In Time of Plague

Examining the ways in which diseases, particularly catastrophic infectious and contagious diseases, are and have been biologically and socially defined, this text analyzes what past epidemics tell us about AIDS and how definitions of and responses to disease have changed throughout history.

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Plague takes many forms: influenza, typhus, cholera, the Black Death and recently, AIDS. AIDS has reminded us of some very old truths, truths most Americans had managed to forget during the past four decades. Epidemic infectious disease is not simply a historical phenomenon - or one limited like famine to remote continents. AIDS is a vivid and painful illustration of how epidemics take place at a number of levels - biological event, social perception, collective response and, finally, the individual, the existential and the moral. "In Time of Plague" examines the many ways in which diseases, particularly catastrophic infectious and contagious diseases, are and have been biologically and socially defined. In the politically charged age of AIDS, In Time of Plague analyzes what past epidemics tell us about this new, deadly virus: How has the definition of disease differed throughout history? How have new technologies and advances in epidemiology changed our perception and repsonse to disease? When has quarrantine been appropriate or effective? What norms should govern our thinking about responsibility, culpability, legality, and confidentiality? What does society owe the victims?
What, in turn, are the responsibilities of the carrier population?