ABSTRACT
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids) first emerged in 1981 when a disproportionate number of male homosexuals in America developed pneumocystis pneumonia. The disease spread worldwide and now affects every country, there being 16,000 patients in the UK in 1992 who were HIV positive and 5,648 with Aids. Of these 8% were women, and in two-thirds of the men there was a history of homosexual contact.
