deadly disease had been identified, named, and known to the general public, AIDS was the most dramatic example of an entirely new generation of illnesses. Garrett explains the unease that the disease provoked in the international community:
If AIDS could emerge so successfully worldwide in the age of genetic engineering, antibiotics, sophisticated biochemistry, and global telecommunications, what other microbes might in the future exploit similar conditions? If humanity hoped to prevent its next great plague, it was vital to understand the origins of this one (p. 362).
As far as modern medicine could determine, AIDS was a new disease. Its appearance provided a terrifying example of the devastation still possible for which modern medicine had no real answers.
Garrett identifies some of the other examples: Bolivian Hemorrhagic Fever, a highly contagious disease that causes agonizing death in most of its victims; Ebola from Africa, in which victims suddenly bleed to death; Toxic Shock Syndrome, a potentially deadly staph infection nurtured by synthetic materials and new use patterns in tampons; hantaviruses, causing sudden respiratory death in apparently healthy individuals. Each strain illustrates the complexity of the international health issue. Ridding the world of disease, a goal which once seemed obtainable and even reasonable, has become a distant fantasy. The barriers are not simply the appearance of new microbes and the problems in identifying them. The most significant barrier is political. Garrett observes, "The real danger [is] not viruses, but politics" (p. 82).
Health crises occur across physical and ideological boundaries. International travel has become a casual event, allowing individuals carrying new strains and viruses to spread them easily over wide areas. At the same time, scientists attempting to isolate these viruses may find traveling to the next village to collect samples a near impossibi...