Allan M. Brandt, in Science (Jan. 22, 1988), 1333 H St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, which has so far afflicted about one in 4,200 Americans, is not the first sexually transmitted disease to become a major national worry. During the late 1800s, about one in 10 citizens had syphilis. Its story, says Brandt, associate professor of social medicine at Harvard, offers an "important analog" to the AIDS drama.
Syphilis was feared both as a disease (often...