The Demon in the Freezer is a 2002
nonfiction book on the
biological weapon agents
smallpox and
anthrax and how the American government develops defensive measures against them. It was written by journalist
Richard Preston, also author of the best-selling book The Hot Zone (1994), about
ebolavirus outbreaks in Africa and
Reston, Virginia and the U.S. government's response to them.
The book is primarily an account of the
Smallpox Eradication Program (1967–1980), the ongoing belief of the U.S. government that smallpox is still a potential
bioterrorism agent, and the controversy over whether or not the remaining samples of
smallpox virus in
Atlanta and
Moscow (the "demon" in the freezer) should be finally destroyed. However, the writer was overtaken by events—the
9/11 attacks and the
anthrax letter incidents (called "Amerithrax"), both in 2001—and so much of the book interweaves the anthrax investigation with the smallpox material in a manner some critics have said is "awkward"[1] and somewhat "disjointed".[2][3]
Section 2, "The Dreaming Demon", looks back to an outbreak of smallpox at
St Walburga Hospital in
Meschede, Germany. The successful efforts organized by local public health authorities and the
WHO—including a textbook example of
ring vaccination containment—are described.
Section 3, "To Bhola Island", describes the varieties and evolution of
poxviruses and the history of smallpox in particular. The story of the SEP (Smallpox Eradication Program, referred to throughout as "the Eradication"), led by
DA Henderson and others is recounted. The more personal story of physician,
counterculture figure, and future
virtual community pioneer
Lawrence Brilliant is told as his Indian guru,
Neem Karoli Baba, exhorts him in 1970 to join the SEP and "go eradicate smallpox". (Brilliant ended up fighting the outbreak at the
Tatanagar Railway Station in
Bihar.) Finally, the
Maximum Containment Facility (MCF) of the CDC in Atlanta is described.
Section 4, "The Other Side of the Moon", begins with an account of the 1989 defection to the United Kingdom of
Vladimir Pasechnik, the first
Sovietbioweaponeer to flee to the West. Pasechnik described
Biopreparat, the Soviet biological weapons program, to
MI6, including their
genetically modified, antibiotic resistant plague and their smallpox program at the site known as
Vector. The fact that the Russians had
ICBMs armed with both
plague and
smallpox is revealed. Various biological weapon facilities in Russia and
Iraq are described. Finally, the history and work of the
Ad Hoc Committee on Orthopox Infections is related. This group of the WHO has been hotly debated since 1980 over the fate of the remaining samples of smallpox in the last two official repositories. DA Henderson has been in favor of destruction, while US Army scientist
Peter Jahrling has been against it on the basis that further research is needed since smallpox almost certainly exists (he believes) outside of the repositories.
Section 5, "A Woman with a Peaceful Life", tells the story of USAMRIID microbiologist and epidemiologist Dr.
Lisa E. Hensley, who was originally recruited to do Ebola work. A January 2000 accident in the AA4 "Hot Suite" that Hensley experienced, along with the protocols that followed it, is described. The efforts of USAMRIID scientists to get approval to do smallpox research on animals is described including the FDA's "
animal efficacy rule" and the WHO General Assembly's provisional permission to do research for three years (1999–2002). A "Monkey Cabinet" is designed at USAMRIID and CDC for use in the possible investigation of the question of whether animals can be infected with smallpox. The development of a lethal, genetically engineered
mousepox virus (the
Jackson-Ramshaw virus) and its implications for bioterrorism are described. Finally, the "awakening" of the smallpox at the CDC's MCF West in 2001 by US Army investigators to induce smallpox disease in monkeys for the first time is dramatically recounted.
Section 6, "The Demon's Eyes", continues the story of the induction of smallpox disease in monkeys at the CDC in 2001. It was determined that the
Harper strain of smallpox kills monkeys slowly while the
India strain kills them quickly. This was the first time that smallpox had ever been shown capable of infecting non-humans. Of eight monkeys infected, seven died—six of hemorrhagic smallpox and one of the classic pustular type. There follows a discussion of the need and justification for animal-use smallpox experiments. The emergency evacuation of the Army workers in the MCF West on 9/11 is described.
Section 7, "The Anthrax Skulls", relates the atmosphere at the
Department of Health and Human Services and their actions at the time of the 9/11 attacks. The story of the Amerithrax investigations is picked up again in day-by-day detail for the period 16 to 25 October 2001. The response by the FBI, HHS,
DOJ,
CIA and the
White House are detailed. Actions at USAMRIID and
USAMRMC are also described. (USAMRIID became the FBI's reference lab for forensic evidence related to the bioterror incident.) The events leading to Dr.
