Pathologists don't do that—virologists do." "The whole sequence of events where she is trying to culture the virus is a joke. Monkeys aim for the face and if Ebola-infected spit gets into the eye or mouth the consequences could be fatal.When they went into the lab to euthanise all 500 monkeys the team of army personnel had to wear full hazmat "space suits" and carry breathing equipment. Did you know that the Ebola virus—the terrifying, infectious, and frequently fatal disease marked by severe bleeding—actually made its way onto U.S. soil in 1989?The show definitely keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, but the true story behind the show—especially that of Dr. Jaax herself—might be even more dramatic than the show. Dr. Nancy Jaax never really imagined her life’s work would be the basis of a Hollywood screenplay. Here's everything you need to know about the Reston, Virginia Ebola scare, and the real-life story of Dr. Jaax. "We actually diagnosed the first “She was the only woman in her field,” Margulies told "It was the truth [that I working in a male dominated field], but it was never really an issue for me. Despite numerous inquiries and investigations experts are still not sure of the exact origins of the outbreak.“The animals in Reston came from the Philippines and one of the reasons we didn’t think it could be Ebola was because the disease had never been found there. Two K-State veterinarians and leaders, Nancy and Jerry Jaax, and their response to an Ebola-related outbreak have inspired the upcoming National Geographic limited series, “The Hot Zone.” “The overriding emotion when you're doing these procedures is caution – you gain a lot of respect for the virus,” says Nancy. ""The heat was a real issue with the PPE. During her first visit to the lab at Reston to scope out the situation Nancy was wearing minimal protective equipment – just rubber gloves and a surgical mask – and she was terrified that an infected monkey might spit at her. https://www.vet.k-state.edu/alumni/awards/recognition/njaax.html While the portrayal of Lt Col Jaax as the lone crusader leading the fight against the disease may be stretching the truth a little, the fear of an Ebola epidemic spreading across the country was very real at the time. The two put on boots and enter the monkey room, which includes both infected and healthy specimens. In order to prevent people from getting sick, since Ebola was then primarily known for passing from human-to-human contact, 450 lab monkeys were euthanized as a precaution. Life and death? To make matters worse four workers at the lab tested positive for the virus, sparking fears that the disease could take hold in the human population.This was a terrifying prospect at a time when the strain had a fatality rate as high as 90 per cent and, unlike today, there was no In the first episode of the series the fictional Nancy cuts her hand while working in the lab – an event inspired by real life but it did not happen not during the Reston outbreak, says Nancy. 15 Jun … Jaax] said, ‘Normally I would think about what I needed to buy in the grocery store. It was not lethal in humans and none of the workers who tested positive went on to develop the disease.Michael Smit, a paediatric infectious diseases consultant at Los Angeles Children's Hospital, was technical adviser on the TV series. "I had worked a lot with [Ebola], and at the same time that these monkeys had gotten sick, the people working with them thought it was simian hemorrhagic fever, and they shipped us samples," she said. Dr. Nancy Jaax investigates tissue from a dead monkey sent from a nearby lab and discovers that it could signify a horrific new disease. “From my point of view the best thing about the book, which appealed to a broad audience, was that we got hundreds of letters from kids, particularly girls, who said we started them towards a career in science,” she says. Nancy and Jerry Jaax, who were serving in the Army as veterinarians at the time, were thrust into the action as Nancy worked to learn about the … Dr. Nancy Jaax (Julianna Margulies) and Wade Carter (Liam Cunningham) prepare to enter the Reston Monkey Facility in “The Hot Zone.” (Amanda Matlovich/National Geographic) You could lose between five and 10 pounds within an hour just by sweating," he says. Lt Col Jaax was head of the pathology division at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases when she received samples from a private animal testing lab in Reston, Virginia, where a mysterious pathogen was striking down the monkeys held there.
Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Follow on LinkedIn Global Health Security latest. "I think that if I could do it all over again, there are certain sentences that I would tone down, particularly at the very beginning of the book with Charles Monet on the airplane, and I would be doing that just simply to make it more clinically accurate," he told The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus A year later, she joined the army as a veterinarian, and the couple traveled together, working with guard dogs in Seattle and later Germany.
I was very lucky to work for bosses who appreciated what I could do, and I was good at my job," Dr. Jaax told When Margulies met with Dr. Jaax to research her character, she asked the pathologist, "Were you thinking of your life? Women's Health may earn commission from the links on this page, but we only feature products we believe in. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io At least, this is the premise of a new television drama based on real-life events in the US in 1989 and a non-fiction book of the same name by Richard Preston. While her co-worker, Peter Jarhling, believes the tissue samples were simply contaminated and don’t warrant an extreme reaction, Nancy’s not so sure.
Julianna Margulies, left, stars in National Geographic’s “The Hot Zone,” about the outbreak of the Ebola virus. Nancy Jaax is now standing with Tony Johnson in the mazelike, oppressive hot zone, which is completely sealed from all contact with outside air.