The invisible cure Africa, the West, and the fight against AIDS

In many ways, AIDS in Africa is no different from AIDS in the United States and Europe. It’s caused by the same virus (HIV), which kills people in the same way, although the opportunistic infections that evade HIV-compromised immune systems are caused by locally circulating pathogens, with tuberculosis to the fore in Africa. In The invisible cure: Africa, the West, and the fight against AIDS, Helen Epstein — a visiting research scholar at Princeton University — discusses important distinctions about AIDS in Africa, focusing on Uganda and South Africa, where she has covered the epidemic at close hand for 15 years. Her scientific training and time spent as a young researcher in a Ugandan laboratory help ensure she covers AIDS science accurately, although this is a peripheral theme. Her central focus is on a critical question: Why has HIV spread so much more efficiently among heterosexuals in Africa than anywhere else in the world?