Living with HIV: A Patient's Guide
Grade 9 Up—This handbook is intended as a guide for patients who have been recently diagnosed with HIV. It opens with an introduction and a brief history of the AIDS epidemic in the United States and continues with chapters on prevention and testing, choosing a healthcare provider, medications, opportunistic infections, dental care, general wellness, and more. By far the most useful chapters are the ones dealing with medications and opportunistic infections. Though clearly written, the book suffers from repetition in several places of almost verbatim text, as well as an overly political view of the subject matter, as when Cichocki attacks certain political figures for their lack of action at a time when few yet understood the scope of the disease. Also, although the introduction states that the title's intended audience is HIV-positive patients, there are many occasions when it digresses into general information that is available elsewhere.—Robin Henry, Wakeland High School, Frisco, TXEND