes of the researchers as they attempt to determine the provenance of, in particular, the Daschle-targeted anthrax. He offers enough biological detail without wandering too far into techno-speak-land. He learns from those who know how deadly pathogens might be delivered to maximize death.
Preston passes on government suspicions that Steven Hatfill, one of the virologists he interviewed for the book, might be the source of the Daschle anthrax. Another scientist, Bruce Edwards Ivins, believed to be angry over pro-choice stands taken by alleged targets, was later found to have been the guilty party by the FBI, but the case was regarded as inconclusive and no criminal charges were filed before Ivins killed himself. The mystery remains.
Preston is a compelling story teller and his is a tale of potential horror. He makes it crystal clear that deadly diseases, kept in freezers around the world, can, at any time, be thawed out and weaponized. We do not know where all these stores are located, and we do not have a means for protecting people against superpox, specifically designed to get past immune systems and antibiotics. The only real surprise is that the big kill-off has not yet occurred. This is a short book with a very long shadow. You really need to read this.
Links to Preston's personal, FB, and GR pages
Richard Preston - image from NY Times
In October 2001, a photo-retoucher for the National Enquirer died as a result of a deliberate attack with anthrax. While the CDC was looking in to this, Senator Tom Dashle, among other mostly liberal figures, received mail tainted with the deadly material, and the investigation heated up. Was the USA under attack by Al-Qaeda again so soon after 9/11?
Preston follows several of the people involved in the research, documenting such comforting events at the CDC as faulty gloves and a researcher puncturing her super safe blue space suit. More importantly he looks at the eradication of smallpox in nature and the subsequent attempt to eliminate, or at least sharply limit the availibillty of remaining samples of the disease.
They were to have been divided between CDC facilities in Georgia and a comparable site in the Soviet Union. A treaty was signed by most of the world, Richard Nixon signing for the USA, banning the use of bio-weapons. Most of the signatories kept their word. Sadly, the Soviets not only held onto their stores, but shifted them around like a pea in a hucksterish street game when inspectors came a'calling. Thankfully a high level Soviet scientist defected and spilled the beans. Not that that prevented the Soviets from continuing their activities, but at least the rest of the world was put on to their game.
The author looks at the details of both anthrax and smallpox through the eyes of the researchers as they attempt to determine the provenance of, in particular, the Daschle-targeted anthrax. He offers enough biological detail without wandering too far into techno-speak-land. He learns from those who know how deadly pathogens might be delivered to maximize death.
Preston passes on government suspicions that Steven Hatfill, one of the virologists he interviewed for the book, might be the source of the Daschle anthrax. Another scientist, Bruce Edwards Ivins, believed to be angry over pro-choice stands taken by alleged targets, was later found to have been the guilty party by the FBI, but the case was regarded as inconclusive and no criminal charges were filed before Ivins killed himself. The mystery remains.
Preston is a compelling story teller and his is a tale of potential horror. He makes it crystal clear that deadly diseases, kept in freezers around the world, can, at any time, be thawed out and weaponized. We do not know where all these stores are located, and we do not have a means for protecting people against superpox, specifically designed to get past immune systems and antibiotics. The only real surprise is that the big kill-off has not yet occurred. This is a short book with a very long shadow. You really need to read this.
Links to Preston's personal, FB, and GR pages
March 29, 2020
Smallpox and anthrax are just the 2 main protagonists of this novel, but there are many others out there, some unknown or still to evolve.
One has to look at the potential quantity (not quality lol, they nearly killed themselves because of incompetence) of the Soviet biowarfare program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioprep...
and extrapolate the potential to now and the future to understand the sheer dimension of it.
Much of the research has the potential to cure all illnesses, as especially viruses are so mighty tools that they could be genetically engineered brainwashed and used to be good instead of evil, and pharmaceutical companies are at this end of the spectrum, doing the opposite of what secret biological warfare research is trying to achieve. I do think that it´s more possible that the military will find cures earlier, as the budget, especially in a country like China, is circumstantial and the results don´t have to be economic so that all approaches can be tried. As long as it kills better, of course, but a side effect and collateral benefit could be cures we aren´t able to imagine. Of course, it would fall under military secrecy, but there is not much difference to the commercial studies that are as secret as possible too due to industrial espionage. It also sounds better and is easier to explain that a company found a cure than to admit that a cure for cancer was accidentally found while trying to breed an influenza rabies hybrid. General: „Didn´t I tell you to develop killers, not cures? Bad scientist, bad, shame on you wasting our governments´ money for this!“
It´s the huge variety of possible options in producing biological agents that make them even scarier. The intuitively most logical form, an active virus that can be directly released, seems horrible, but is less dangerous as the alternatives that could be used as timebombs. Microbes are pretty tough and they can wait, sleep, get active again, and with biological engineering, in the mix this means that one could produce something that is completely harmless when it´s cold, dry, and dark, but activates when hot, wet, and bright. The possibilities to use this are endless, as it wouldn´t even have to be exactly coordinated, it would be enough to just wait for spring and summer, for the day to come and the sun to shine or for the weather to change and, let´s say, pluvial period to set in. Anthrax was just the beginning.
If the agent is unknown and thereby undetectable or a mighty state spreads such agents with the help of foreign intelligence services, special forces and secret agents, there could be thousands and more clusters distributed in neuralgic points of the enemies´ infrastructure until the conditions are perfect and the trade war or real war can begin. It could, of course, be fully automated too, using living agents or by generating the right breeding conditions in small or tiny, miniaturized machines that activate at the same time, breed until trillions of active killers are waiting to be released and open the gates at the same time.
Nobody knows how much of this is still fiction and how much real military mind and plan games and simulations, but I do believe in the human creativity to kill as many others as possible and would subjectively say that anything possible in this regard will be done.
How large such facilities might be is another question I keep asking myself, are it just normal labs with secrecy and soldiers around or is it going in the resident evil and horror direction with huge underground hives or prohibited areas where everyone breathing in the wrong direction or taking a picture from miles away gets shot. And, of course, human testing to see how it works and in what dimension it´s done, if it´s right next to the labs or if they take the risk to transport the new creations to the torture chambers of a black site. It could look like this:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph... https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
One just has to look at what has been revealed about disturbing human subject research and I didn´t even mention combining it with breeding Übersoldiers that are resistant to the biological warfare agent that kills everyone and are quicker, smarter, stronger, and much sexier than the average G.I. Joe.
I am no biologist or physician and can´t say how useful it is to keep probes of smallpox and other monsters we might be able to exterminate except of probes, and if we would have the ethical obligation to destroy everything. On the one hand, there is the possibility of a terrorist attack or a lab accident (or a scientist going bonkers) killing million, on the other hand, it could be positively used in the future in medicine and life sciences in ways we can´t even imagine. As genetic engineering accelerates, the vicious elements could become angels of longer life and cures instead of death, as they are so mighty that annihilating this potential forever seems questionable.
I guess biological warfare programs will definitively be continued in space, be it in habitats, space stations, or on planets with or without atmosphere, as those destinations are just too perfect for such endeavors to not create solarpox. Also a great first contact scenario if it´s as far away from the earth as possible and the first place aliens come to visit, in the style of:
Alien: „Is this a secret and highly illegal bioweapon program to exterminate all or just certain parts of your own species with ethnic bioweapons? Are you all space nazis praising eugenics?“
We: „No, no, this is a misunderstanding. We do important medical research here to cure…let´s see…damn.“
Alien: „Well, keep trying exterminating yourselves, if you aren´t successful, we´ll visit again in a few hundred years if you are mature enough for the galactic community and all the technologies we wanted to bring to help with your evolution.“
We: „No, let us explain..“
Alien: „Are those probes of extraterrestrial microorganisms you are adding to the deadly mix back there?“
We: „We didn´t know it were your probes that…“
Alien: „Bye.“
Some links dealing with the current pandemic:
Animated world map
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2...
CNN live updates
https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-new...
John Hopkins CSSE world map
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/ap...
Youtube statistics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgylp...
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafe...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_p...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...
One has to look at the potential quantity (not quality lol, they nearly killed themselves because of incompetence) of the Soviet biowarfare program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioprep...
and extrapolate the potential to now and the future to understand the sheer dimension of it.
Much of the research has the potential to cure all illnesses, as especially viruses are so mighty tools that they could be genetically engineered brainwashed and used to be good instead of evil, and pharmaceutical companies are at this end of the spectrum, doing the opposite of what secret biological warfare research is trying to achieve. I do think that it´s more possible that the military will find cures earlier, as the budget, especially in a country like China, is circumstantial and the results don´t have to be economic so that all approaches can be tried. As long as it kills better, of course, but a side effect and collateral benefit could be cures we aren´t able to imagine. Of course, it would fall under military secrecy, but there is not much difference to the commercial studies that are as secret as possible too due to industrial espionage. It also sounds better and is easier to explain that a company found a cure than to admit that a cure for cancer was accidentally found while trying to breed an influenza rabies hybrid. General: „Didn´t I tell you to develop killers, not cures? Bad scientist, bad, shame on you wasting our governments´ money for this!“
It´s the huge variety of possible options in producing biological agents that make them even scarier. The intuitively most logical form, an active virus that can be directly released, seems horrible, but is less dangerous as the alternatives that could be used as timebombs. Microbes are pretty tough and they can wait, sleep, get active again, and with biological engineering, in the mix this means that one could produce something that is completely harmless when it´s cold, dry, and dark, but activates when hot, wet, and bright. The possibilities to use this are endless, as it wouldn´t even have to be exactly coordinated, it would be enough to just wait for spring and summer, for the day to come and the sun to shine or for the weather to change and, let´s say, pluvial period to set in. Anthrax was just the beginning.
