HIV has been getting lots of attention lately. The CDC thinks tracking HIV by name is the best way to do it, while activist organizations think there are better ways to track it. The unquestioned assumption is, of course, that the bodies marked as HIV-positive must be tracked.

In addition, both Clinton and Congress are anxious to throw more money at HIV and AIDS for their own reasons, and all Right Thinking Americans are backing them in doing so. Meanwhile the Third Wor ld is said to be an exploding bomb of HIV, such that AIDS will devastate those countries in a short time.

In all the hubbub, it is interesting to note that the predicted leading causes of disability-adjusted life years lost worldwide by the year 2020 are largely diseases related to diet and/or food supply (ie. heart disease, pulmonary disease, etc), with HIV just making the bottom of the list. In this study, mortality due to communicable disease is expected to decrease while mortality due t o non-communicable disease is expected to increase.

HIV, though, provides a reason to track names. It offers the possibility of exporting expensive diagnostic equipment and it opens up world markets for expensive drugs, paid to the drug makers through public-funded subsidies when personal finances don't foot the bill.

There is little mystery surrounding the hoopla about HIV and AIDS, except why those actually concerned about the dead and dying are willing to go along with the game.