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I remember hearing a report on NPR in 81 or 82. The story was about a new disease that was killing young gay men in Florida. I was in a public health related field at the time and I remember going back to the office and telling the boss about the NPR story.

I predicted then that AIDS would be a huge problem and that many people would die. I could not understand then and do not understand now, the almost total lack of concern for the prevention of the spread of AIDS.

I suppose we have accepted AIDS, and recognize that some have welcomed the disease because it is viewed almost entirely as a disease of choice. There is an "It won't happen in our family" mentality and certainly we do not have the political will to take the public health measures necessary to stop the transmission of HIV.

In 1981 there were 300+ known cases of AIDS. As of the end of 2001 over 800,000 cases have been reported with over 462,000 deaths.

We see the same thing in regards to automobile accidents. There is a benign acceptance of 40,000 plus traffic fatalities that are for the most part preventable.

Now we are facing SARS. We continue to believe that it will happen to someone else. Those that travel to China are at risk, but I'm not. I hear it all the time from family and friends.

We do not know much of anything about SARS at this point and the possibility of containment of the disease is almost pure speculation. If the disease is as infectious as it seems and if the mortality rate is somewhere between 10% and 20%, then we may see millions of deaths in the USA alone. That is a horrifying thought when one looks around and imagines their parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren becoming ill and dying a horrible death.

The status quo is a wonderful thing and like the Elders of Owlgate, we can all pretend that nothing ever changes for a time, but ultimately we are going to be facing the reality that things have changed radically.

When it comes to public health, no expense should be spared to stop this disease and to find effective treatments for the cases that somehow slip through. Public health is not a democratic vs republican or liberal vs conservative issue. Public health is a quality of life issue and our survival as a republic depends on our ability to manage the public welfare.

Using AIDS as an example, if history repeats itself, we are likely to do too little much too late