Shortlisted, Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards 2008, Science Writer Award

IMAGINE IT: SOME fifty thousand young Australians suddenly struck down and killed by a new virus. One hundred and forty thousand more infected and kept alive only with complex, expensive and painful therapies. The outlook is grim. The caseload increases exponentially, hospitals are at breaking point, the economy has stalled, and a generation has been decimated. The authorities and the public are confused, depressed and overwhelmed.