A fluttering in the breeze

摘要

The scientific study of aids has dropped out of the headlines over the past year or two. The disease is still a mass killer, but the drugs used to combat it have become cheaper, and the mechanisms for getting them to the infected, most of whom live in poor countries (predominantly African ones), have got better. As to prevention, circumcision-though by no means a complete answer-has been shown to reduce a man's risk of becoming infected with hi v, the virus that causes the disease, and thus helps slow down the rate of transmission. The drugs, too, seem to do that, by reducing the number of viruses in an individual's body.