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AIDS & the Public Health Service

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 information about the disease and methods of transmission appears to be the only real defense against it at the present time.

AIDS is a disease that has altered a number of societal practices and patterns in a relatively short time. The disease has been known widely for no more than about 20 years, and in that time it has had a profound effect on human sexual behavior in Western society. Not every community or group is affected by AIDS in the same way, which is also one reason the scientific, medical, and governmental response was so slow in developing. AIDS has had its greatest effect in what are considered by many to be marginal communities rather than the mainstream, marginal in the sense of minority and stigmatized, like the homosexual community and the population that uses illegal intravenous drugs. Arguably, it was only with clear evidence that the disease was spreading into the non-drug-using heterosexual community that a stronger response from government and the medical community was forthcoming.

The basic means of transmission of the AIDS virus involves the exchange of bodily fluids either through unprotected sexual intercourse or through the sharing of needles by intravenous drug users. Friedman and des Jarlais (1991) cite several specific risk factors for IV drug users...

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AIDS & the Public Health Service. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:16, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702301.html