disease on Vice

Pen Pals

Addiction Isn't a Disease, I'm Just a Dick

When you’ve been sent back to prison multiple times for dirty pee like I have, you end up thinking a bunch about addiction—whether you’re a screwup or a bona fide addict, and if you’re an addict, what that means. Lots of people define addiction as a “disease,” but I don't. Full story

A Day in the Life of an Alzheimer's Caregiver

My dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about three years ago. After an extended stay at the hospital and stints in two different rest homes, my mom brought him home to care for him herself. There is an unseen routine in the lives of most home caregivers that makes Michael Haneke’s… Full story

An Honest Man's Advice for Studying Abroad in Africa

When you inform your friend’s mother, splayed on her chaise longue in Santa Monica, that you’ll be embarking for an African country well known to be infested with deadly snakes and diseases where parasitic worms crawl around in your eyeballs, she will beam at you and coo, “That’s… Full story

The Kids Are Alright, Getting Less Fat

Forget the holiday gluttony: Kids across the US are slimming down. An encouraging new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that obesity rates among American children--particularly children from low-income families--have declined in recent years, markin… Full story

Zak Loves Mandy

And They’ll Keep Making Art and Porn Until One of Them Dies

Last year, porn star Mandy Morbid was diagnosed with Ehlers–Danlos syndrome. But through all of Mandy’s hardships, Zak Smith has never left her side. I talked with the couple about their love and how it exists so gracefully in a world of porn, art, and disease. Full story

How We Lost a Lyme Disease Vaccine

When it comes to PR wars, science is a bloodsucking mess. Full story

Lepers, Messiahs*

Can You Believe This Disease Still Exists?

When I arrived in Nepal, my ultimate destination was the Lalgadh Leprosy Hospital in the southeastern Terai Plain. Full story

Nursex

A Monthly Look at What Ails You

Rosacea is the bat-like spread of papules and pustules across a person's nose, cheeks and chin. Full story