Word: crewdson
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Science Fictions is at its core a tale that helps the layperson understand, according to Crewdson, “how scientists behave when the stakes are high.” Non-scientists will discover that scientists are just as tempted by corruption and driven by personal fame as politicians or Hollywood stars. Scientists court the media, wine and dine their colleagues and try to scoop the discoveries of rival labs. In the meantime, they also do research...
...stakes were high in 1982, as Crewdson explains. When Gallo made his first appearance, AIDS had just started to hit the western world. At this point, scientists knew how to recognize the disease’s symptoms—they just had no clue what caused patients’ T-cells to wither and their bodies to become susceptible for opportunistic diseases. Homosexuals were the first to experience the leukemia-like symptoms: large lymph nodes, fatigue and weight loss. Then hemophiliacs, unbeknownst to health practitioners at the time, were also succumbing to the virus, infected by the blood transfusions intended...
...Crewdson delineates the challenges for scientists. AIDS clearly had epidemic potential, as cases mounted without anyone understanding how AIDS spread. Whoever could figure out what caused the disease and how it was transmitted would gain prime-time media coverage. Whoever could figure out a way to test for the disease stood to make millions on a patent. The grand prize, which hindsight proves was an optimistic goal, would surely go to the scientist responsible for a cure or vaccine...
...Crewdson, bogged down in the details only a microbiologist would care to understand, loses his reader amid a sea of technicalities and descriptions of virus strains until the drama of 1985. At this point, Gallo claimed to have discovered the virus that causes AIDS, dubbed HLTV-3B. With this virus, Gallo created the first blood antibody test and garnered all the accolades minus the Nobel Prize, including a nomination to the National Academy of Science...
...stolen their virus to mass produce the antibody test. But the American antibody test, which used Gallo’s genetic sequence, produced false negatives at an alarming rate. Not only was Gallo wrong, but he refused to admit that he had made a mistake. As a result, Crewdson suggests that Gallo is single-handedly responsible for delaying the development of an accurate HIV test...