The social costs of the AIDS epidemic are considerable and cannot be calculated fully. They include not only the direct cost in lives but tensions in the social fabric brought about by the existence of a disease that is not only fatal but that is associated with certain social and sexual taboos which remain in force and which have contributed to the discrimination that has followed the spread of the disease. The question to be considered is the degree to which this discrimination has infiltrated the different aspects of the AIDS epidemic--medical, social, and psychological.
Ten years ago, few people had any idea that this health problem even existed. Today, public concern is high, with behavioral changes urged and undertaken, medical costs increasing, public health organizations geared to offer advice and assistance, research funded, and thousands of sufferers dying or dead from the disease. AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is not merely another public health challenge; it may be the public health challenge of the coming decade and beyond. The issue links up with a variety of other public health concerns, including drug abuse, the spread of venereal disease, and even the resurgence in cases of tuberculosis, a resurgence that has been linked to the spread of AIDS. AIDS is at present the number one priority of the Public Health Service. It affects the lives not only of those afflicted but the lives of their families, friends, and millions of people who merely fear the disease, which is always fatal. At present there is no cure and only experimental treatments which seem to stave off the more severe manifestations of the syndrome for a time. From a public health standpoint, education seems to be the most valid and effective means to fight the spread of the disease, along with possible programs to change habits of intravenous drug abusers who are at risk because they share needles. The dissemination of informat...