The Slow Plague: A Geography of the AIDS Pandemic

This is the first geographical account of the origins, spread and likely future consequences of the HIV viruses. It is based on extensive worldwide research, and sophisticated computational cartographic analysis at Pennsylvania State University, and employs new techniques in spatial modelling. The account is written in entirely non-technical language. "The Slow Plague" is also a book which should be of considerable scientific importance. The author argues that most epidemiological research on AIDS has been misdirected and partial because it has been based on a series of population dynamics models that has a time but no space dimension. Gould argues further that the understanding and treatment of AIDS has been hampered by the conscious or unconscious belief that those suffering from the disease are and will continue to be confined to specific minority groups and to parts of the Third World. He shows that this view has led to fundamental misconceptions of the nature of the disease and the future patterns of its spread and of sections of the population that are now most at risk.