AIDS

   AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is the generic term for a syndrome of opportunistic diseases that result from a weakened immune system. First identified in 1981 in Los Angeles and San Francisco, it was thought to be a consequence of drug abuse combined with high rates of male same-sex activity. That view, which still prevails in some places, was challenged by the view that a virus, HIV, triggered the syndrome.

   High death rates, particularly among male samesex partners in the US and the UK, have resulted in a culture of ‘safe sex’, that is, sex which either does not involve penetration or which involves only protected penetration among certain sections of the population. It has also led to a decline in needle sharing among intravenous drug users. Increased abortion rates indicate that the culture of safe sex is not fully established. There is some dispute about the precise source of AIDS and its mechanism of spread, but the decline of its incidence in those sectors of the population that have adopted practices of ‘safe sex’ and clean needles is significant. It seems to confirm that care counts and complacency is foolish.

   See also: Clause 28; gay liberation

   Further reading

    Clarke, P.A.B. (1988) Aids: Medicine Politics and Society, London: LCAP.

    Shilts, R. (1988) And the Band Played On, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

   PAUL BARRY CLARKE