Word: cdc
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...were struck by how strange this was," recalls Jaffe. A group of medical detectives at the CDC was organized into an AIDS task force under the direction of Dr. Curran, a venereal disease specialist. They quickly uncovered 50 cases around the country that fit the definition of what the CDC officially dubbed AIDS. Initially it seemed that the culprit might be amyl nitrate or butyl nitrate, often known as "Rush" or "poppers," which are inhalants that provide a short-lasting high. But a study comparing homosexuals with AIDS to disease-free gays showed little correlation with use of the drug...
Based on what is known so far, two theories have emerged. One is that AIDS is caused by a specific agent, most probably a virus. "The infectious-agent hypothesis is much stronger than it was months ago," says Curran, reflecting the prevailing opinion at CDC. NIH Researcher Fauci, who staunchly believes that the culprit is a virus, has been collecting helper T-cells from AIDS victims to look for bits of viruses within their genetic codes. So far, however, this and other complex methods of detecting viruses have yielded nothing conclusive. Suspicion focuses on two viruses: one is a member...
...over it at night. By the time he returned to the U.S. in 1973, he had decided to become a doctor. In a year of dedicated slogging, he took the necessary preliminary courses and then graduated from Columbia University's medical school. He was determined to join the CDC, much to the amusement and disdain of more success-oriented classmates. "I was called a Goody Two-Shoes," he remembers...
Holmberg became an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer in July 1982. His salary: $38,000. "There is no place in the world to study epidemiology like the CDC," he says. "You can go as far as your curiosity will take...
That can be pretty far. A month after joining the CDC, Holmberg was on the Pacific island of Truk fighting an outbreak of cholera. For two months he was virtually isolated from his superiors, talking weekly on a short-wave radio to a CDC doctor in Hawaii to report progress and get advice. He and the health officials on Truk discovered that cholera, previously thought to be transmitted only in water, apparently was also being spread by infected people handling food in the victims' homes. Says Holmberg: "Knowing it is a food-borne disease may make quite a difference...