If the agent is unknown and thereby undetectable or a mighty state spreads such agents with the help of foreign intelligence services, special forces and secret agents, there could be thousands and more clusters distributed in neuralgic points of the enemies´ infrastructure until the conditions are perfect and the trade war or real war can begin. It could, of course, be fully automated too, using living agents or by generating the right breeding conditions in small or tiny, miniaturized machines that activate at the same time, breed until trillions of active killers are waiting to be released and open the gates at the same time.
Nobody knows how much of this is still fiction and how much real military mind and plan games and simulations, but I do believe in the human creativity to kill as many others as possible and would subjectively say that anything possible in this regard will be done.
How large such facilities might be is another question I keep asking myself, are it just normal labs with secrecy and soldiers around or is it going in the resident evil and horror direction with huge underground hives or prohibited areas where everyone breathing in the wrong direction or taking a picture from miles away gets shot. And, of course, human testing to see how it works and in what dimension it´s done, if it´s right next to the labs or if they take the risk to transport the new creations to the torture chambers of a black site. It could look like this:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph... https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
One just has to look at what has been revealed about disturbing human subject research and I didn´t even mention combining it with breeding Übersoldiers that are resistant to the biological warfare agent that kills everyone and are quicker, smarter, stronger, and much sexier than the average G.I. Joe.
I am no biologist or physician and can´t say how useful it is to keep probes of smallpox and other monsters we might be able to exterminate except of probes, and if we would have the ethical obligation to destroy everything. On the one hand, there is the possibility of a terrorist attack or a lab accident (or a scientist going bonkers) killing million, on the other hand, it could be positively used in the future in medicine and life sciences in ways we can´t even imagine. As genetic engineering accelerates, the vicious elements could become angels of longer life and cures instead of death, as they are so mighty that annihilating this potential forever seems questionable.
I guess biological warfare programs will definitively be continued in space, be it in habitats, space stations, or on planets with or without atmosphere, as those destinations are just too perfect for such endeavors to not create solarpox. Also a great first contact scenario if it´s as far away from the earth as possible and the first place aliens come to visit, in the style of:
Alien: „Is this a secret and highly illegal bioweapon program to exterminate all or just certain parts of your own species with ethnic bioweapons? Are you all space nazis praising eugenics?“
We: „No, no, this is a misunderstanding. We do important medical research here to cure…let´s see…damn.“
Alien: „Well, keep trying exterminating yourselves, if you aren´t successful, we´ll visit again in a few hundred years if you are mature enough for the galactic community and all the technologies we wanted to bring to help with your evolution.“
We: „No, let us explain..“
Alien: „Are those probes of extraterrestrial microorganisms you are adding to the deadly mix back there?“
We: „We didn´t know it were your probes that…“
Alien: „Bye.“
Some links dealing with the current pandemic:
Animated world map
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2...
CNN live updates
https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-new...
John Hopkins CSSE world map
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/ap...
Youtube statistics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgylp...
A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafe...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_p...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...
May 16, 2016
"We could eradicate smallpox from nature, but we could not uproot the virus from the human heart."
I will be honest and say that I am a bit genre ignorant. I only read genres that are of my interest, and ignore those that seem daunting and boring. Non-fiction is not my usual genre, but medical science is. I decided to give this novel a try out of the blue. I'm not new to medical science, in fact, I studied Microbiology for a whole semester, and Mycology and Virology for another semester. I didn't enjoy the subjects that much because of the difficult quizzes and exams, but now I'm actually enjoying them. It's a matter of perspective. I don't have a quiz or an exam the next day regarding the subject, so I'm actually enjoying reading about it and researching more. The terminologies used in the novel were not jargon for me. I enjoyed the fact that I understood almost everything the author wrote.
This novel is about smallpox. Smallpox is this seemingly eradicated disease caused by 2 viruses namely Variola Major and Variola minor. I say seemingly because there are frozen strains of the virus kept at the CDC and in Russia. What is daunting about this fact is that terrorist can make a bioengineered weapon using smallpox. There is not enough vaccine out there today to cater for the world in case a major outbreak of the eradicated disease would suddenly happen. There are no funds allocated for a disease that is known to be eradicated.
I am honestly rooting for the eradication of the virus. I don't see the need for it to be there. Based on the facts written, one of the few ways for smallpox to be back is intentional release of the virus. Aside from the intentional desire to kill millions of people, another way for the disease to back is from an accident in the lab. Accident from a research done for an eradicated disease. Why study something that is already eradicated and imposes a huge risk of causing a global catastrophe? I may be young and I only know the basics of medical science, but I still don't see the reason why the virus hasn't been eradicated for good.
The novel itself is great. It's factual and entertaining at the same time. It's one of the few non-fiction books to be considered interesting. I am willing to read more non-fiction books now thanks to this novel. I am vastly interested in microbiology and virology, so Preston's other novels are of interest to me.
5/5 stars. Honestly one of the most helpful and interesting books out there. It's scary in a way that it's non-fiction, yet it could really happen in real life. Highly recommended for people in the medical field, or even casual readers who want to try non-fiction.
I will be honest and say that I am a bit genre ignorant. I only read genres that are of my interest, and ignore those that seem daunting and boring. Non-fiction is not my usual genre, but medical science is. I decided to give this novel a try out of the blue. I'm not new to medical science, in fact, I studied Microbiology for a whole semester, and Mycology and Virology for another semester. I didn't enjoy the subjects that much because of the difficult quizzes and exams, but now I'm actually enjoying them. It's a matter of perspective. I don't have a quiz or an exam the next day regarding the subject, so I'm actually enjoying reading about it and researching more. The terminologies used in the novel were not jargon for me. I enjoyed the fact that I understood almost everything the author wrote.
This novel is about smallpox. Smallpox is this seemingly eradicated disease caused by 2 viruses namely Variola Major and Variola minor. I say seemingly because there are frozen strains of the virus kept at the CDC and in Russia. What is daunting about this fact is that terrorist can make a bioengineered weapon using smallpox. There is not enough vaccine out there today to cater for the world in case a major outbreak of the eradicated disease would suddenly happen. There are no funds allocated for a disease that is known to be eradicated.
I am honestly rooting for the eradication of the virus. I don't see the need for it to be there. Based on the facts written, one of the few ways for smallpox to be back is intentional release of the virus. Aside from the intentional desire to kill millions of people, another way for the disease to back is from an accident in the lab. Accident from a research done for an eradicated disease. Why study something that is already eradicated and imposes a huge risk of causing a global catastrophe? I may be young and I only know the basics of medical science, but I still don't see the reason why the virus hasn't been eradicated for good.
The novel itself is great. It's factual and entertaining at the same time. It's one of the few non-fiction books to be considered interesting. I am willing to read more non-fiction books now thanks to this novel. I am vastly interested in microbiology and virology, so Preston's other novels are of interest to me.
5/5 stars. Honestly one of the most helpful and interesting books out there. It's scary in a way that it's non-fiction, yet it could really happen in real life. Highly recommended for people in the medical field, or even casual readers who want to try non-fiction.
January 8, 2023
***NO SPOILERS***
Several years after bringing Ebola to gruesome life in The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus, Richard Preston returned to writing about infectious disease with The Demon in the Freezer. This book is different from The Hot Zone in that it explores how biological agents--smallpox and anthrax here--could be used as highly effective bioweapons. Preston’s gift for turning stories of disease into exciting thrillers is as apparent as ever. Just as The Hot Zone does with Ebola, The Demon in the Freezer transforms tiny, unthinking organisms into scheming villains.
Smallpox is a virus that scientists theorize jumped from an unknown animal to a human 10,000 to 3,000 years ago. By 1980, the world had successfully eradicated it as a disease, but the virus lives on in labs--officially the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. and a lab in Siberia called Vector. Scientists have no doubt, however, that it’s being stored in additional locations for the express purpose of weaponization. Anthrax is a parasite that can lie dormant in soil for years and tends to infect grazing ungulates (such as cows and sheep). The spores can contaminate a space extensively, and anthrax is more likely to kill if inhaled.
Preston's strength when writing about diseases is in vividly illustrating their potential for large-scale destruction. A smallpox or anthrax attack would make the COVID-19 lockdown, not to mention COVID-19 itself, look like a cakewalk. As the book expresses numerous times, these tiny organisms, if weaponized, are the biological equivalent of a nuclear bomb--with the bonus of not ravaging the physical landscape. Additionally, while nuclear warfare kills instantly if one is hit by the weapon directly, biowarfare will torture victims first no matter where they are when that bomb hits. Most terrifying of all is that smallpox (stunningly contagious--forget six-foot distance and masks) and anthrax (not contagious from person to person but very easily inhaled) can be bio-engineered to be superbugs that resist existing vaccines and treatments. Preston visited a lab at the St. Louis University School of Medicine to show just how easy it is to do such bio-engineering.
