The Encyclopedia of HIV and AIDS

Provides definitions, discussions, and practical advice on HIV, AIDS, and related conditions, from their psychological effects on individuals to treatment strategies.

This is the second edition of a 1998 work titled The AIDS Dictionary. As with the earlier edition, there are several thousand A-Z entries, and the territory covered is enormous. Included is a wide array of topics--medical, cultural, social, personal, and pharmacological.

Changes include both new entries and revisions to existing entries. Abacavir is an example of an entry that has been updated. This is a powerful pharmaceutical agent that was headed for FDA approval for use with HIV patients in 1998, the year the first edition was published. In the 1998 entry, concern was expressed about the efficacy of the drug in patients who had already been prescribed other courses of treatment for HIV. Fears of its potential side effects, including anaphylactic reactions in a small percentage of patients, were also described. In the new entry those concerns and fears are both confirmed; however, abacavir's very positive uses are also discussed, as its benefits have emerged over time. Another revised entry, Pregnancy, is some six paragraphs long in The AIDS Dictionary. In The Encyclopedia, it has grown to multiple pages with subheadings such as "Pregnancy and HIV Disease," "HIV-Infected Babies," "Prevention and Treatment," "Knowledge of HIV Transmission," and "Reproductive Rights and Testing."

Aside from the entries, The Encyclopedia contains appendixes of value to both librarian and library user alike. The first offers more than 100 "Frequently Used Abbreviations." The second provides many pages of statistics on HIV/AIDS in the U.S. The third appendix provides worldwide HIV/AIDS statistics by country, and the fourth includes selected resources: telephone listings, education sources for physicians, clinical trial information, publications, databases, and Web sites from around the world. An extensive bibliography and index round out this excellent resource. The Encyclopedia of HIV and AIDS is recommended for health collections in academic, public, and medical libraries. RBB
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