The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a devastating new disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This retrovirus causes profound immunoincompetence in its infected hosts, who are thereafter susceptible to develop myriad se...

The development of a safe and effective vaccine against infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is of paramount importance to the prevention of AIDS worldwide. Although a great deal has been learned about HIV in a few short years, the dev...

The discovery of effective therapies for HIV requires a fundamental knowledge of retroviral infections. Research by the Public Health Service and collaborating organizations on oncogenic viruses, including retroviruses, has provided much of the basic...

Present safeguards for the blood supply consist of three tiers of protection: donor deferral based on a donor's history of risk factors, confidential exclusion of blood units from donors with self-admitted risk factors, and testing of the blood itsel...

The Food and Drug Administration has instituted several pro-active measures to expedite the review of treatments, diagnostics, and vaccines for AIDS and related conditions. In particular, the agency has established a special designation--1-AA--for a ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the world total of AIDS cases will reach 300,000 by the end of 1988 and 500,000 to 3 million over the next 5 years. AIDS is of special concern to developing countries with their limited, stressed hea...

Since the identification of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in 1981 as a distinct disease entity, the number of AIDS cases has steadily increased in the United States and throughout the world. Although the primary etiologic agent of AIDS, h...

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), one of the seven agencies of the Public Health Service, is working to meet some of the resource and patient service needs engendered by the epidemic of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS...

Because of the variety of needs engendered by AIDS, a broadbased response to the epidemic is warranted. The traditional medical model, with its emphasis on inpatient hospital care, is expensive and fails to address other needs of people with AIDS (PW...

Research programs of the National Institute on Drug Abuse take a broad approach to investigating the problems of intervention in intravenous drug use and its relation to the AIDS epidemic. Current prevention strategies are directed to reducing the ra...

State health agencies have assumed a leadership role in responding to the major public health issues raised by the AIDS epidemic. Directors of State health agencies (State health officers) have asserted their influence at the national level as well a...

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has taken a leadership role in assisting health care providers in dealing effectively with the challenges of AIDS. Early work focused on preventing infection in the health care setting with the use of the Cente...

Nursing students, as future health care providers, need comprehensive instruction about AIDS--the many manifestations of both the disease itself and the pandemic. As health educators and practitioners, nurses play a major role in safeguarding the hea...

In 1985 the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences devoted its annual meeting to an exploration of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The questions raised at the meeting propelled the IOM/NAS to initiate an assessment of the dime...

An estimated 40 percent of the nation's 55,000 persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have received care under the Medicaid Program, which is administered by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and funded jointly by the Fe...

The personal medical care costs of those diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in 1988 are forecast to be $2.2 billion, an amount that will increase to $4.5 billion in 1991. This is the first study to include the cost of purchasing...

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is estimated to have infected more than a million people in the United States and millions more in other countries. Even though there is no vaccine or effective treatment, HIV infection can be prevented through ...