AIDS

by Elizabeth Fee; Daniel Fox

• ISBN13: 9780520075696
• ISBN10: 0520075692
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780520912441
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2023-09-01
• Publisher: University of California Press

Summary

When AIDS was first recognized in 1981, most experts believed that it was a plague, a virulent unexpected disease. They thought AIDS, as a plague, would resemble the great epidemics of the past: it would be devastating but would soon subside, perhaps never to return. By the middle 1980s, however, it became increasingly clear that AIDS was a chronic infection, not a classic plague. In this follow-up toAIDS: The Burdens of History, editors Elizabeth Fee and Daniel M. Fox present essays that describe how AIDS has come to be regarded as a chronic disease. Representing diverse fields and professions, the twenty-three contributors to this work use historical methods to analyze politics and public policy, human rights issues, and the changing populations with HIV infection. They examine the federal government's testing of drugs for cancer and HIV, and show how the policy makers' choice of a specific historical model (chronic disease versus plague) affected their decisions. A powerful photo essay reveals the strengths of women from various backgrounds and lifestyles who are coping with HIV. A sensitive account of the complex relationships of the gay community to AIDS is included. Finally, several contributors provide a sampling of international perspectives on the impact of AIDS in other nations.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Fee is Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at the School of Public Health at The Johns Hopkins University in Maryland Daniel M. Fox is President of the Milbank Memorial Fund and Professor of Social Sciences in Medicine at the State University of New York, Stony Brook

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Contemporary Historiography of AIDS	p. 1
The Virus and Its Publics
AIDS and Beyond: Defining the Rules for Viral Traffic	p. 23
Causes, Cases, and Cohorts: The Role of Epidemiology in the Historical Construction of AIDS	p. 49
The Mass-Mediated Epidemic: The Politics of AIDS on the Nightly Network News	p. 84
Law, Ethics, and Public Policy
The Politics of HIV Infection: 1989-1990 as Years of Change	p. 125
The AIDS Litigation Project: A National Review of Court and Human Rights Commission Decisions on Discrimination	p. 144
The History of Transfusion AIDS: Practice and Policy Alternatives	p. 170
Scientific Rigor and Medical Realities: Placebo Trials in Cancer and AIDS Research	p. 194
Entering the Second Decade: The Politics of PRevention, the Politics of Neglect	p. 207
Affected Populations
Until That Last Breath: Women with AIDS	p. 229
Riding the Tiger: AIDS and the Gay Community	p. 245
The First City: HIV among Intravenous Drug Users in New York City	p. 279
International Perspectives
AIDS Policies in the United Kingdom: A Preliminary Analysis	p. 299
Foreign Blood and Domestic Politics: The Issue of AIDS in Japan	p. 326
Medical Research on AIDS in Africa: A Historical Perspective	p. 346
AIDS and HIV Infection in the Third World: A First World Chronicle	p. 377
Notes on Contributors	p. 413
Index	p. 419
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