AIDS: Living and Dying With Hope : Issues in Pastoral Care

Preface<br > The contemporary story began silently in the early to mid-<br > 1970s when the global spread of a virus appears to have started.<br > In the summer of 1981 the Center for Disease Control (CDC)<br >cited in its weekly newsletter five cases of an unusual pneumo-<br >nia in young homosexual men in Los Angeles. Some of these<br >patients also had a cancer rarely seen in younger persons. By the<br >early months of 1982 the CDC was referring to cases with these<br >symptoms as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome， which<br >quickly was understood by its acronym， AIDS.<br > Since that time the AIDS story has become a part of our<br >common experience. In the intervening years， the international<br >press and electronic media have chronicled the spread of a dis-<br >ease which has become a pandemic. Despite the medical sophis-<br >tication which characterizes our technologically advanced so-<br >cieties in these final decades of the twentieth century， AIDS<br >presents us with frightening challenges. Although there are<br >promising technical and scientific advances， at this time there is<br >no cure for AIDS and no vaccine to prevent AIDS. AIDS has<br >mobilized the international scientific community not only to<br >seek a cure for the disease， but also to prevent and control its<br >spread.<br > The worldwide medical community was slow to recognize<br >the broad spectrum of ways in which AIDS would affect individu-<br >als， families， and societies. Now in the latter years of the 1980s<br >we are beginning to assess accurately the costs in terms of hu-<br >man suffering， health care， and social impact. People who have<br >been exposed to the virus are uncertain about their future<br >IV<br >4h<br > healt<br > disru<br > clinic<br > with<br > year<br > tries 1<br > inter~<br > is str~<br > t<br > tude;<br > tional<br > to th~<br > tradit:<br > and sl<br > P<br > (AID~<br > provic<br > had p:<br > those<br > tice. l<br > emoti~<br > AIDS<br > ticulal<br > need.<br > A<br > ence a<br >many<br >growtt<br >the mc<br >havion<br >(1944)<br >momel<br >import~<br >ing of 1<br >cessity<br >new or:<br > In<br >toral as<br >guidan~<br ><br >