Excluding the 3 percent of those who acquired AIDS from contaminated blood or blood products, the remainder of infected persons have acquired the disease by selected behaviors: high-risk sexual activity and needle sharing while injecting drugs. Black and Hispanic communities are being hardest hit by the disease. The absence of a vaccine to prevent transmission of the virus and the lack of a drug to cure AIDS makes educational and risk-reduction activities imperative. High-risk persons before the courts and entering and leaving detention and penal institutions need specialized outreach efforts to reduce their risk of acquiring and transmitting the AIDS virus. Professionals interacting with such persons should be informed about the low risk of becoming infected with the AIDS virus from casual and normal interaction with infected persons. Persons who handle the body fluids of high-risk or infected persons must take precautions, however, although the risk of becoming infected is slight. 19 footnotes.