This poem is an interesting reflection on the relationship between agent and host in chronic illness. Skloot assumes (quite reasonably) that chronic fatigue syndrome is caused by a viral infection. The infection has changed his life, forced him to re-write his own story, yet it doesn't have a story of it's own. The virus in itself is neither dead nor alive; it has no "meaning" in itself, only the ability to alter "meaning" in its host's life. The poet provides this epigram: "Virus: a Latin word meaning poison that disturbs the soul."