One concept of avoiding discrimination is to treat people in similar circumstances equally. In the case of managing contagious diseases, this would mean that persons with similar contagious diseases would be treated the same. This concept of discrimination is flawed, however, since historical analysis shows that the past treatment of carriers of contagious diseases has been ethically questionable. Another concept of avoiding discrimination is that all persons must be treated equally in certain fundamental respects. Few rights are absolute, however; e.g., a person does not have the right to behave in a way that endangers the life of another. An ethic for the management of AIDS must balance the concern for individual autonomy with a concern for the common good. Both concerns can be expressed in mounting a national program of AIDS education designed to prevent its spread and in establishing measures to ensure the confidential use of the AIDS antibody test. 27 notes.