The Demon in the Freezer is packed with statistics, memorable details, and dramatic scenes as it loosely traces the history of these diseases and what’s happening now. The dual focus is effective in that Preston hammered home the idea that anthrax and smallpox as weapons are equally able to cause widespread devastation. He painted a full picture of what these viruses look like and how, exactly, they behave, both in transmission and within the body. He showed this in a few tense scenes and a few graphic scenes, but one of the more powerful scenes is about anthrax and is neither tense nor graphic: Preston visited a researcher at the man’s home in Maryland. The researcher led Preston outside, where he demonstrated the nature of anthrax transmission by pumping a puff of baby powder into the air. It’s an unforgettable scene, as few people do not know how finely milled powder stays suspended in the air: The puff explodes in a gentle flurry and is instantly carried on the breeze, expanding as it goes, and then vanishing like steam. Anthrax is that kind of powder, an invisible threat that can travel for miles and also remain potent.
As intriguing as smallpox and anthrax are, there are some drawbacks to the book’s dual focus. There isn’t enough story and information about either organism to warrant a separate book for each, so it makes sense to put both in one; however, whereas The Hot Zone is tightly organized thanks to its singular focus, The Demon in the Freezer has clumsy organization. The smallpox and anthrax sections aren’t uniform in length, and they lack dedicated parts, such as a part one and part two. Instead, in discussion about one disease, attention suddenly shifts to the other for a while, then switches back. Preston gave credit where credit was due by introducing numerous scientists working at the forefront of smallpox and anthrax research but tried to add depth by throwing in some personal life details about a few main ones. These humanizing details aren’t uninteresting, but they appear out of nowhere, breaking the flow with details that are irrelevant and arbitrary. These are paragraphs about such things as the love life of one of the researchers and descriptions, sometimes unflattering, of people’s clothing and physiques. It feels like all description was inserted at an editor’s request--but the effort is so half-hearted and weird that no one ends up fleshed out. The stars of this book are the diseases, and fortunately Preston at least achieved what he set out to do there.
Smallpox and anthrax were abstract to me before reading this book. I also didn’t know how deadly they are, the “-pox” in “smallpox” leading me to believe smallpox isn’t much worse than chickenpox. I associated anthrax with contaminated mail that an unfortunate few occasionally come into contact with. I didn’t understand the mechanics of these diseases as bioweapons. Now I do know. Viruses and bacteria adapt easily, and smallpox and anthrax are out there and being worked with. Biowarfare is a threat. The Demon in the Freezer isn't exactly a know-your-enemy read that empowers--but those who’ve read The Hot Zone will know this about Preston. It’s a captivating and educational real-life horror story.
Update, January 8, 2023: 2022 documentary The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 answers a major question about the anthrax attacks that was still being investigated at the time of publishing.
Several years after bringing Ebola to gruesome life in The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus, Richard Preston returned to writing about infectious disease with The Demon in the Freezer. This book is different from The Hot Zone in that it explores how biological agents--smallpox and anthrax here--could be used as highly effective bioweapons. Preston’s gift for turning stories of disease into exciting thrillers is as apparent as ever. Just as The Hot Zone does with Ebola, The Demon in the Freezer transforms tiny, unthinking organisms into scheming villains.
Smallpox is a virus that scientists theorize jumped from an unknown animal to a human 10,000 to 3,000 years ago. By 1980, the world had successfully eradicated it as a disease, but the virus lives on in labs--officially the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. and a lab in Siberia called Vector. Scientists have no doubt, however, that it’s being stored in additional locations for the express purpose of weaponization. Anthrax is a parasite that can lie dormant in soil for years and tends to infect grazing ungulates (such as cows and sheep). The spores can contaminate a space extensively, and anthrax is more likely to kill if inhaled.
Preston's strength when writing about diseases is in vividly illustrating their potential for large-scale destruction. A smallpox or anthrax attack would make the COVID-19 lockdown, not to mention COVID-19 itself, look like a cakewalk. As the book expresses numerous times, these tiny organisms, if weaponized, are the biological equivalent of a nuclear bomb--with the bonus of not ravaging the physical landscape. Additionally, while nuclear warfare kills instantly if one is hit by the weapon directly, biowarfare will torture victims first no matter where they are when that bomb hits. Most terrifying of all is that smallpox (stunningly contagious--forget six-foot distance and masks) and anthrax (not contagious from person to person but very easily inhaled) can be bio-engineered to be superbugs that resist existing vaccines and treatments. Preston visited a lab at the St. Louis University School of Medicine to show just how easy it is to do such bio-engineering.
The Demon in the Freezer is packed with statistics, memorable details, and dramatic scenes as it loosely traces the history of these diseases and what’s happening now. The dual focus is effective in that Preston hammered home the idea that anthrax and smallpox as weapons are equally able to cause widespread devastation. He painted a full picture of what these viruses look like and how, exactly, they behave, both in transmission and within the body. He showed this in a few tense scenes and a few graphic scenes, but one of the more powerful scenes is about anthrax and is neither tense nor graphic: Preston visited a researcher at the man’s home in Maryland. The researcher led Preston outside, where he demonstrated the nature of anthrax transmission by pumping a puff of baby powder into the air. It’s an unforgettable scene, as few people do not know how finely milled powder stays suspended in the air: The puff explodes in a gentle flurry and is instantly carried on the breeze, expanding as it goes, and then vanishing like steam. Anthrax is that kind of powder, an invisible threat that can travel for miles and also remain potent.
As intriguing as smallpox and anthrax are, there are some drawbacks to the book’s dual focus. There isn’t enough story and information about either organism to warrant a separate book for each, so it makes sense to put both in one; however, whereas The Hot Zone is tightly organized thanks to its singular focus, The Demon in the Freezer has clumsy organization. The smallpox and anthrax sections aren’t uniform in length, and they lack dedicated parts, such as a part one and part two. Instead, in discussion about one disease, attention suddenly shifts to the other for a while, then switches back. Preston gave credit where credit was due by introducing numerous scientists working at the forefront of smallpox and anthrax research but tried to add depth by throwing in some personal life details about a few main ones. These humanizing details aren’t uninteresting, but they appear out of nowhere, breaking the flow with details that are irrelevant and arbitrary. These are paragraphs about such things as the love life of one of the researchers and descriptions, sometimes unflattering, of people’s clothing and physiques. It feels like all description was inserted at an editor’s request--but the effort is so half-hearted and weird that no one ends up fleshed out. The stars of this book are the diseases, and fortunately Preston at least achieved what he set out to do there.
Smallpox and anthrax were abstract to me before reading this book. I also didn’t know how deadly they are, the “-pox” in “smallpox” leading me to believe smallpox isn’t much worse than chickenpox. I associated anthrax with contaminated mail that an unfortunate few occasionally come into contact with. I didn’t understand the mechanics of these diseases as bioweapons. Now I do know. Viruses and bacteria adapt easily, and smallpox and anthrax are out there and being worked with. Biowarfare is a threat. The Demon in the Freezer isn't exactly a know-your-enemy read that empowers--but those who’ve read The Hot Zone will know this about Preston. It’s a captivating and educational real-life horror story.
Update, January 8, 2023: 2022 documentary The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 answers a major question about the anthrax attacks that was still being investigated at the time of publishing.
March 15, 2016
This book is terrifying! I wish it was fiction . . . I spent the entire book itching and squirming. The descriptions of small pox are harrowing - not for the faint of heart (if I recall, there are some pictures too). But, it is riveting, so if you like a good non-fiction thriller that might make you scared to go outside (or touch anything!), this is the book for you. Preston is really good at writing this type of novel.
March 15, 2024
I have previously read Preston's nonfiction [The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus|16213] and was fascinated by the previously unknown to me Ebola virus and then his novel [The Cobra Event|376613] a bioterrorism thriller, another great read. This 2002 nonfiction is another true-life exposition of potential bioterrorism organisms: Anthrax and Smallpox. And the information within is scary to say the least.
Preston starts out with the Anthrax attacks of 2001 and a graphic autopsy is up front, reminiscent of how The Hot Zone starts out and grabs you. However, the Demon in the freezer is Smallpox and after two chapters, Preston pivots to that potentially lethal virus discussing efforts at the eradication, the agreement made between world powers on whom, where & what could be done with the virus, and the problems with the Smallpox vaccine. We meet the myriad of people involved in research, prevention & treatment of the virus, along with those who research, monitor & plan for bioterrorism attacks.
Preston moves back & forth between the Anthrax attacks investigation and the efforts surrounding the eradication of Smallpox. He reveals many errors made along the way and it is all frightening. As this was written in 2002, Preston could not know where the investigation into who may have sent out the Anthrax to various news personalities and Senators. I did a Google search and in 2008, they did zero in on a suspect, and it isn't the person that is implicated in this book. There is still controversy about the final outcome to the investigation.
Why didn't I give this book 5 stars? The writing was pedantic at times especially when describing the players. Irrelevant details that interrupted the flow, and explanation of things that in my mind are known to most people. He does get into a lot of technical descriptions surrounding working in level 4 & 5 containment labs and the virology in general. Having a medical science background, I wasn't put off by that at all and it just enhanced my knowledge.
One final comment. Since this involves medical research there is the use of animals in the study of smallpox. If you are sensitive to that reality (and I am), there may be parts of the book that may be hard to read.
Preston starts out with the Anthrax attacks of 2001 and a graphic autopsy is up front, reminiscent of how The Hot Zone starts out and grabs you. However, the Demon in the freezer is Smallpox and after two chapters, Preston pivots to that potentially lethal virus discussing efforts at the eradication, the agreement made between world powers on whom, where & what could be done with the virus, and the problems with the Smallpox vaccine. We meet the myriad of people involved in research, prevention & treatment of the virus, along with those who research, monitor & plan for bioterrorism attacks.
