Word: viruses
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Shingles? I recalled that my father had been afflicted by this strange ailment, but I knew little about shingles until I did some digging. I learned that shingles could be thought of as the revenge of the chicken pox, or of varicella-zoster, the virus behind this childhood disease. A close cousin of herpes simplex, which causes cold sores, varicella-zoster can be beaten back by the immune system but never eradicated. Like a bandit pursued by a posse, it retreats to a safe haven--bundles of nerve cells in the spinal cord or cranium. There varicella-zoster lies dormant...
...explanation is the diminishing effectiveness of medications used against the stubborn virus, which is showing signs of developing resistance to even the powerful new protease inhibitors. It's also apparent, however, that another factor is at work. The very success of the drugs has made us forget that the best way to fight AIDS is prevention, and that's the second important message out of Atlanta...
Nowhere is this harsh reality more evident than among African Americans, a special focus of the conference. In 1984 the CDC reported that 50% of all children infected with the virus in the U.S. were African Americans. By 1988, African Americans accounted for 70% or more of the AIDS cases among heterosexual men, heterosexual women and children. These alarming statistics haven't got much better since then. Even now, African Americans have an AIDS incidence and a death rate that are 10 times those of whites...
...afraid of the disease. After all, they'll tell you, if a celebrity with AIDS like former pro-basketball star Magic Johnson, who has done so much to bring attention to the epidemic, can continue his glitzy lifestyle without any obvious ill effects, why should they worry about the virus? You'll also hear some sophisticated advice. Many youngsters will tell you that showing pictures of the devastation caused by the disease could provide effective shock therapy...
Ever wonder what going online was like before the dawn of the World Wide Web? Sinha offers an intriguing look at his spiral into Net addiction during the 1980s as he gets sucked into intense role-playing games and meets eccentric computer-virus writers and fellow Net addicts. Along the way, he discovers that experience is equally "real," whether online or in the flesh. While the blurring of reality and illusion is not a new theme, Sinha's rich narrative and thoughtful observations propel this engaging memoir...