Monday is a day for lists
The world awaits the next development in a possible catastrophic epidemic in the form of title
avian flu, but best we not forget HIV/AIDS is still a calamitous human infection. LeRoy Whitfield chronicled the everyday struggle of infected people, and now he is dead of the disease about which he wrote so passionately.
A few (2004) statistics
for your consideration:
~39.4 million: the number of people estimated to be living with HIV worldwide. This is 50% higher than projected for 2004 in 1991.
~4.9 million: number of newly infected persons each year
~20 million: number of people estimated to have thus far died from AIDS
~12 million: number of African children current estimated to have been orphaned due to AIDS
~6,000: number of young people (15-24 years) who become infected each day
~$14,000-$34,000
: the annual cost of treating an HIV infected patient in the United States.
~1 million: number of people in developing or transitional countries who are receiving any form of HIV therapy. 6 million are estimated to need such therapy.
~Excellent book on what happens during an influenza pandemic: The Great Influenza
~Excellent new novel about influenza: Wickett’s Remedy
