The Cobra Event is a 1998 thriller novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Richard Preston

Richard Preston

Richard Preston, born August 5, 1954 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., is a New Yorker writer and bestselling author perhaps best-known for his books about infectious disease epidemics and bioterrorism, although he has written other non-fiction works...

 describing a terror attempt on the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 by a lone man, the creator of a virus

Virus

A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...

, called "Cobra", that mixes the incurable common cold

Common cold

The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...

 with one of the world's most deadly disease

Disease

A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...

s, smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

. The disease that results from the virus, called brainpox in the novel, has effects that mimic those of Lesch-Nyhan syndrome and Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus

Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus

The nuclear polyhedrosis virus which belongs to the sub group Baculoviruses is a virus affecting insects, predominantly moths and butterflies. It has been used as a pesticide for crops infested by insects susceptible to contraction...

. The virus is a Biosafety Level

Biosafety level

A biosafety level is the level of the biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 to the highest at level 4 . In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and...

 4 hot agent, because it is lethal to humans, is highly transmittable to humans by aerosol, and has no vaccine or cure.
The book is divided into 6 sections.