Too many people still think that this is just a gay, white disease. They think if they are not an IV drug user, and the man they are kicking it with is not a drug user, then they are not at risk.

The Internet removes the embarrassment factor, so people can honestly talk about what they are doing and what their risks are.

At the time [I was diagnosed], it was a white man's gay disease,

Nearly half of new infections are in the black community. The churches can say this is a gay disease but the numbers tell a different story. We have straight black women being infected by bisexual men.

In 2005, cancer may still be the disease that cannot speak its name, but it is also the great leveller - cutting across divisions of class, income, status and success - and, sadly, so ubiquitous that few people's lives are untouched by it. Almost without exception, those we approached gave their time and reminiscences not only with great open-heartedness but with touching concern for my own welfare.

Obesity is a very complex disease, and this metabolic pathway probably does not fully explain obesity, but we now know that SCD1 is at least a very important contributor.