Steven Hatfill becoming a DOJ "person of interest" are related. Finally, the indignation of
Alfred Sommer, dean of the
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, at the news of the Army animal smallpox experiments is described as well as a reiteration of DA Henderson's opposition to the same.
Section 8, "Superpox", begins with a description of an attempt at replication of the Jackson-Ramshaw virus at a lab at the
Saint Louis University School of Medicine by Mark Buller working for USAMRIID. The potential for a similarly engineered "super-smallpox" virus for use by a terrorist is examined. The procedure for the
transfection of an
interleukin-4 gene into a mousepox virus is described. Finally, an unusual artifact—the preserved arm of a three- or four-year-old child with classic smallpox lesions, discovered in 1999 and now housed at USAMRIID—is described. This leads the author to muse that "the dream of the total eradication had failed", because although we could eradicate smallpox from nature, "we could not uproot the virus from the human heart".
References
^"Scary stuff, but here's where 'Demon' gets klutzy. Boxed in by the competition—which has already covered a lot of this ground—Preston is forced into massive temporal jumps. After the anthrax attacks on Sen. Tom Daschle's office in October 2001, he flashes back to a 1970s smallpox outbreak in Germany. Then to the prehistoric origins of the virus. Then back to the 1970s, with an engaging retelling of the smallpox eradication campaign, one of the greatest feats in the history of public health. Then it's off to an examination of the Soviet bio-weapons program in 1989." Fierman, Daniel,
"Review: Gripping book about smallpox". Entertainment Weekly. October 7, 2002.
^According to the book's author, there was a mistaken assumption in some reviews regarding why 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax events were in a book primarily devoted to smallpox. The author's website explains it: (see
About Richard Preston a few paragraphs before the end of this long, but enlightening, webpage)
^"At its worst, the book sometimes feels disjointed, as if Preston is trying to weave several excellent but separate short stories into the whole cloth of a novel." Walter, Chip,
"The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston", Review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sunday, November 24, 2002.
The Demon in the Freezer is a 2002
nonfiction book on the
biological weapon agents
smallpox and
anthrax and how the American government develops defensive measures against them. It was written by journalist
Richard Preston, also author of the best-selling book The Hot Zone (1994), about
ebolavirus outbreaks in Africa and
Reston, Virginia and the U.S. government's response to them.
The book is primarily an account of the
Smallpox Eradication Program (1967–1980), the ongoing belief of the U.S. government that smallpox is still a potential
bioterrorism agent, and the controversy over whether or not the remaining samples of
smallpox virus in
Atlanta and
Moscow (the "demon" in the freezer) should be finally destroyed. However, the writer was overtaken by events—the
9/11 attacks and the
anthrax letter incidents (called "Amerithrax"), both in 2001—and so much of the book interweaves the anthrax investigation with the smallpox material in a manner some critics have said is "awkward"[1] and somewhat "disjointed".[2][3]
Section 2, "The Dreaming Demon", looks back to an outbreak of smallpox at
St Walburga Hospital in
Meschede, Germany. The successful efforts organized by local public health authorities and the
WHO—including a textbook example of
ring vaccination containment—are described.
Section 3, "To Bhola Island", describes the varieties and evolution of
poxviruses and the history of smallpox in particular. The story of the SEP (Smallpox Eradication Program, referred to throughout as "the Eradication"), led by
DA Henderson and others is recounted. The more personal story of physician,
counterculture figure, and future
virtual community pioneer
Lawrence Brilliant is told as his Indian guru,
Neem Karoli Baba, exhorts him in 1970 to join the SEP and "go eradicate smallpox". (Brilliant ended up fighting the outbreak at the
Tatanagar Railway Station in
Bihar.) Finally, the
Maximum Containment Facility (MCF) of the CDC in Atlanta is described.
