HIV

Syphilis cases in California have contributed to soaring national caseloads of sexually transmitted diseases. Experts point to the advent of dating apps, decreased condom use and an increase in meth.

People were dying of a disease that could be treated — but in poor countries, they did not have access to medicines that could help. That was the story of HIV — and now of COVID-19.

The administration is in its early days, but the infectious disease expert says he's encouraged by the new president's attitude about the pandemic. Science, Fauci says, is "going to rule."

The No. 1 and 2 causes of death remain the same, but there have been a number of notable changes. And now there's a new disease to assess on the global landscape: COVID-19.

The drugs only need to be taken a few times a year — and may soon be available in many parts of the world. Patients say they are more convenient and less stigmatizing.

The coronavirus pandemic feels eerily familiar to people who faced the AIDS crisis. It triggers memories of confusion over how the disease is transmitted and huge numbers of people dying quickly.

NPR's Scott Simon remembers AIDS activist Larry Kramer who died this week. He was 84.

New Yorker writer Michael Specter covered Fauci's early work in the AIDS epidemic. "He's always taken an open-minded approach to the problems," Specter says of the infectious-disease expert.

As we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic, Paul Lisicky's memoir is deeply affecting; we can recall the terror and frustration when no treatment or prevention was available for AIDS and HIV.

Fewer than a third of the 220 counties deemed by the federal government as vulnerable to similar outbreaks have active syringe exchange programs which can stop the spread of the infection.

In more than 30 states, it is illegal for someone with HIV to have sex without first disclosing their status. Some are now trying to change that, arguing that those laws endanger public health.

The topics range from a ticking time bomb in the Arctic to the art of taking selfies in an ethical way. Here are the stories selected by our contributors.