AIDS IN THE WORKPLACE

It has been six years since acquired immune deficiency syndrome was first diagnosed among a small group of homosexual men on the West Coast of the USA. Since then, more than 23,000 cases have been reported, in half of which the patients have died. The Federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate that up to two million people have been infected by the virus that causes AIDS — HTLV‐III. Some believe that as many as 30 per cent of these will develop the illness within five years of infection; more will be affected by AIDS‐related complex, a pattern of disorders that, though similar to the symptoms of AIDS, does not meet the restrictive criteria as defined by the CDC.