reactivation

Emily Martin, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, told Salon in a video interview that certain viruses, like the herpes group — which includes the chicken pox virus and the one that causes cold sores, as well as genital herpes — “are notorious for these reactivation and latency patterns, and changing your health status over the long term based on how much they’re around and active in your body.”

“At this time, however, the County feels it is prudent to encourage PG&E to delay reactivation and continue to engage in additional open, transparent dialogue with County officials, first responders, and the residents we collectively serve,” the statement reads.

"When they started to look at them with a microscope, they discovered plenty of microbes. Many were dead, of course, but others were alive and reactivated very, very rapidly. Now we call this process of reactivation "resurrection," and this word is used on purpose because, in fact, they can be in a kind of sustained life state for millions of years. In fact, bacteria can remain frozen and alive for at least 3.5 million years, and they recover very rapidly, they reactivate," Yarzábal told Salon.

The requested sanctions will be considered next week at a public hearing — one of the first such venues for citizens to weigh in on reactivation of the offshore oil rigs and how that could affect the local environment, which has long concerned Santa Barbara residents and climate activists.

It is caused by a reactivation of the Herpes zoster virus - the virus that causes chicken pox.