c601591 at mizzou1.missouri.edu (Don Haut) wrote:
> You have come across one of the shortcomings of both The Hot Zone and
> The Coming Plague, they are not scientific text and should not be taken as
> such. If you VERY GOOD information about viruses, you should go to a
> library and check out Fundamental Virology by Feilds. This is an excelent
> text. There may be some things in that book which you will have trouble
> with (probably not) but it will give you a much better understanding of
> virology. You will then have the answer to your questions and you might
> become interested enough in virology to take a class or even change your
> carreer! If you wish to know about the family Filoviridae (Ebola and
> Marburg), you should read The Molecular Biology and Evolution of
> Filoviruses (H. Feldman, et.al.)Arch. Virol (1993) [Suppl] 7:101-109.
>> I'll let you read for the answer to your questions, I think you would
> get a lot more out of a few weeks with a real virology text than a few
> moments on the net.
I too am mystified by the concept of predatory viruses suggested in the
Hot Zone. This kind of sensationalized "information" tends to lead to
panic and uninformed political decisions.
