[balrog666]

Why is there "...certainly something to be said for the containment strategy" regarding smallpox, but not AIDS?

Could it be that we know how smallpox is transmitted and how contagious it is to everyone while the probability of contracting AIDS if you are outside of the obvious risk categories is essentially nil?

[MarkWar]

>Could it be that we know how smallpox is transmitted and how contagious it is to everyone while the probability of contracting AIDS if you are outside of the obvious risk categories is essentially nil?

1) Nobody knew that when the outbreak started -- in Africa AIDS apparently hits heterosexuals as well as gays. 2) A containment strategy would have protected _everyone_, even the people that you would be willing to just write off. 3) In a population of nearly 300,000,000 people, "essential nil" is not the same as zero. If a _traditional_ protection method for dealing with a disease can do better, why put up with ANY needless deaths?

Politics makes strange bedfellows. (Punny.)

Mark W.