Preston moves back & forth between the Anthrax attacks investigation and the efforts surrounding the eradication of Smallpox. He reveals many errors made along the way and it is all frightening. As this was written in 2002, Preston could not know where the investigation into who may have sent out the Anthrax to various news personalities and Senators. I did a Google search and in 2008, they did zero in on a suspect, and it isn't the person that is implicated in this book. There is still controversy about the final outcome to the investigation.
Why didn't I give this book 5 stars? The writing was pedantic at times especially when describing the players. Irrelevant details that interrupted the flow, and explanation of things that in my mind are known to most people. He does get into a lot of technical descriptions surrounding working in level 4 & 5 containment labs and the virology in general. Having a medical science background, I wasn't put off by that at all and it just enhanced my knowledge.
One final comment. Since this involves medical research there is the use of animals in the study of smallpox. If you are sensitive to that reality (and I am), there may be parts of the book that may be hard to read.
October 24, 2008
So I was in bed for a few days with a terrible flu -- fever, chills, coughing, etc... But this book really cheered me up since with its vivid description of how one dies from Smallpox -- bloody pistules covering the body, lucidity until the end despite intense pain -- I realized my suffering was sort of at the low end of possibilities! I've really become drawn to the science thriller genre these days, and while this book is nonfiction, its narrative and page-turning suspense makes it feel like a novel, as the author investigates the state of smallpox in the world today. While I haven't been one to fully trust the CDC in terms of vaccinations vis-a-vis my kids, this book makes me greater appreciate those who have tried to eradicate the world of smallpox, a much more fearsome disease than I realized. I can't wait for Preston's next book!
March 29, 2020
I love reading non-fiction that feels like fiction. Although this book was interesting, it didn’t blow me away nearly as much as Richard Preston’s other book, The Hot Zone. The subject matter (smallpox and anthrax) is fascinating, but there’s far more scientific details in this one, a bit too much for my liking. I think that this book would have been better if he had stuck to just smallpox. The back and forth between smallpox and anthrax was a bit distracting. I think that the anthrax part is related to the publication date, the early 2000's, during the time of the anthrax attacks.
“Doctors generally consider smallpox to be the worst human disease. It is thought to have killed more people than any other infectious pathogen, including the Black Death of the Middle Ages. Epidemiologists think that smallpox killed roughly one billion people during its last hundred years of activity on earth.”
Even though smallpox was eradicated more than four decades ago, the virus can be found in several labs around the world. The thought that it could be used as a biological weapon is terrifying.
Some quotes:
“Today, many adults over age thirty have a scar on their upper arm, which is the pockmark left by the pustule of a smallpox vaccination that they received in childhood, and some adults can remember how much the pustule hurt. Unfortunately, the immune system’s ‘memory’ of the vaccinia infection fades, and the vaccination begins to wear off after about five years. Today, almost everyone who was vaccinated against smallpox in childhood has lost much or all of their immunity to it.”
“Smallpox is the one virus that can basically bring the world to its knees. And the likelihood of smallpox being visited on us is far greater than a nuclear war, in my opinion.”
“Doctors generally consider smallpox to be the worst human disease. It is thought to have killed more people than any other infectious pathogen, including the Black Death of the Middle Ages. Epidemiologists think that smallpox killed roughly one billion people during its last hundred years of activity on earth.”
Even though smallpox was eradicated more than four decades ago, the virus can be found in several labs around the world. The thought that it could be used as a biological weapon is terrifying.
Some quotes:
“Today, many adults over age thirty have a scar on their upper arm, which is the pockmark left by the pustule of a smallpox vaccination that they received in childhood, and some adults can remember how much the pustule hurt. Unfortunately, the immune system’s ‘memory’ of the vaccinia infection fades, and the vaccination begins to wear off after about five years. Today, almost everyone who was vaccinated against smallpox in childhood has lost much or all of their immunity to it.”
“Smallpox is the one virus that can basically bring the world to its knees. And the likelihood of smallpox being visited on us is far greater than a nuclear war, in my opinion.”
February 29, 2020
“The dream of total eradication had failed, the viruses last strategy was to bewitch its host and become a source of power. We could eradicate smallpox from nature but we could not uproot the virus from the human heart.”
My mother has a smallpox vaccine scar on her arm and I do not. That I’ve never had to worry about it is thanks largely to Donald Ainslie Henderson. That I may have to worry about it in the future is the fault of well meaning, and possibly narcissistic, scientists, forgetful virologists, or terrorists.
The Covid-19 virus is giving us just the merest taste of what a smallpox outbreak would mean in today’s mobile population.
March 11, 2017
Holy shit, the scariest book I've ever read. Smallpox is no joke. makes you wonder if it's still around being stored by a world government ready to unleash it again as the ultimate biological weapon. A must read. Had me up nights.
October 14, 2024
Wooeeeee!! This was everything I wanted it to be and more!!!!
•
•
I have a bit of a morbid curiosity/fascination with epidemiology & viruses, specifically the real bastards of the bunch. You know, your basic Ebola, Marburg, Small Pox, Bubonic Plague, HIV. Even just our run of the mill Influenza is fascinating, so seemingly innocuous, yet it continues to spread, multiply, & mutate year after year after year after year after year, slyly evolving & artfully dodging the lethal clutches of any and all vaccines, evading triviality & obscurity like the seasoned pro that it is, stealing away with our babies and our grandparents like a thief in the night, knocking even the strongest of us down with a sniper's precision—a fingertip on a button, a chance passing & an exhaled droplet lingering in the air. A door, a grocery cart, a sniffle, an itch, a fleck of dust in our eye. What chance do us clumsy, messy, grubby, grabby humans have against an enemy like that? Nature had always been and will always be—our most lethal adversary.
•
•
I find it fascinating, but in the creepiest, freakiest most terrifying way possible bc of all the ways that humans might be eradicated or killed off, a superbug seems the most inevitable—all it would take is a mutation. Something these sly fuckers already do all the time!! (That, or some Skynet type sh*t💻) In the words of the late, great, George Carlan, “Everyone is always like,’The planet, the planet! We gotta save the planet!,’ Pfff, the planet will be fine! It’s US that should be worried! The planet is gonna shake us off like a bad case of fleas.”🪳🪳
Reading about this stuff is like a horror movie that I know is going to haunt my dreams but yet I can’t turn it off. It’s such a beauteous example of how diabolically perfect nature can be that it borders on the sublime. Everything about these lil buggers intrigues me.
•
So naturally, when I happened upon a Richard Preston book called “The Demon in the Freezer,” I just had to pick it up, having loved his other book “The Hot Zone” with such terrified zeal! (‘The Hot Zone’ was about the origins and initial outbreak of the Ebola virus) so of course I grabbed it and it immediately shot to the top of my TBR without even knowing what it was really about.
•
•
That demon from the title that was in the freezer was none other than an evil lil buggy we know as SMALLPOX! 🦠🦠🦠 This gets into all kinds of interesting stuff, our efforts to locate it, track it, eradicate it, all the various strains, the uncooperative countries like Russia (of course) that refuse to abide by the agreement to eliminate the virus all together, including any & all extra samples that have the potential to be stolen, moved, accidentally exposed to, accidentally spread etc etc.
•
I absolutely drank this up.
•
All this info surely led me to the belief that smallpox could very well still be out there, a lil demon in a lil freezer somewhere, waiting to unleash itself upon the world! Talk about freaky! It’s downright spine-chilling. To see so clearly the soft white underbelly of the human species. Us complex, trifling, smug humans that operate under the illusion that the world & its creatures submit to us. What arrogance! What folly.
•
•
Tick tock ⏳
•
•
TW: Animal suffering & Animal Deaths.
•
Other than that tho this was 🤌🏽 muah, chef’s kiss 💋
•
Gimme all the books about germs! If anyone has any recommendations for any more of this kind of stuff, please let me know!
•
•
I have a bit of a morbid curiosity/fascination with epidemiology & viruses, specifically the real bastards of the bunch. You know, your basic Ebola, Marburg, Small Pox, Bubonic Plague, HIV. Even just our run of the mill Influenza is fascinating, so seemingly innocuous, yet it continues to spread, multiply, & mutate year after year after year after year after year, slyly evolving & artfully dodging the lethal clutches of any and all vaccines, evading triviality & obscurity like the seasoned pro that it is, stealing away with our babies and our grandparents like a thief in the night, knocking even the strongest of us down with a sniper's precision—a fingertip on a button, a chance passing & an exhaled droplet lingering in the air. A door, a grocery cart, a sniffle, an itch, a fleck of dust in our eye. What chance do us clumsy, messy, grubby, grabby humans have against an enemy like that? Nature had always been and will always be—our most lethal adversary.
•
•
I find it fascinating, but in the creepiest, freakiest most terrifying way possible bc of all the ways that humans might be eradicated or killed off, a superbug seems the most inevitable—all it would take is a mutation. Something these sly fuckers already do all the time!! (That, or some Skynet type sh*t💻) In the words of the late, great, George Carlan, “Everyone is always like,’The planet, the planet! We gotta save the planet!,’ Pfff, the planet will be fine! It’s US that should be worried! The planet is gonna shake us off like a bad case of fleas.”🪳🪳
Reading about this stuff is like a horror movie that I know is going to haunt my dreams but yet I can’t turn it off. It’s such a beauteous example of how diabolically perfect nature can be that it borders on the sublime. Everything about these lil buggers intrigues me.
