Effective Help-Providing

Abstract

AIDS is a unique illness, the most frightening and serious of the sexually transmitted diseases. Since it appeared, AIDS has eclipsed much of the attention once given to such treatable “traditional” sexually transmitted diseases as syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, and even such non-curable ones as genital herpes. As discussed earlier, widespread fears that AIDS can be contracted through casual social contact remain, even though well-controlled studies repeatedly disconfirm any basis for this fear. The long latency between viral exposure and any disease onset and the fact that most HIV carriers appear visibly healthy also contribute to the uniqueness of the disease. Finally, because of its association with homosexuality, drug use, and sexual behavior, AIDS elicits stigmatizing and prejudicial attitudes with respect to the perceived life-styles of its victims.