AIDS: A Strange and Deadly Virus
The virus that causes AIDS has become one of the most intensively studied disease-causing organisms in the history of science. Its anatomy has been dissected, and the way it penetrates the body's defences understood. This year a vaccine has reached the crucial stage of testing in monkeys. And a powerful new drug may offer some hope to sufferers. But the more AIDS researchers learn, the more worried they become. The virus has now infected 20 million people across the globe; it is spreading sexually between males and females; and attacking not only the immune system, but also the brain. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of young people with AIDS may require specialised mental health care.
Narrator Paul Vaughan Film editor PETER PARNHAM Written and produced by DAVID DUGAN and MAX WHITBY
Horizon editor ROBIN BRIGHTWELL
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