•
So naturally, when I happened upon a Richard Preston book called “The Demon in the Freezer,” I just had to pick it up, having loved his other book “The Hot Zone” with such terrified zeal! (‘The Hot Zone’ was about the origins and initial outbreak of the Ebola virus) so of course I grabbed it and it immediately shot to the top of my TBR without even knowing what it was really about.
•
•
That demon from the title that was in the freezer was none other than an evil lil buggy we know as SMALLPOX! 🦠🦠🦠 This gets into all kinds of interesting stuff, our efforts to locate it, track it, eradicate it, all the various strains, the uncooperative countries like Russia (of course) that refuse to abide by the agreement to eliminate the virus all together, including any & all extra samples that have the potential to be stolen, moved, accidentally exposed to, accidentally spread etc etc.
•
I absolutely drank this up.
•
All this info surely led me to the belief that smallpox could very well still be out there, a lil demon in a lil freezer somewhere, waiting to unleash itself upon the world! Talk about freaky! It’s downright spine-chilling. To see so clearly the soft white underbelly of the human species. Us complex, trifling, smug humans that operate under the illusion that the world & its creatures submit to us. What arrogance! What folly.
•
•
Tick tock ⏳
•
•
TW: Animal suffering & Animal Deaths.
•
Other than that tho this was 🤌🏽 muah, chef’s kiss 💋
•
Gimme all the books about germs! If anyone has any recommendations for any more of this kind of stuff, please let me know!
March 23, 2019
I read this terrifying work of nonfiction ages ago, but it still sticks with me and is one of those books that entirely changed my political viewpoint on something. Yes, it was that powerful.
Do y'all remember the Gulf War? Desert Storm? I was about 30 when all that was going on, and it was the first time people started keeping the "new" 24 hour news stations on all the time. At the time, I couldn't believe that Saddam Hussein was invading other countries - it was like something out of WWII to me - and I felt positive that the various UN countries were right to step in and stop him. First, he marched on Kuwait and then was headed for Saudi. When he was stopped, we all breathed easier.
Flash forward to 9/11. Of course, I believed the US and other UN countries were right to target cells of terrorists in Afghanistan and in pockets hidden in other countries. But when the then-president of the US later stated we'd be going into Iraq because Saddam Hussein, was up to no good again, I cringed. It felt like the world had whipped him back into alignment years before, and that possibly, this second Bush was biased because the first Bush had not taken Saddam Hussein into custody. We had so much going on with terrorists trying to wipe us out and trying to pound them in their various spots in Afghanistan that going into Iraq seemed wrong...and stupid...like poking a stick into a currently-quiet wasps nest.
And then? I read this book. Game changer!
The demon in the freezer here is smallpox. Not your great, great, great grandma's smallpox but an especially lethal and weaponized version that could be the plague of all plagues.
This book is a collection of interviews with numerous UN weapons inspectors, WHO investigators, research scientists, and people in the dark fields. When we all heard that Hussein might have weapons of mass destruction, they weren't necessarily talking about plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities disguised as power plants to bring electricity to starving families (although, yeah, that was also out there and France actually PAID for one of these as a humanitarian gesture). There was evidence that biological warfare was going on strong, and that just a cute little wheeled suitcase on a plane or a compact car could deliver death to hundreds of thousands of people.
Yes, I've read that George W. Bush only got a 22 on his ACT and supposedly wasn't the brightest of leaders, but the guy was not surrounded by fools. In hindsight, I'm guessing they wouldn't have wanted to bring up biological warfare and freak people out, but when you read this book, let's see what you think. The number of accounts from well respected scientists blew me away.
I'm a retired scientist and during the good old days, I attended all sorts of conferences. Sometimes, there'd be maybe five sets of lectures going on at the same time. You'd pick which papers you wanted to hear presented, and over the next three days, you'd fill your brain with new info relative to your field. There were also these things called Poster Sessions. In a great big hall, dozens and dozens of presenters would be all set up with cubicles full of their research results, tips on how you might make use of it, and sometimes various products to sell.
This is the part of the book that really got me. A couple of guys from Australia had been working on some sort of genetic modification (I'm a geologist - don't ask me for details). Apparently, there was a horrible little mouse problem down under where the rodents were decimating the grain crops. Well, understandably, farmers didn't want to be using poisons...and there are only so many farm cats out there... so here was this cool idea.'
The scientists decided to create a new version of Mouse Pox. And yeah... there are tons of poxes out there. Monkey pox, horse pox, mouse pox. They decided to tweak something in the T-cells of the mouse pox gene in order to make the next batch of mice infertile after they caught mouse pox. Sure, the current mice would keep reproducing, but by releasing a ton of these infected and sterile ones, the population would eventually be cut back by, I dunno, maybe 80 percent.
What happened instead is that when the modified mice were allowed to grow up to achive sexual maturity, instead of being infertile or impotent, they died. Like, nearly ALL OF THEM.
The researchers were stunned. So, at this big biomedical conference, there they were in the giant hall with their poster session going - yo! Can y'all believe we tweaked this teeny tiny little thing and suddenly made boring old mouse pox 80% lethal??
Holy crap. The people from WHO went nuts. Because these guys were handing out their recipe to not just make mouse pox 80% lethal, it was exactly what could make smallpox - which none of you little whipper snappers have had the vaccine for - equally virulent.
The new version of smallpox - the demon in the freezer - would also work on us old poots who did get the shot as kids, because this new stuff is different.
Wanna scare the pants off yourself? Read this.
Do y'all remember the Gulf War? Desert Storm? I was about 30 when all that was going on, and it was the first time people started keeping the "new" 24 hour news stations on all the time. At the time, I couldn't believe that Saddam Hussein was invading other countries - it was like something out of WWII to me - and I felt positive that the various UN countries were right to step in and stop him. First, he marched on Kuwait and then was headed for Saudi. When he was stopped, we all breathed easier.
Flash forward to 9/11. Of course, I believed the US and other UN countries were right to target cells of terrorists in Afghanistan and in pockets hidden in other countries. But when the then-president of the US later stated we'd be going into Iraq because Saddam Hussein, was up to no good again, I cringed. It felt like the world had whipped him back into alignment years before, and that possibly, this second Bush was biased because the first Bush had not taken Saddam Hussein into custody. We had so much going on with terrorists trying to wipe us out and trying to pound them in their various spots in Afghanistan that going into Iraq seemed wrong...and stupid...like poking a stick into a currently-quiet wasps nest.
And then? I read this book. Game changer!
The demon in the freezer here is smallpox. Not your great, great, great grandma's smallpox but an especially lethal and weaponized version that could be the plague of all plagues.
This book is a collection of interviews with numerous UN weapons inspectors, WHO investigators, research scientists, and people in the dark fields. When we all heard that Hussein might have weapons of mass destruction, they weren't necessarily talking about plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities disguised as power plants to bring electricity to starving families (although, yeah, that was also out there and France actually PAID for one of these as a humanitarian gesture). There was evidence that biological warfare was going on strong, and that just a cute little wheeled suitcase on a plane or a compact car could deliver death to hundreds of thousands of people.
Yes, I've read that George W. Bush only got a 22 on his ACT and supposedly wasn't the brightest of leaders, but the guy was not surrounded by fools. In hindsight, I'm guessing they wouldn't have wanted to bring up biological warfare and freak people out, but when you read this book, let's see what you think. The number of accounts from well respected scientists blew me away.
I'm a retired scientist and during the good old days, I attended all sorts of conferences. Sometimes, there'd be maybe five sets of lectures going on at the same time. You'd pick which papers you wanted to hear presented, and over the next three days, you'd fill your brain with new info relative to your field. There were also these things called Poster Sessions. In a great big hall, dozens and dozens of presenters would be all set up with cubicles full of their research results, tips on how you might make use of it, and sometimes various products to sell.
This is the part of the book that really got me. A couple of guys from Australia had been working on some sort of genetic modification (I'm a geologist - don't ask me for details). Apparently, there was a horrible little mouse problem down under where the rodents were decimating the grain crops. Well, understandably, farmers didn't want to be using poisons...and there are only so many farm cats out there... so here was this cool idea.'
The scientists decided to create a new version of Mouse Pox. And yeah... there are tons of poxes out there. Monkey pox, horse pox, mouse pox. They decided to tweak something in the T-cells of the mouse pox gene in order to make the next batch of mice infertile after they caught mouse pox. Sure, the current mice would keep reproducing, but by releasing a ton of these infected and sterile ones, the population would eventually be cut back by, I dunno, maybe 80 percent.
What happened instead is that when the modified mice were allowed to grow up to achive sexual maturity, instead of being infertile or impotent, they died. Like, nearly ALL OF THEM.
The researchers were stunned. So, at this big biomedical conference, there they were in the giant hall with their poster session going - yo! Can y'all believe we tweaked this teeny tiny little thing and suddenly made boring old mouse pox 80% lethal??
Holy crap. The people from WHO went nuts. Because these guys were handing out their recipe to not just make mouse pox 80% lethal, it was exactly what could make smallpox - which none of you little whipper snappers have had the vaccine for - equally virulent.
The new version of smallpox - the demon in the freezer - would also work on us old poots who did get the shot as kids, because this new stuff is different.
Wanna scare the pants off yourself? Read this.
