If someone you know is diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, it can feel as if they and everyone who knows them is being pulled into quicksand. Today's title provides all the facts and information you need to learn about HIV and AIDS: what they are, how they are transmitted, how they can be prevented, how people react to the news, and what sorts of problems they can expect - healthwise and otherwise, given the bias against people with HIV/AIDS that continues to exist in our society.
Each chapter of the book opens with part of the author's story, in which she talks about her brother-in-law's diagnosis with HIV and AIDS, and, ultimately, with his death in 2006. The chapters then explain more about the HIV virus - what it is, how it is (and is not) transmitted, what precautions can be taken - and about the difference between HIV and AIDS. She also discusses treatments for the virus, as well as talking about what it's like for families and friends to learn about a diagnosis, and about the importance of supporting friends or family who have the virus, as well as the people who know and love them.
The one part of this book that feels a bit disingenuous is that the author makes the point that HIV/AIDS is nothing to be ashamed of, yet the author changes the names of people involved and refuses to divulge her own identity. However, the author does explain her mother-in-law's sensitivity to people knowing that her son died of AIDS, which is why she withholds that information.
This book is an excellent and concise resource for anyone wanting to know more about HIV and AIDS, no matter what their reason for inquiring.