It's not tuberculosis, which is a casually transmitted disease. I have a graduate student, Ronnie West, studying the effect of HIV on the nongay population in terms of marginal increases in tuberculosis deaths. HIV-positives make up 42 percent of the TB cases in New York City. This is where HIV can reach out and touch the rest of us. Tuberculosis is becoming more virulent because people with HIV, who have no resistance, will spread it to the general population.
Tuberculosis is an aerosol-borne disease.
If you had someone with tuberculosis walking down the hall you would be at risk. West's early evidence is that the marginal effect of AIDS on a tuberculosis epidemic is not going to be catastrophic. But the effect could be as much as 10,000 additional TB cases each year. If you're one of those people, it's pretty important. West, who is my student, is finishing his Ph.D. dissertation right now.