July 18, 2014
Warning:
Do not read this during cough and flu season or if you think you might be coming down with a cold!
Do you remember the first ever bio-terror attack on U.S. soil when envelops full of anthrax were sent through the U.S. mail system to various places in the U.S.? It was in October 2001, a few months after the 9-11 attacks. If Smallpox had been used instead of Anthrax, we might not being around today to talk about it.
The author gives the reader a brief history of smallpox. Although smallpox was eradicated in 1979, it cannot really be eradicated from the earth. It is still "out there'. In fact, Soviet defectors confessed in the 1980's that the USSR had developed and was testing weaponized smallpox and anthrax. Undocumented reserves of smallpox not only sit dormant in hidden freezers but are probably secretly researched and held as possible bio-weapons. Scientists continue to debate funding new smallpox research to develop a new vaccine as a defense. What if one of these smallpox samples falls into the hands of terrorists?
What makes smallpox unique is that it is highly contagious. Smallpox floats and travels easily, quickly and far distances through the air. One single virus particle can drift along in the air for over nine miles before a person unknowingly inhales it and becomes infected. (See: The Aral Smallpox Incident of 1971 in the Soviet Union)
After you've been infected, the incubation period is ten days. During that time incubation period, you will feel normal and have no idea you have smallpox. Then, the illness hits you with full force. You will come down with a fever, sore throat, fatigue, splitting headache and eventually vomiting. You will assume you have a very nasty case of the flu. No doctor will be able to tell that you have smallpox, until it is too late. Then, a few days later the more severe symptoms of smallpox will emerge.
Three kinds of smallpox and their symptoms
1. Normal Smallpox. After the flu like symptoms are in full force, painful blisters will form all over your body, like a cobblestone road. The blisters eventually turn into scabs which tear away from your skin. The tearing away from the skin is extremely painful. Your eyes swell shut with blisters and pus which can cause blindness in some people. It is too painful to eat, drink or talk as blisters form in your mouth and throat. If you survive you will have ugly scars all over your body from the blisters.
2. Extreme Smallpox or Black pox - Flat Verity (100% Fatal):
In flat smallpox, the skin remains smooth and does not form blisters all over. The skin darkens until it looks charred, mottled and silky to the touch. The skin begins to slip off the body in sheets. Black pox is close to a hundred per cent fatal. If any sign of it appears in the body, the victim will almost certainly die. The virus destroys the linings of the throat, mouth, stomach, intestines, rectum, and vagina as these membranes disintegrate. It destroys the body's entire skin -- both exterior skin and interior.
2. Extreme Smallpox or Black Pox - Hemorrhagic Verity (100% Fatal): In hemorrhagic smallpox, black, unclotted blood oozes from the mouth and other body orifices. The whites of the eyes turn red with blood and continue to fill with blood until they look black. The virus attacks the immune system so the body cannot produce pus. Like the flat variety, the hemorrhagic variety is nearly 100% fatal and the virus destroys the the body's entire skin and membranes, exterior and interior. For some reason, the victims remain conscious and acutely aware of what is happening to them until death.
With accessible air travel all over the globe now, it would only take about six weeks for a smallpox epidemic to spread throughout the entire world.
I understand that these are distressing, gruesome matters that a lot of us prefer to avoid, but sometimes it is better to uncomfortable and informed than to remain in ignorance bliss.
Bt the way, how's that cold of yours doing? ;)
May 1, 2012
Ack! We're all going to die from smallpox! No, wait... we're all going to die from anthrax! No, wait... we're all going to die from anthrax-laced smallpox! No, wait... MONKEYPOX is going to get us! Or is it mousepox? Meh. Whatever.
This is the second book I've read from Richard Preston. You'd have thought that I'd have run screaming from his writing after reading The Hot Zone. But, no. I had to read more. Granted, it has been many years since the mere thought of recycled air on a plane gave me the heebie jeebies, but still... this is scary stuff.
You thought that smallpox had been eradicated and that the remaining seeds of the virus had been destroyed. You would be wrong. You thought that the smallpox vaccination that you got 50 years ago is still protecting you. (ok, it was I who got the vaccination 50 years ago... don't forget that I was premature) You would be batting 0 for 2.
Not only is smallpox still around, but our friendly neighborhood scientists have experimented with the damned virus for so long, it's possible that if there is an outbreak, the world might have to deal with a super-virus. Oh, joy. Richard Preston goes into fairly graphic detail when he writes about pox, what it does and how it does what it does.
Wait, there's more. The author veers from variola (our pox's true name) after the anthrax attacks in 2001. He revisits the anthrax laced letters that were mailed to two senators and several news agencies. He reminds us about the postal workers who died from anthrax, the elderly woman who died from anthrax because she inhaled a few spores that were clinging to a letter that was processed in the same facility as the anthrax letters. He reminds us that five people altogether died from that attack. He also reminds us that no one was ever caught... and that it would be very easy for another attack to be launched.
Scary and scarier.
So. The book is fairly disjointed. It starts out as a warning about smallpox and then suddenly takes off in the direction of anthrax. It jumps around fairly frequently. However, I found the whole thing fascinating. Preston uses a casual narrative style, which makes the book easy to read and easy to understand. I won't say that I enjoyed it, but I felt the same way about The Hot Zone. Fascinating and unsettling. Did you know that there is a pox for just about every living creature? Me either. But there is. And you'll hear about them all in this book.
One word of warning... I tried taking the book with me to a restaurant. Bad move. Weeping pustules and pasta primavera do not mix. Srsly. Eww.
This is the second book I've read from Richard Preston. You'd have thought that I'd have run screaming from his writing after reading The Hot Zone. But, no. I had to read more. Granted, it has been many years since the mere thought of recycled air on a plane gave me the heebie jeebies, but still... this is scary stuff.
You thought that smallpox had been eradicated and that the remaining seeds of the virus had been destroyed. You would be wrong. You thought that the smallpox vaccination that you got 50 years ago is still protecting you. (ok, it was I who got the vaccination 50 years ago... don't forget that I was premature) You would be batting 0 for 2.
Not only is smallpox still around, but our friendly neighborhood scientists have experimented with the damned virus for so long, it's possible that if there is an outbreak, the world might have to deal with a super-virus. Oh, joy. Richard Preston goes into fairly graphic detail when he writes about pox, what it does and how it does what it does.
Wait, there's more. The author veers from variola (our pox's true name) after the anthrax attacks in 2001. He revisits the anthrax laced letters that were mailed to two senators and several news agencies. He reminds us about the postal workers who died from anthrax, the elderly woman who died from anthrax because she inhaled a few spores that were clinging to a letter that was processed in the same facility as the anthrax letters. He reminds us that five people altogether died from that attack. He also reminds us that no one was ever caught... and that it would be very easy for another attack to be launched.
Scary and scarier.
So. The book is fairly disjointed. It starts out as a warning about smallpox and then suddenly takes off in the direction of anthrax. It jumps around fairly frequently. However, I found the whole thing fascinating. Preston uses a casual narrative style, which makes the book easy to read and easy to understand. I won't say that I enjoyed it, but I felt the same way about The Hot Zone. Fascinating and unsettling. Did you know that there is a pox for just about every living creature? Me either. But there is. And you'll hear about them all in this book.
One word of warning... I tried taking the book with me to a restaurant. Bad move. Weeping pustules and pasta primavera do not mix. Srsly. Eww.
April 25, 2012
Non-Fiction. If you're looking to become bugfuck paranoid about smallpox, then this is the book for you. Act now and you'll receive a heightened awareness of anthrax at no additional cost!
An in-depth look at the history of smallpox, the enormous international effort undertaken to eradicate the virus, and just how vulnerable we are to it now. Also the many ways Russia, North Korea, and Iraq are probably going to kill us with genetically engineered bioweapons.
Basically after reading this you're never going to want to leave the house again, or let anyone else into it. Because who knows where they've been.
This takes place over decades, which makes it a little hard to keep track of all the players. Plus at no time does Preston explain why this book starts out with the 2001 anthrax attacks, then moves on to smallpox. There was supposedly some (unfounded) fear that the anthrax was laced with smallpox, but that never went anywhere, so it's a weak connection to build an entire book around. Some of the same agencies and people were involved in both matters, but the two threads weren't tied together as well as I would have liked.
Four stars. It's like true crime, but with viruses. Don't read it if you're sensitive to blood, descriptions of the complete failure of the human body, or animal testing.
eBook: No cover, and it has some formatting errors: hyphens where there shouldn't be hyphens, spaces where there aren't spaces, etc.
An in-depth look at the history of smallpox, the enormous international effort undertaken to eradicate the virus, and just how vulnerable we are to it now. Also the many ways Russia, North Korea, and Iraq are probably going to kill us with genetically engineered bioweapons.
Basically after reading this you're never going to want to leave the house again, or let anyone else into it. Because who knows where they've been.
This takes place over decades, which makes it a little hard to keep track of all the players. Plus at no time does Preston explain why this book starts out with the 2001 anthrax attacks, then moves on to smallpox. There was supposedly some (unfounded) fear that the anthrax was laced with smallpox, but that never went anywhere, so it's a weak connection to build an entire book around. Some of the same agencies and people were involved in both matters, but the two threads weren't tied together as well as I would have liked.
Four stars. It's like true crime, but with viruses. Don't read it if you're sensitive to blood, descriptions of the complete failure of the human body, or animal testing.
eBook: No cover, and it has some formatting errors: hyphens where there shouldn't be hyphens, spaces where there aren't spaces, etc.
