Readings The Demon in the

Oct 2, 2001

Readings The Demon in the Freezer Here’s an article from the New Yorker magazine from 1999; I just finished rereading it, and a shiver is still racing up and down my spine. Smallpox is ferocious and fearsome. Richard Preston, the author of this article, wrote the bestseller The Hot Zone back in the early 90s. That book was the story of Ebola, which isn’t half as complex as smallpox nor as deadly—because smallpox has been wiped out of the human population, should it reemerge, hundreds of millions of people will die. And there are samples of smallpox in our country, Russia, and who knows where else. Read this article (read it this week before it’s taken off of the New Yorker site) and learn more about smallpox, but be warned: you’ll be shivering even before you finish the second paragraph.

Anton Zuiker ☄