Narratives of North Carolina Epidemiology

Nov 16, 2004

HIV Goes Back to School
by Anton Zuiker
(Under the direction of Thomas Linden, M.D.)

In 2003, state and university researchers discovered a rise in incidence of HIV among college students in North Carolina over the years 2000-2003. This increase included 84 students from 37 colleges and universities across the state; the majority of the students were African-American males and contracted HIV through sex with other men. A new HIV screening program that tests for acute HIV infection helped to identify the college cases, and the state’s partner notification and counseling program was also helpful in tracking the sexual networks that connected the students and their campuses. In an introductory chapter, I review AIDS journalism and narrative writing and provide background to the N.C. outbreak. In the main chapter, I present a narrative-style non-fiction magazine article that explores the work of researchers, epidemiologists and public health officials in response to the N.C. college HIV increase.

[Read the entire thesis here.]

[Read only the main chapter, a 12,000-word narrative feature article, here.]

Anton Zuiker ☄