November 25, 2018
Not quite as heart-pounding as Preston's The Hot Zonewhich had me seeing the world differently for a few weeks, but not a bad book at all.
For fans of The Hot Zone, we get to revisit some of our familiar characters and settings. Notably USAMRIID, the government virus research facility, and the scientists Peter Jahrling and Nancy Jaax, both stationed there.
The book seems like it's going to be about anthrax, based on the opening chapter, but in fact anthrax is but a tiny part of this book, which is primarily devoted to smallpox (which seems irrelevant post-Eradication, but isn't). The meat of the book (smallpox) is bookended at the beginning and ending with anthrax.
The book is memorable for the quote "This was not your mother's anthrax.
For fans of The Hot Zone, we get to revisit some of our familiar characters and settings. Notably USAMRIID, the government virus research facility, and the scientists Peter Jahrling and Nancy Jaax, both stationed there.
The book seems like it's going to be about anthrax, based on the opening chapter, but in fact anthrax is but a tiny part of this book, which is primarily devoted to smallpox (which seems irrelevant post-Eradication, but isn't). The meat of the book (smallpox) is bookended at the beginning and ending with anthrax.
The book is memorable for the quote "This was not your mother's anthrax.
March 23, 2023
This is singlehandedly the most terrifying book I’ve ever read, and LITERALLY kept me up all night. To think this was published in the early 2000’s is even more terrifying — I’m not sure I want a modern update.
Although I love and am fascinated by epidemiology (thus I read many books on the topic), I am a notorious fainter and this particular book made me queasy on multiple occasions. Usually if I reach the point where something is so gross that I feel an episode coming on, I stop immediately, but in this instance the audiobook was so compelling that I briefly paused to catch my bearings, then continued listening… but physically cringing and on the quietest possible volume. It was like I was watching a train wreck through my fingers. I couldn’t look away.
Although I love and am fascinated by epidemiology (thus I read many books on the topic), I am a notorious fainter and this particular book made me queasy on multiple occasions. Usually if I reach the point where something is so gross that I feel an episode coming on, I stop immediately, but in this instance the audiobook was so compelling that I briefly paused to catch my bearings, then continued listening… but physically cringing and on the quietest possible volume. It was like I was watching a train wreck through my fingers. I couldn’t look away.
December 15, 2020
By Richard Preston (the author of The Hot Zone), this book provides a behind-the-scenes look at some true horrors: biological weapons. This non-fiction book discusses historical outbreaks, the public health responses that followed, discoveries that have been made, and plans for potential future attacks. There are suspenseful stories where people missed the beginnings of an epidemic, tales of the fight against smallpox, and a day-by-day account of the anthrax letter attacks in 2001, among many more.
This book reads very much like a scientific thriller, and it is startling to remember that everything is a true story. I found this read to be informative, interesting, and full of rich material. Unfortunately, the author took the liberty of jumping around between diseases and timelines, which results in a disjointed read that is sometimes difficult to follow. Overall, this book is a reminder that knowledge is power, and that knowing our past can help us prepare for the future. In the setting of a current pandemic, I feel that these reads are so important. I recommend this book for anyone looking to better understand the history of smallpox eradication and the development of defenses against bioterrorism told in story format.
This book reads very much like a scientific thriller, and it is startling to remember that everything is a true story. I found this read to be informative, interesting, and full of rich material. Unfortunately, the author took the liberty of jumping around between diseases and timelines, which results in a disjointed read that is sometimes difficult to follow. Overall, this book is a reminder that knowledge is power, and that knowing our past can help us prepare for the future. In the setting of a current pandemic, I feel that these reads are so important. I recommend this book for anyone looking to better understand the history of smallpox eradication and the development of defenses against bioterrorism told in story format.
May 2, 2020
I didn't like this one at all...
This is my second (and likely last) from author Richard Preston.
I was interested to hear a more in-depth take on the Anthrax attacks of 2001. The book's narrative jumps around quite a lot; talking about Ebola, AIDS, Smallpox, vaccinations, and other assorted topics. It only spends a fraction of its pages on the 2001 attacks, and even less on the anthrax bacillus...
I think his writing style is what grates on me the most; there's just something I find seriously lacking in his pages.
Anyhow, I would not recommend this book to others.
2.5 stars.
This is my second (and likely last) from author Richard Preston.
I was interested to hear a more in-depth take on the Anthrax attacks of 2001. The book's narrative jumps around quite a lot; talking about Ebola, AIDS, Smallpox, vaccinations, and other assorted topics. It only spends a fraction of its pages on the 2001 attacks, and even less on the anthrax bacillus...
I think his writing style is what grates on me the most; there's just something I find seriously lacking in his pages.
Anyhow, I would not recommend this book to others.
2.5 stars.
July 5, 2022
Very nearly a five star book from 2002. The writing was 5 stars and dramatic. The only complaint that I have is that the full mystery of the Anthrax scare of 2001 was not resolved by the time this book was published and neither was the smallpox scare in Germany in 2001 resolved. Both of these outbreaks figure prominently in the book.
4.5 stars. Preston is an amazing science writer.
4.5 stars. Preston is an amazing science writer.
August 31, 2021
My decision to read about biological warfare in the middle of an overrun pandemic, is questionable at best.
Read
February 10, 2024I’m definitely scared of smallpox
March 6, 2024
More terrifying and tense than the best horror novels. Uncomfortably vividly written when even the facts alone are scary enough. Very interesting stuff, and I love Preston's way with words. I want more.
March 22, 2023
Fascinating and scary. I’m such a sucker for good medical nonfiction.
January 11, 2023
How will the world end? Nuclear war? (thanks Putin) Alien invasion? (Fermi paradox until it’s not) or…. smallpox outbreak from a bioweapons experiment gone wrong?
Smallpox: if you are like me, you probably don't give much thought to it. The association in my mind is purely to the pages of dusty history books and that documentary my history teacher made us do a packet about ("Guns, Germs & Steel") in middle school.
I knew that smallpox was a disease that was pretty bad, and I also knew it was one of the causes of the collapse of the civilizations in South and Central America after the arrival of European conquistadors who brought the pathogen with them. I also knew that smallpox was not something to worry about anymore, thanks to the miracles of modern science.
Well, scratch that last part. Thanks to the miracles of modern science, it looks like we actually DO have to worry about smallpox again...
This book goes over several disparate topics:
- the history of smallpox
- the biology of smallpox
- the eradication of smallpox
- the bio-engineering of smallpox in the lab (apparently it's really easy to do! sleep well tonight)
- anthrax
- the 2001 anthrax attacks
I'd say the main problem with the book is the way that it jumps around between different topics sporadically, and at the beginning, the link it makes between anthrax and smallpox is not clear.
Some takeaways:
- will biological warfare become-- as Preston suggests in his conclusion paragraph-- the new atomic bomb? i.e., is this the new threat of human self-annihilation?
- interesting that there was such a heated debate over whether or not to preserve smallpox in the lab vs. eliminate it as a species. Leading scientists and public health officials were conflicted because on one hand, they wanted to be rid of every particle of smallpox in the world so that it could be erased for good. However, they also didn't know whether hostile countries might have their own clandestine stashes, or even some bio-engineered smallpox somewhere, so to get rid of our smallpox might leave us at a disadvantage.
- the animal experimentation parts. In reading past books by Richard Preston, he usually glosses over the animal cruelty that is committed during the development of treatments for horrible human diseases. In this book, he spends more time talking about the emotional implications of murdering monkeys to learn things about smallpox.
As a vegan who is also interested in medical research, the moral quandary of animal testing has tormented me for a long time. On one hand it is so barbaric to infect innocent animals with awful diseases in order to test their effects and disturbing that humans see other primates as expendable but to do the same to members of our own species would be a reprehensible moral crime. However I also know that sometimes to make sure a medicine is safe they have to test it on animals first. I'm not up to date on the current alternative methods. But I really hope I don't ever have to be involved in animal testing
Smallpox: if you are like me, you probably don't give much thought to it. The association in my mind is purely to the pages of dusty history books and that documentary my history teacher made us do a packet about ("Guns, Germs & Steel") in middle school.
I knew that smallpox was a disease that was pretty bad, and I also knew it was one of the causes of the collapse of the civilizations in South and Central America after the arrival of European conquistadors who brought the pathogen with them. I also knew that smallpox was not something to worry about anymore, thanks to the miracles of modern science.
Well, scratch that last part. Thanks to the miracles of modern science, it looks like we actually DO have to worry about smallpox again...
This book goes over several disparate topics:
- the history of smallpox
- the biology of smallpox
- the eradication of smallpox
- the bio-engineering of smallpox in the lab (apparently it's really easy to do! sleep well tonight)
- anthrax
- the 2001 anthrax attacks
I'd say the main problem with the book is the way that it jumps around between different topics sporadically, and at the beginning, the link it makes between anthrax and smallpox is not clear.
Some takeaways:
- will biological warfare become-- as Preston suggests in his conclusion paragraph-- the new atomic bomb? i.e., is this the new threat of human self-annihilation?
- interesting that there was such a heated debate over whether or not to preserve smallpox in the lab vs. eliminate it as a species. Leading scientists and public health officials were conflicted because on one hand, they wanted to be rid of every particle of smallpox in the world so that it could be erased for good. However, they also didn't know whether hostile countries might have their own clandestine stashes, or even some bio-engineered smallpox somewhere, so to get rid of our smallpox might leave us at a disadvantage.
