Eight years after the first recognition of AIDS, new insights into the distribution and expression of the disease continue to accumulate as fast as the inexorable increase in cases. Consequently, there is a need for a thorough review of the major issues in population studies of the disease, as well as a detailed but accessible summary of the biology of the infection. As the first comprehensive text on the epidemiology of AIDS and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, this book distils voluminous, widely dispersed research data on the AIDS phenomenon in a single, integrated volume. It provides discussions of the biology and clinical manifestations of the infection and the disease, thorough treatment of its occurrence in high and low risk populations, and a detailed account of control efforts, including behavioural intervention, drug therapy, immunization and other responses of the health care and legal systems.