Word: viruses
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Working on this week's main cover story about AIDS and the singles scene, Martha Smilgis discovered that many men and women were reluctant to talk about the fact that a casual affair could bring on the deadly virus. "In the bars, it's tricky to ask about AIDS," says Associate Editor Smilgis, who wrote the story. "Most people still think it's a gay disease and haven't really thought much about the problem. Your question begins a process of education...
...Often, a specter of death seems to hang around the victims," she notes. Therefore she was shocked to hear that a business acquaintance had died of AIDS two months after she had praised him "for looking fit and trim." Assessing the potential for heterosexual transmission is complicated by the virus' long incubation period. "What we don't know is exactly how this virus works and how it will affect the population ten years from now," Smilgis says. "There are many unknowns. That's very scary...
...companion stories round out our coverage of the AIDS phenomenon. Associate Editor Claudia Wallis examines the ability of U.S. doctors to deal with the 270,000 cases expected by 1991, and Staff Writer Michael Serrill explores the lessons to be learned from the battle against the virus in Africa, where the disease appears to be raging in pandemic proportions...
...Cases of AIDS have been reported in 85 countries, though the World Health Organization suspects that the disease has actually struck as many as 100 nations. WHO officials estimate that between 5 million and 10 million people around the world now carry the AIDS virus, and that as many as 100 million will become infected during the next ten years...
...will undoubtedly mount as the incidence of AIDS continues to rise in all categories of people at risk. The point is to bear in mind that some activities are safe even if repeated often with an infected partner. Others activities that have been "safe" are not now that the virus has entered new populations. Unfortunately, nobody knows for sure which is which...