The most important public health problem of our time—AIDS—is also the most shrouded in myth and misinformation. To bring the facts out of the shadows of fear and hysteria, the first edition of Mobilizing against AIDS was published in 1986. This new edition, nearly double the size of the first, interprets the results of the latest research on the disease and possible methods of treatment.

For the foreseeable future the vast majority of AIDS cases will occur among groups that have already experienced major losses: homosexual and bisexual men, intravenous drug abusers, people who received blood or blood products before techniques were developed to safeguard the blood supply, heterosexual partners of those at recognized risk of HIV infection, and infants born to infected mothers. Mobilizing against AIDS examines new data on the growth of the epidemic within these groups, as well as on successful and failed attempts to stop the spread of the disease. In addition, it explores the growing problem of AIDS among the urban poor.

This new edition also presents up to date information on how the disease affects the body, including damage to immune cells, bone marrow cells, skin cells, and cells of the cervix and colon. It contains additional discussions of treatment (particularly drug therapy and prospects for a vaccine) and a searching examination of the implications of societal and individual stress caused by the epidemic. In summarizing the events that have taken place in the last few years, Eve K. Nichols has worked closely with the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences and other key players in the battle against AIDS. Maintaining the clear and nontechnical style that has been so widely acclaimed, Nichols has forged an extraordinarily thorough synthesis that carries an authoritative stamp, ensuring that this new edition will be an indispensable resource for everyone concerned with AIDS and its treatment.