aids

AIDS / H.I.V.

Multimedia

Audio Slide Show

Washington's Lone Needle Exchange Program

Federal law bars the nation�s capital from using local tax money for needle exchange programs. The city also has the fastest-growing number of new AIDS cases.

• Related Article: Alone in a City�s AIDS Battle, Hoping for Backup

Slide Show

Battle Over the AIDS Memorial Quilt

The creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt is locked in a legal tug of war with the quilt�s caretaker.

Video

Tracking the Spread of HIV

A U.N. report indicates that the number of people infected with H.I.V. may have stabilized globally since the 1990s, but the disease is still proliferating in several individual countries. (Produced by Emily B. Hager)

Video: The World Hasn't Moved On

AIDS was first recognized 25 years ago. Nicholas D. Kristof travels to the country hardest hit by the virus today.

• Related Column

AIDS Care in Africa

Sharon LaFraniere says cheaper drugs offer hope for children, but medical staff is scant.

AIDS and Tradition in Africa

Sharon LaFraniere explains how Africa is compelled to challenge the sexual "cleansing" of widows.

• Related Article

AIDS in Africa

Sharon LaFraniere examines AIDS impact on orphaned girls in Mozambique.

• Related Article

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A free collection of articles about AIDS/H.I.V. published in The New York Times.

Web Resources: Unaids | World Health Organization

Reference Material on AIDS/H.I.V.

HEALTH DICTIONARY:

AIDS (aydz)

Acronym for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a fatal disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. Believed to have originated in Africa, AIDS has become an epidemic, infecting tens of millions of people worldwide. The virus, which is transmitted from one individual to another through the exchange of body fluids (such as blood or semen), attacks white blood cells, thereby causing the body to lose its capacity to ward off infection. As a result, many AIDS patients die of opportunistic infections that strike their debilitated bodies. AIDS first appeared in the United States in 1981, primarily among homosexuals and intravenous drug users who shared needles, but throughout the world, it is also transmitted by heterosexual contact. Today, scientists are hopeful that AIDS can be managed by new drugs, such as protease inhibitors, and need not be fatal. (See AZT.)

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ALSO SEE: NYT Guide to Essential Knowledge, Dictionary, Columbia Encyclopedia, Essay

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. See AIDS on Answers.com

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Articles