Main description:

Inside the Hot Zone is an insider's account of one of the most dangerous workplaces on earth: the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Retired U.S. Army Col. Mark G. Kortepeter, a leading biodefense expert, recounts his journey from the lecture hall to the role of department chief, to the battlefield, to the Biosafety Level-4 maximum containment lab, and finally, to the corner office.

During Kortepeter's seven and a half years in leadership at USAMRIID, the United States experienced some of the most serious threats in modern germ warfare, including the specter of biological weapons during the Iraq War, the anthrax letters sent after 9/11, and a little-known crisis involving a presumed botulism attack on the president of the United States. Inside the Hot Zone is a shocking, frightening eye-opener as Kortepeter describes in gripping detail how he and his USAMRIID colleagues navigated threats related to anthrax, botulism, smallpox, Lassa, and Ebola.

Kortepeter crafts a rich and riveting narrative as he wrestles with life-and-death decisions managing biological weapon exposures. The stories are real, but they could just as easily serve as plotlines in popular fiction or Hollywood thrillers. He gives the reader a seat at the table as each crisis unfolds, with an unvarnished and personal perspective on the dangers, the drama, the fear, the frustrations, the irony, and the uncertainty he encountered as a physician in the role of ""Biodefender.

Contents:

List of Illustrations
Foreword
Prologue: Exposure
Chapter 1: Beginnings
Chapter 2: Germs as Weapons
Chapter 3: The Six ""Chessmen"" of Doom
Chapter 4: Hoofbeats
Chapter 5: The Queen Strikes
Chapter 6: The Nation's Bio-Emergency Hotline
Chapter 7: The Pawn Comes Calling
Chapter 8: Bioweapons 101
Chapter 9: Preparing for Biological Warfare
Chapter 10: Disaster from Within
Chapter 11: Bow to King Smallpox
Chapter 12: On the Front Lines
Chapter 13: Desert Pneumonia
Chapter 14: The 4M Disaster
Chapter 15: Countermeasures
Chapter 16: The Slammer
Chapter 17: On the Hot Side
Chapter 18: Descent into Hell
Chapter 19: Suspicion
Chapter 20: The Aftermath
Chapter 21: Down for the Count
Chapter 22: Behind the Scenes of Pandemic Response
Chapter 23: Looking Forward - The Challenges Continue
Afterword
Endnotes
Glossary of Terms and Acronyms
Acknowledgements
Index