Review
"This [book's]...appeal reaches far beyond just fellow scientists. It is full of astonishing and interesting facts not only about viruses but about the humans studying them."--Frank Ryan, The New York Times Book Review
"A well-written and provocative treatise about the origins of HIV and about the evolution of this most perplexing virus."--The Lancet
Product Description
In Viral Sex, leading AIDS researcher Jaap Goudsmit illuminates the origins and nature of the world's most lethal epidemic. This fascinating epidemiological whodunit, or...`howdunit' (The Lancet), takes us on a journey from the African rainforest, to ancient Egypt, to pioneering research labs in the U.S. and Europe. The concept of `viral sex', Goudsmit explains, is central to understanding the AIDS crisis. HIV not only produces offspring that are almost exact copies of the parents, but also reproduces sexually, creating a recombinant population of variants. This `viral sex' gives HIV an edge in adapting to new hosts, enabling it to survive the leap from ape to man. Goudsmit argues that the man-made phenomenon of deforestation and human encroachment on the African monkey habitat provided the opportunity for the SIV virus to jump to its new host, human beings, who then brought HIV out of the Cameroon rainforest at the turn of the century. Provocative, vividly written, and impeccably researched, Viral Sex instills readers with a new sense of the urgent need to contain HIV and other similarly lethal viruses before they spread beyond the grasp of even the most sophisticated science.
See all Product Description
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home
