Donald Fredrickson begins his overview of the government's role to date in AIDS research by stating: "One by one the experts have come to tell us what they know about this calamity, and by aligning the fragments differently we can catch various views of its dimensions. They are frightening" (emphasis added by reviewer).
It is barely three years since the first clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in homosexually active men were reported, but the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has rapidly advanced to a full-fledged epidemic and billing as the nation's number one health priority. While the cause(s) and prevention of AIDS still remain a mystery, much can be learned by studying the progression of this epidemic. The AIDS Epidemic, a compilation of papers presented at the Lennox Hill Hospital AIDS Symposium, New York, this past March, provides a concise, accurate, and readable account of these events