“Advocates of [disease] eradication say that it is a worthy goal to root out forever even one source of human misery, and that an unpredictable world offers brief opportunities to do so. Dr. David L. Heymann, the World Health Organization director general's representative for polio eradication, noted that if smallpox had not been wiped out a year before the dawn of AIDS, it might well be impossible now, given that the smallpox vaccine was dangerous for people with compromised immune systems, like those with H.I.V.”(New York Times, Monday)
Increased wealth brings increased health.
FEE Timely Classic
“The Rise of Markets and the Fall of Infectious Disease” by Stephen Gold