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AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) Science and Epidemiology

NCJ Number
109865
Journal
Law, Medicine, and Health Care Volume: 14 Issue: 5-6 Dated: (December 1986) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
L Gostin, W J Curran
Date Published
1986
Length
84 pages
Annotation
Nine articles address the major public controversies surrounding acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS): the genesis of fear, epidemiologic predictions, research on experimental drugs, intravenous drug abusers, screening, treatment, and worldwide strategies.
Abstract
The opening article proposes policies for the nucleus of the public health strategy to combat AIDS prior to the development of an effective vaccine or treatment. Another article examines the public response to AIDS as a complex interaction of social, cultural, and biological forces, against the background of the social history of venereal disease in the United States. An article advises that a public policy for AIDS control must consist both of comprehensive and accurate scientific information about the disease and the reform of punitive attitudes toward the high-risk groups: homosexuals and drug abusers. A description of the epidemiology of AIDS and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection within the United States is followed by a review of the technical performance of HIV-antibody tests and how decisions about the use of these tests should be influenced by test performance. Other issues discussed are the incidence, transmission, and prevention of the disease among intravenous drug users; ethical issues in AIDS research; dilemmas facing clinicians; and the work of the World Health Organization in a global strategy to address AIDS. Article references.