AIDS & HIV in Perspective: A Guide to Understanding the Virus and Its Consequences

Schoub, director of the National Institute of Virology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in South Africa, acknowledges that in many respects the AIDS epidemic has been a humbling experience for medical science. Calling it the most formidable of all diseases in human history, he says that while it falls short of the Black Plague, which wiped out a quarter of Europe's population during the Middle Ages, and the Spanish influenza pandemic, which killed more than 20 million people at the end of WW I, AIDS will undoubtedly be recorded as one of the greatest sicknesses to afflict humankind. Well-researched, easy to understand, Schoub's book outlines in detail the discovery of the disease and several hypotheses about why it might have festered. Chapters assess AIDS transmission, testing, treatments and their shortcomings, progress with an AIDS vaccine, and ethical issues concerning AIDS. Although there may not be much new information here for people awaiting breakthroughs in AIDS research and treatment, educators and the lay public will appreciate Schoub's sensible examination of an epidemic. Photos not seen by PW. (June)