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Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has become a devastating epidemic. The AIDS Virus destroys the body’s immune system, rendering it susceptible to a variety of cancers and infections. The disease has stricken millions of persons worldwide, and as it continues to spread it threatens millions more. Although there is hope that several recent breakthroughs in treating the killer disease my eventually lead to a vaccine, there remains no cure for AIDS.
Public health professionals agree that education is the single most important factor in controlling the spread of Aids. Because of the daunting complexity of the virus, a guide to the known medical facts is crucial. This volume is a concise, encyclopedic account of the history of the epidemic, current research efforts, and ways to prevent the disease’s transmission.
Written especially for young adults, AIDS is both authoritative and easy to understand, making it an essential guide for parents teachers, and readers.
In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville, a French visitor to America, wrote, “In America the passion for physical well-being is general.” Today, as then, health and fitness are front-page items. But with the greater scientific and technological resources now available to us, we are in a far stronger position to make good health care available to us, we are in a far stronger position to make good health care available to everyone. And with the greater technological threats to us as we enter the 21st century, the need to do so is more urgent than ever before. Comprehensive information about basic biology, preventive medicine, medical and surgical treatments, and related ethical and public policy issues can help you arm yourself with the knowledge you need to be healthy throughout your life.
-from the introduction by C. Everett Koop
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