Early coverage |
"AIDS contagious and spreads sexually" [13] |
"Latest research does indicate that AID could very possibly be spread through a virus, which makes it a sexually transmitted disease" [14] |
Uncertainty and fear over the future course of AIDS epidemic |
"Now spread to other groups, fears may reach to London" [37] |
"Inexorable extension into general population" [38] |
"Serious fear of spreading abroad [from US]" [39] |
"Death of victims slow and terrible" [39] |
"Fears that the true number of cases of AIDS in Britain may be much higher" [40] |
"First hard evidence that...contracted by non-homosexuals" [41] |
"Fear may jump to straight population" [42] |
"[on the gay community] feeling of isolation and separation" [42] |
Headline: "Gay plague kills gran" [43] |
"Terrified of contact with sufferers [Headline: Gay sex bug victims are lepers] " [44] |
Transmission route |
"First thought to be only sexually transmitted" [45] |
"Sexually transmissible killer disease" [46] |
"Transmissible agent in blood or semen" [47] |
Risky behaviours identified |
"[homosexuals] vulnerable and promiscuous population" [38] |
"[referring to less cases in the UK than the USA] less extreme promiscuity and little multiple drug use, both believed to be factors in spread" [42] |
"Promiscuity as...revolutionary sexual brotherhood...genuine fears for health put on defensive" [42] |
"Chastity may become latest fashion" [48] |
"Indiscriminate promiscuity" [39] |
"Take fewer partners, but not necessarily have less sex" [16] |