It details the characteristics of and provides an historical perspective of AIDS and illustrates how the nature of AIDS and the urgency for the development of treatment presents a challenge for biomedical research. Another discussion shows the interplay of social forces, politics, and AIDS as HIV infection has developed in the United States. A health-care professional who deals with AIDS patients details his work, and the life of an AIDS patient dealing with the realities of AIDS is reviewed. The financial, social, and emotional effects of AIDS in Great Britain, Sweden, and the United States are compared, and there is a discussion on how nations can come together in the solution of the international health problem of AIDS. Finally, the issue focuses on cultural reactions to the disease, and AIDS in particular, and presents the biological and social factors involved in the transmission of AIDS. Compulsive offenses result from the offender's extreme internal pressures to commit the crime and include physical and sexual assaults and murders of females.