Bloody Shame.My husband and I read Caroline Waters' article "Bloody Shame" (July) with interest, as we are both ineligible to donate blood for a period of two years due to our travels. While our deferral in itself did not come as a surprise, the destination that caused our exclusion did. We lived in Singapore and the Philippines, which both have the dengue dengue or breakbone fever or dandy fever Infectious, disabling mosquito-borne fever. Other symptoms include extreme joint pain and stiffness, intense pain behind the eyes, a return of fever after brief pause, and a characteristic rash. fever-bearing mosquito, and Singapore was one of the countries at the heart of the SARS crisis last year. But those locations were not the problem. The reason we were deferred was a one-day visit to the Demilitarized Zone See DMZ. (DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) A middle ground between an organization's trusted internal network and an untrusted, external network such as the Internet. Also called a "perimeter network," the DMZ is a subnetwork (subnet) that may sit between firewalls or off one leg of a ) on the border of North and South Korea. Apparently, the DMZ is home to a mosquito that bears a particular strain of malaria that can remain dormant in the bloodstream for up to two years. We were in the DMZ for only one day, in January, in subzero temperatures. It is doubtful that a mosquito would have reared its head in those conditions, but the rule had to be applied, and the blood center will now miss out on our blood donations for two years. Marie Malta Colorado Springs Colorado Springs, city (1990 pop. 281,140), seat of El Paso co., central Colo., on Monument and Fountain creeks, at the foot of Pikes Peak; inc. 1886. It is a year-round resort and a booming military, technological, and commercial city. , CO Attention, Political Junkies! reason Wuz There! At this summer's Democratic and Republican national conventions, that is. Go to reason.com/convention for our on-site coverage of everything from the "hamster hamster, Old World rodent, related to the voles, lemmings, and New World mice. There are many hamster species, classified in several genera. All are solitary, burrowing, nocturnal animals, with chunky bodies, short tails, soft, thick fur, and large external cheek story" to Zell Miller's spontaneous combustion to John Kerry's salute to George Bush's final pitch, and much, much more. |
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