by Dr. Peter McCullough, America Outloud:

The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story is a best-selling 1994 nonfiction thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly ebolaviruses and Marburg viruses. Preston’s 1992 New Yorker article “Crisis in the Hot Zone” was the basis of the book.

Filoviruses — including the Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Marburg virus, and Ravn virus — are Biosafety Level 4 agents. They are extremely dangerous to humans because they are very infectious, have a high fatality rate, and most have no known prophylactic measures, treatments, or cures. Along with describing the history of the devastation caused by two of these Central African diseases, Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease, Preston described a 1989 incident in which a relative of the Ebola virus, Reston virus, was discovered at a primate quarantine facility in Reston, Virginia, less than 15 miles (24 km) away from Washington, D.C.