Ebola goes pop: the filovirus from literature into film.

In 1976, an outbreak of viral hemorrhagic fever occurred in the Yambuku region of Zaire near the Ebola River. Taking its name from the river, the virus that caused the outbreak is one of the filoviruses, so called because under the microscope they look like threads or filaments. In the years following the outbreak, the U.S. public has become increasingly fascinated with the Ebola virus, as shown by a variety of books and films that treat the topic. Robin Cook's novel Outbreak (1987) is an early example. Although the novelist was praised by Donovan Fitzpatrick as "nimble at stitching together the ingredients of terror, suspense, intrigue and medical expertise," perhaps the reason the novel failed fully to turn his readers' imagination on to Ebola is that, as this reviewer notes, Cook "is less adroit as a stylist." 1 Or, more likely, it is because he devotes more attention to his human characters and plot than he does to characterizing the virus.