Summary

Preston went to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to be treated by Dr. Ted Nash and Dr. Elise O'Connell. His biopsy confirmed that he had Leishmania braziliensis. The NIH has been studying leishmaniasis since the 1970s and has treated many people from infected areas, including Peace Corps volunteers. Theodore Nash developed the treatment protocol that is still being used today, but treatment is, in Preston's words, "more an art than a science" (250). Nash has spent his life working in parasitology, mainly with the poor, and he has also focused on a disease called neurocysticercosis, in which a tapeworm from uncooked pork invades the brain. Nash explained to Preston that in the case of leishmaniasis, two animals are involved--the "reservoir host," which is the mammal whose blood contains parasites, and a "vector," which is the female sand fly. The...