HIV Prevention -- Bringing the Message Home

An important goal of epidemiologic and laboratory research on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been to determine how HIV transmission occurs, so that effective prevention strategies can be developed. Early in the epidemic, epidemiologic studies of persons with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) defined the most common modes of transmission -- sexual, blood-borne, and perinatal -- making strategies for prevention possible even before HIV was discovered. With the advent of serologic testing for HIV, the risk of transmission was estimated for certain exposures that transmit HIV less frequently, such as needle-stick injuries, providing the rationale for guidelines to prevent . . .