ABSTRACT
This story illustrates the power of statistics as a learning tool. Through an interplay of exploration and carefully designed experiments, each with their specific findings, an important discovery is made. Set in the 1970s and 80s, procedures implemented with the best intentions were found to be deadly. Before these studies, only hepatitis was known to be transmitted through contaminated blood products. We discovered that the cytomegalovirus could be transferred through contaminated blood products and developed novel blood screening techniques to detect this virus just before it become well known for its lethality among persons with AIDS. We conclude with some comments regarding the design of experiments in clinical trials.
