y those persons who have been infected by the virus.
While the progression of the HIV infection is not yet well understood, Francis and Chin note that it has been established that the retrovirus destroys the "helper" (T4) subset of T lymphocytes which are these cells considered to be critical in maintaining the human immunologic response to threatening infections and disease.
The terminal stage of this breakdown of the immunologic response is what is known as AIDS; and it is in this phase of the infection that individuals are highly vulnerable to opportunistic infections and malignancies. Thus, HIV infection is associated with a poor prognosis. Indeed, Francis and Chin (1987) have noted that in studies of antibody- or seropositive homosexuals and hemophiliacs, it was observed that between 13 and 34 percent of the individuals examined developed AIDS over the course of six years.
At least one-third of all AIDS patients will develop neurologic disease prior to death. Frequencies of organic mental disorders are also high--including such illnesses as dementia, delirium, and affective and personality syndromes. (Wolcott, Fawzy & Pasnau, 1985).
AIDS has become of increasingly concern to the public. Regarding the spread and prevalence of the disease, Wallack (1989) reports that:
Since the first cases of AIDS were recognized in 1981, the disease has spread to pandemic proportions. Current estimates indicate that between one and 1.5 millon Americans are infected with human immodeficiency virus (HIV)...To date, 86,157 confirmed cases of AIDS have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control, and it is estimated that by the end of 1993, 365,000 cases of AIDS will have been diagnosed in the U.S., including approximately 263,000 cumulative deaths. (Wallack, 1989, p.507)
Because AIDS has still not been sufficiently documented and investigated, it still cannot be reliably established as to the proportion of HIV-infected person...