- the animal experimentation parts. In reading past books by Richard Preston, he usually glosses over the animal cruelty that is committed during the development of treatments for horrible human diseases. In this book, he spends more time talking about the emotional implications of murdering monkeys to learn things about smallpox.
As a vegan who is also interested in medical research, the moral quandary of animal testing has tormented me for a long time. On one hand it is so barbaric to infect innocent animals with awful diseases in order to test their effects and disturbing that humans see other primates as expendable but to do the same to members of our own species would be a reprehensible moral crime. However I also know that sometimes to make sure a medicine is safe they have to test it on animals first. I'm not up to date on the current alternative methods. But I really hope I don't ever have to be involved in animal testing
June 17, 2019
Perhaps not the greatest book for the almost completely trained epidemiologist and maybe not for the general public too.
The epidemiologist will likely be bored, unless they've been buried in cancer epi classes or something and miss their ID lectures. If you're looking to read everything ever written on smallpox you might as well skim this, but there's nothing new or earth-shattering here.
For the general public looking to bone up on ways you can die while drowning in your own blood, I ask you to take a quick glance at the publication date. 2002. A year after 9/11 and the anthrax mailings, a year before we rolled into Iraq, something like half my lifetime ago. Go find something written this decade. Preston's writing about how Russia, Iraq, and North Korea are all out to kill us sounds believable and scary, until you remember that we were told that we invaded Iraq partially because we thought they had WMDs (including biowarfare capabilities or hopes), but turned up jack shit. Want to be scared about something? Pandemic flu is coming for you and it isn't going to need terrorists to help it along. Look up dual use research of concern - the fact that we're getting ever closer to just being able to make smallpox whole cloth in a lab, forget stockpiles in Siberia.
There are other annoyances - Preston makes out like the CDC was wasting thousands of dollars every year storing smallpox vaccine, then destroyed most of the stockpile "just to save a few thousand dollars a year". Then in the next section, it's revealed that the smallpox vaccine is kind of shitty and while having enough on hand to vaccinate the civilian population sounds like a great idea, a decision to vaccinate would be a decision to let a lot of people die from vaccine-related complications. Dude, make up your mind.
Then there's the fact that the book opens with the 2001 anthrax mailings and then quickly segues into smallpox with no explanation. I thought we'd eventually move back to anthrax (which did eventually happen) or onto other biowarfare possibilities, but I guess when Preston called the book "The Demon in the Freezer" he only had one demon on his mind.
The epidemiologist will likely be bored, unless they've been buried in cancer epi classes or something and miss their ID lectures. If you're looking to read everything ever written on smallpox you might as well skim this, but there's nothing new or earth-shattering here.
For the general public looking to bone up on ways you can die while drowning in your own blood, I ask you to take a quick glance at the publication date. 2002. A year after 9/11 and the anthrax mailings, a year before we rolled into Iraq, something like half my lifetime ago. Go find something written this decade. Preston's writing about how Russia, Iraq, and North Korea are all out to kill us sounds believable and scary, until you remember that we were told that we invaded Iraq partially because we thought they had WMDs (including biowarfare capabilities or hopes), but turned up jack shit. Want to be scared about something? Pandemic flu is coming for you and it isn't going to need terrorists to help it along. Look up dual use research of concern - the fact that we're getting ever closer to just being able to make smallpox whole cloth in a lab, forget stockpiles in Siberia.
There are other annoyances - Preston makes out like the CDC was wasting thousands of dollars every year storing smallpox vaccine, then destroyed most of the stockpile "just to save a few thousand dollars a year". Then in the next section, it's revealed that the smallpox vaccine is kind of shitty and while having enough on hand to vaccinate the civilian population sounds like a great idea, a decision to vaccinate would be a decision to let a lot of people die from vaccine-related complications. Dude, make up your mind.
Then there's the fact that the book opens with the 2001 anthrax mailings and then quickly segues into smallpox with no explanation. I thought we'd eventually move back to anthrax (which did eventually happen) or onto other biowarfare possibilities, but I guess when Preston called the book "The Demon in the Freezer" he only had one demon on his mind.
March 27, 2017
As much as I loved/was terrified of The Hot Zone, I did not feel the same about this book. The book jumps around quite a bit and is a little hard to follow along, so I kept waiting to see how the author would connect all the dots, and was left a little disappointed in the story-telling overall.
It starts out discussing smallpox and its supposed eradication in the 70s. Then it switches to the various poxes that exist (seriously, there's one for practically every creature roaming the planet), and about trans-species jumps some poxes take that can be a threat to humans, if not now, then possibly some point in the future. Then it goes back to the smallpox eradication, and explains how some variations were kept, only later to be considered a threat and questions of destroying all stockpiles were then raised, except by then, it was too late, because it was feared that some may already be in the wrong hands, being engineered as a weapon (and just fyi, that vaccine you may have gotten as a child was only protective for about 4-5 years after you got it).
Then the author steers the storyline into the anthrax-in-the-mail attacks following 9/11, which I thought was the first indication we had that viruses could be used as a weapon, but I was wrong. The author establishes it pretty well that for years prior to this event, scientists and the government have long been concerned about that possibility, but I was left overwhelmed and not entirely sure how all this information fit together, and he never quite spelled it out for me.
So I guess this is a story about how no one was caught in the anthrax attacks, so it serves as a reminder to us all about how easy it would be for a bioterrorist attack to occur again. Except next time, it might not be anthrax (which isn't contagious), it might be smallpox (which is highly contagious). Any country could have it this point, it's the most deadly virus known to us, and the global effects of an engineered (or even accidental) release would be catastrophic. It's fascinating and scary-as-hell subject matter, but the story here could have been told better.
It starts out discussing smallpox and its supposed eradication in the 70s. Then it switches to the various poxes that exist (seriously, there's one for practically every creature roaming the planet), and about trans-species jumps some poxes take that can be a threat to humans, if not now, then possibly some point in the future. Then it goes back to the smallpox eradication, and explains how some variations were kept, only later to be considered a threat and questions of destroying all stockpiles were then raised, except by then, it was too late, because it was feared that some may already be in the wrong hands, being engineered as a weapon (and just fyi, that vaccine you may have gotten as a child was only protective for about 4-5 years after you got it).
Then the author steers the storyline into the anthrax-in-the-mail attacks following 9/11, which I thought was the first indication we had that viruses could be used as a weapon, but I was wrong. The author establishes it pretty well that for years prior to this event, scientists and the government have long been concerned about that possibility, but I was left overwhelmed and not entirely sure how all this information fit together, and he never quite spelled it out for me.
So I guess this is a story about how no one was caught in the anthrax attacks, so it serves as a reminder to us all about how easy it would be for a bioterrorist attack to occur again. Except next time, it might not be anthrax (which isn't contagious), it might be smallpox (which is highly contagious). Any country could have it this point, it's the most deadly virus known to us, and the global effects of an engineered (or even accidental) release would be catastrophic. It's fascinating and scary-as-hell subject matter, but the story here could have been told better.
January 23, 2018
This is a chilling account of the eradication of smallpox in the 1970s, the Anthrax mailings in 2001, and the possibility of future bioterrorism using genetically-modified strains of smallpox designed to infect even those vaccinated against the disease.
Officially variola majora (smallpox) only exists in freezers in the Centers for Disease Control and in the Russian Vector lab. Through interviews with those involved with the eradication and working to prevent bioterrorism a strong case is made for the Soviet government creating genetically-modified smallpox by the ton into the 1990s and how these virii might currently be in the possession of rogue nations.
You'll also learn why smallpox is most-likely the worst virus ever inflicted upon humankind and is much more dangerous than Ebola, Avian Flu, or AIDS. From 1850-1970 is is estimated that smallpox is responsible for the death of over one billion humans worldwide.
Officially variola majora (smallpox) only exists in freezers in the Centers for Disease Control and in the Russian Vector lab. Through interviews with those involved with the eradication and working to prevent bioterrorism a strong case is made for the Soviet government creating genetically-modified smallpox by the ton into the 1990s and how these virii might currently be in the possession of rogue nations.
You'll also learn why smallpox is most-likely the worst virus ever inflicted upon humankind and is much more dangerous than Ebola, Avian Flu, or AIDS. From 1850-1970 is is estimated that smallpox is responsible for the death of over one billion humans worldwide.
December 4, 2012
Had Preston focused solely on smallpox, this story could have been on the level with HOT ZONE. By trying to weave the anthrax attacks of 2001, Preston fractured the narrative and lost momentum with the larger story (the history, eradication, and bio-warfare threat of a resurrected smallpox virus). I felt he tried to connect the two to the detriment of the story. Bummed to say the least. THE DEMON IN THE FREEZER had real potential. It just wasn't met. With that said, I am looking forward to reading Preston's other works like THE COBRA EVENT and PANIC IN LEVEL 4.
May 6, 2021
really showing its 2002-ness by being "whoa did u guys know we can put genes from one organism in another?????" I was surprised to find out during the collapse of the soviet union they lost 20 TONS of smallpox they had been secretly manufacturing but it hasn't shown up since so I guess that's ok. less surprising is biologists working for the us army made a lot of vaccine resistant smallpox and then cdc epidemiologists found out and were like WHAT THE FUCK u can't do that it's SO dangerous. really great country we live in
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