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Emerging epidemic

Belgian researcher recounts AIDS discoveries

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(Image courtesy W.W. Norton)

Author and epidemiologist Peter Piot knows what it’s like to be on the ground floor of something important. He was there when two previously unknown viruses were identified and in “No Time to Lose,” he explains what that was like.

The package arrived in a blue plastic thermos. It wasn’t wrapped well; in fact, one of the vials inside had broken, mixing glass with blood that had been taken from a Belgian nun who bled to death in Zaire for reasons no one could explain.

Peter Piot was an infectious disease researcher in Antwerp, Belgium, and this kind of mystery made his “heart beat faster.” When his boss sent him to Kinshasa, along the river Congo, to learn more about the crisis, Piot was even more excited. He became part of a team that teased out the root of the sickness and how it traveled from patient to victim.

The virus, highly contagious and almost always deadly, was later named after a river in Africa. Piot is still aghast at the careless, cavalier attitude given to that initial, highly dangerous flask of Ebola he encountered.

After his work in Africa ended, Piot went to Swaziland to work with a colleague assigned to eliminate sexually transmitted disease there. The endeavor was, of course, ill-fated, but this led him to work with STD patients in Antwerp. There, an alarming situation was just starting to appear in the city’s gay population. It “seemed to be a new syndrome” and it seemed to be on the rise.

It was a virus that didn’t care “whether the sex is good, or about the color or gender of the person.” Researchers called it GRID at first, then renamed it AIDS.

Almost from the opening pages, “No Time to Lose” immerses readers in excitement. Author Peter Piot does such a fine job in describing his African surroundings and the people there that you can almost hear the surrounding jungle.

But Piot’s story is not meant for entertainment. There’s a heightened sense of urgency and force here; in fact, Piot repeatedly admits regret that he didn’t do enough, soon enough. Looking through a backward lens, though, readers will wonder why he questions himself. He writes of fighting bureaucracy and politics, establishing organizations to study and prevent of infection and the now-outrageous beliefs he battled.

That makes this a triumphant book with a coda of sadness for a job that seemed, to the author, unfinished.

This book is serious stuff and it’s filled with scientific terms, acronyms and world politics — but don’t let that scare you away. If you’ve got the time to give it the attention it deserves, you’ll enjoy “No Time to Lose” from the start.

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PHOTOS: World Pride March

LGBTQ rights demonstration held in Amsterdam

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A scene from the 2026 World Pride March in Amsterdam. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The 2026 World Pride March was held on Saturday, Aug. 8 in Amsterdam. Tens of thousands of participants marched from Martin Luther Kingpark to the grounds of the Pride Village at Museumplein.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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PHOTOS: Daddy Issues at Kiki

Evry Pleasure, Tiara Missou-Sidora, Indiana Bones perform

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Evry Pleasure performs at the 'Daddy Issues' drag show at Kiki on Wednesday. (Washington Blade photo by Landon Shackelford)

The weekly drag show “Daddy Issues” was held at Kiki on Wednesday, Aug. 5. Performers included Evry Pleasure, Indiana Bones and Tiara Missou-Sidora.

(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)

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Books

Something’s off about Dad. When is it time to step in?

‘When Memory Fades’ can help when families face dementia

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(Book cover image courtesy of St. Martin's Essentials)

‘When Memory Fades’
By Nathaniel Chin, MD
c.2026, St. Martin’s Essentials
$30/422 pages

Mom called you in a panic the other day.

She’d lost her keys and by the time you arrived to help, she’d found them. In the refrigerator.

These kinds of things keep happening, not often but often enough, and you don’t know quite what to worry about. But in the new book “When Memory Fades” by Nathaniel Chin, MD, you’ll learn about the journey ahead, for both of you.

You can’t remember why you walked into a room. You got lost last week, going to the bank. Popular wisdom says that things like that are normal as we age, but Chin says that’s not true – although the answer may not be a worst-case scenario, either. Yes, memory problems could just be signs of stress, dehydration, or lack of sleep – or is it time to see a doctor?

Chin says maybe, yes.

He was working his way through medical residency when his father, a geriatrician in Madison, Wisc., was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Chin, now a geriatrician, was blindsided, but that diagnosis also changed his life.

Here, he writes about the brain, and how Alzheimer’s and dementia are diagnosed, explaining that dementia has many faces and, depending on a doctor’s evaluation, memory problems might be slowed or improved. He shares his father’s illness with readers, but he also writes about his mother, a steadfast, steady caretaker.

Her story reminds reader-guardians to care for themselves, too.

Know how to talk the talk, so that you can have “a more productive” conversation with your doctor. Understand that there’s nothing “normal” about dementia or Alzheimer’s. Know the statistics – African Americans are affected with dementia twice as much as whites – and know how to lower your risks. Learn here what questions to ask, how to break the news to everyone, and any legal matters that will be important soon. And know how to tend to you.

Says Chin, “The best action you can take is to educate yourself… The more you understand, the better equipped you are to make sound judgments.”

Something’s off about Dad, just a lot of little things that don’t add up. When is it time to step in? “When Memory Fades” can help you decide.

Wise, wide-spread, comprehensive, and compassionately helpful, this is a book you can read and then take it to the doctor with your loved one. It’s a book that makes sense when nothing else does, and its biggest feature is that it smoothly transitions from easy-to-grasp science and charts, to gentle coaching for caregivers. Author Nathaniel Chin, MD writes with storytelling, humility, grace, and experience from both sides of the Alzheimer’s/dementia issue, and his words are reassuring but also urgent. Learn, but don’t wait, he says. Know how to safeguard yourself. See your doctor, and don’t fear testing. Watch for signs of depression. And never, ever stop asking for help.

Read those last seven words, and find “When Memory Fades” now. It’s a book to have on your shelf, whether you’re 45 or 95 because, as you’ll see, dementia happens and knowledge is key.

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