First Do No Harm by Steven Ford (2004, Paperback)

I bought this book because it is about an infectious disease and I was an Infection Control Nurse, so I like the topic. The book was great as a page-turner and kept you in supense till the end. Two medical reaserchers have an uncommon reasach project experience and it colors the rest of thier professional lifes. One is searching for anything to help drug resistant HIV and the other is in charge of the smallpox division of CDC. The premise of using smallpox virus to treat drugh resistant HIV is the main theme of the book. It insuniates that when we removed smallpox as a dz and vaccine given - that we may have "lost" a "cure" for drug-resistant HIV. Just a theory - ok? Not real sure about the writer's infectious dizease background and research - but some sounds hokey to me as an ICN. If you do not have infectous dz experince - the book is totaly belivable. But with infectious dz experience you will question some of the happenings - like taking antivirals would make small pox lesions "not contain virus" and that the hotel staff would not be contaminated by sheet and linen of an active case - shades of giving small pox infected blankets to the Am Indians! Anyway ONE CASE of smallpox would be an public health nightmare come true - not to mention TWO! The book also discusses destrucion of smallpox stores in the US and Russia - I think destroy them and how do you KNOW the WORLD's samples were all destored? Smallpox is a disease of Bioterrorism and if the good guys don't have it what happens when the bad guys do? - Just my view. The book is well worth reading.