Coping with AIDS

First reported in 1981, the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has moved with remarkable rapidity from a previously unrecognized disorder to the subject of headline news.¹ The number of cases has increased relentlessly and has surpassed 40,000 nationwide. The absence of any clearly effective, nontoxic therapy or preventive vaccine has led to broad and increasing public concern. At the outset, AIDS was considered primarily a disease of white homosexual or bisexual men. However, with time, AIDS has become increasingly frequent among intravenous drug abusers, particularly those who are black or Hispanic, among newborns of women positive for the human immunodeficiency virus…