The Hot Zone

Chapter 14

what is "a certain pucker factor"? what is his concern?

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The worms were unmistakable— and there were the crystalloids— the bricks. It looked real. It felt real. He experienced what he would later describe as “a major pucker factor” setting in. (This is a military slang term that refers to a certain tightening sensation in the nether regions of the body, in response to fear.)
C. J. said, “We have to be very concerned and very puckered if it is of the same ilk as Ebola.” They had to be very puckered, Russell agreed. “We have a national emergency on our hands,” he said. “This is an infectious threat of major consequences.”
Source(s)

Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus (p. 202). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.