Hot Zone scientists to speak
October 9 in vet med series
By Jeffrey S. Douglas
Spectrum Volume 20 Issue 06 - October 2, 1997
Two U.S. Army veterinarians who played a critical role in containing the 1989 Reston, Virginia ebola-virus outbreak that could have pitched the nation into a public health emergency will speak at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine on Thursday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the College Center.
Colonels Nancy and Jerry Jaax will recount the emergency which was chronicled in Richard Preston's best-selling book The Hot Zone during a lecture entitled "The Ebola Reston Crisis: A Model for Emerging Infectious Disease."
At the time of the crisis, scientists and public-health officials were unaware that the variant strain subsequently named Ebola reston was not transmissible to humans.
Nancy Jaax now heads USAMRID's Pathology Department. Jerry Jaax now directs the U.S. Army's Biological Arms Control Treaty Office, also at Fort Dietrick.
The Jaax's lecture is the second of the VMRCVM's six-week "New Horizons in Veterinary Medicine Speaker Series," which has been produced in honor of Virginia Tech's 125th Anniversary Celebration.
"Our institution is nationally recognized for academic programs which prepare veterinarians for work in "non-traditional" areas of veterinary medicine," Dean Peter Eyre said. "Many of these speakers will showcase some of these emerging ways in which this profession is serving society, and we are delighted they have agreed to be a part of the series."
The presentation is open to the public. A reception will follow.