The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: general overview.

Abstract

Early in his novel “The Plague” (La Peste), Albert Camus describes the unpreparedness and disbelief of a population confronted with the onset of an epidemic. He tracks the course of the disease on both its victims and the population at large, paying particular attention to the response of ordinary citizens to a catastrophy within their midst. The disease and its effects upon people becomes a metaphor for the human condition. There are strikingly similar parallels in the unfolding story of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). This disease, only five years since its recognition, has produced an extraordinary medical chronicle, with enormous consequences for clinical medicine, virology, immunology, neurobiology and the public health yet to be fully assessed. In addition, the social implications of this new disease are of unprecedented complexity and interest.