Section 4, "The Other Side of the Moon", begins with an account of the 1989 defection to the United Kingdom of
Vladimir Pasechnik, the first
Sovietbioweaponeer to flee to the West. Pasechnik described
Biopreparat, the Soviet biological weapons program, to
MI6, including their
genetically modified, antibiotic resistant plague and their smallpox program at the site known as
Vector. The fact that the Russians had
ICBMs armed with both
plague and
smallpox is revealed. Various biological weapon facilities in Russia and
Iraq are described. Finally, the history and work of the
Ad Hoc Committee on Orthopox Infections is related. This group of the WHO has been hotly debated since 1980 over the fate of the remaining samples of smallpox in the last two official repositories. DA Henderson has been in favor of destruction, while US Army scientist
Peter Jahrling has been against it on the basis that further research is needed since smallpox almost certainly exists (he believes) outside of the repositories.
Section 5, "A Woman with a Peaceful Life", tells the story of USAMRIID microbiologist and epidemiologist Dr.
Lisa E. Hensley, who was originally recruited to do Ebola work. A January 2000 accident in the AA4 "Hot Suite" that Hensley experienced, along with the protocols that followed it, is described. The efforts of USAMRIID scientists to get approval to do smallpox research on animals is described including the FDA's "
animal efficacy rule" and the WHO General Assembly's provisional permission to do research for three years (1999–2002). A "Monkey Cabinet" is designed at USAMRIID and CDC for use in the possible investigation of the question of whether animals can be infected with smallpox. The development of a lethal, genetically engineered
mousepox virus (the
Jackson-Ramshaw virus) and its implications for bioterrorism are described. Finally, the "awakening" of the smallpox at the CDC's MCF West in 2001 by US Army investigators to induce smallpox disease in monkeys for the first time is dramatically recounted.
Section 6, "The Demon's Eyes", continues the story of the induction of smallpox disease in monkeys at the CDC in 2001. It was determined that the
Harper strain of smallpox kills monkeys slowly while the
India strain kills them quickly. This was the first time that smallpox had ever been shown capable of infecting non-humans. Of eight monkeys infected, seven died—six of hemorrhagic smallpox and one of the classic pustular type. There follows a discussion of the need and justification for animal-use smallpox experiments. The emergency evacuation of the Army workers in the MCF West on 9/11 is described.
Section 7, "The Anthrax Skulls", relates the atmosphere at the
Department of Health and Human Services and their actions at the time of the 9/11 attacks. The story of the Amerithrax investigations is picked up again in day-by-day detail for the period 16 to 25 October 2001. The response by the FBI, HHS,
DOJ,
CIA and the
White House are detailed. Actions at USAMRIID and
USAMRMC are also described. (USAMRIID became the FBI's reference lab for forensic evidence related to the bioterror incident.) The events leading to Dr.
Steven Hatfill becoming a DOJ "person of interest" are related. Finally, the indignation of
Alfred Sommer, dean of the
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, at the news of the Army animal smallpox experiments is described as well as a reiteration of DA Henderson's opposition to the same.
Section 8, "Superpox", begins with a description of an attempt at replication of the Jackson-Ramshaw virus at a lab at the
Saint Louis University School of Medicine by Mark Buller working for USAMRIID. The potential for a similarly engineered "super-smallpox" virus for use by a terrorist is examined. The procedure for the
transfection of an
interleukin-4 gene into a mousepox virus is described. Finally, an unusual artifact—the preserved arm of a three- or four-year-old child with classic smallpox lesions, discovered in 1999 and now housed at USAMRIID—is described. This leads the author to muse that "the dream of the total eradication had failed", because although we could eradicate smallpox from nature, "we could not uproot the virus from the human heart".
References
^"Scary stuff, but here's where 'Demon' gets klutzy. Boxed in by the competition—which has already covered a lot of this ground—Preston is forced into massive temporal jumps. After the anthrax attacks on Sen. Tom Daschle's office in October 2001, he flashes back to a 1970s smallpox outbreak in Germany. Then to the prehistoric origins of the virus. Then back to the 1970s, with an engaging retelling of the smallpox eradication campaign, one of the greatest feats in the history of public health. Then it's off to an examination of the Soviet bio-weapons program in 1989." Fierman, Daniel,
"Review: Gripping book about smallpox". Entertainment Weekly. October 7, 2002.
^According to the book's author, there was a mistaken assumption in some reviews regarding why 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax events were in a book primarily devoted to smallpox. The author's website explains it: (see
About Richard Preston a few paragraphs before the end of this long, but enlightening, webpage)
^"At its worst, the book sometimes feels disjointed, as if Preston is trying to weave several excellent but separate short stories into the whole cloth of a novel." Walter, Chip,
"The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston", Review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sunday, November 24, 2002.