[JCF]

Originally posted by hatpix
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, about a team of scientists investigating a deadly disease of extraterrestrial origin which causes rapid, fatal clotting of the blood.

"We'll have the answer to this disease," said one scientist, "when we know why a sixty-two-year-old Sterno drinker with a bleeding ulcer is like a perfectly healthy two-month-old baby."

Turns out the thing the had in common was their blood Ph balance was off. The drunk's Sterno drinking, and habit of taking huge amounts of aspirin for his painful ulcer, acidified his blood beyond the range in which Andromeda could reproduce. The baby, constantly crying, blew off so much carbon dioxide from his blood that he became alkalotic: his blood was too alkaline.

That's the one. Can't believe I forgot the name.