Throughout The Hot Zone, Preston demonstrates the vulnerability of humans in the face of viruses at an individual, societal, and even species-wide level. The very things that connect us and make us human—our complex social lives, our desire to care for one another, our densely populated and globally interconnected cities—create the conditions that allow viruses to spread. Once inside our bodies, they convert our cells into incubators for more viral particles without any concern for, or even awareness of, the human lives they destroy in the process.

Graphic descriptions of the horrible impact of Ebola on human victims, paired with the humbling assertion, “humans are meat” (132), demonstrate that human relationships and personalities are irrelevant to the virus. By asserting that “humans are meat,” Preston denies any exceptionalism to humans, lumping us in with other animal hosts. Repeatedly, he claims that the viruses “liquefy” their victims and their organs (39, 106, 107 108, 112, 217), “dissolve” them (108), or turn them “into soup” (217, 319). In light of the science of Ebola, these claims are somewhat hyperbolic. However, by juxtaposing this harsh reality with deeply sympathetic human stories, Preston emphasizes the radical threat viruses pose not only to human lives, but to humanity’s collective sense of identity.