In the decade preceding the AIDS crisis, a wave of new technologies, including PCR and super powerful electron microscopes, had opened windows on teeming new worlds containing millions of species of previously unknown viruses to scientists. Molecular genetics not only revolutionized biological science, but also made that science fabulously profitable. The lure of fame and fortune ignited a chaotic revolution in virology as ambitious young PhDs scrambled to inculpate newly discovered microbes as the cause of old malignancies. Making such connections could be a profitable pursuit for
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