HIV infection on trial.Once in charge of the health of thousands of citizens, former San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden health commissioner Ron Hill Ron Hill, MBE, BSc, PhD (b. September 25, 1938, in Accrington, East Lancashire, England), is the founder of Ronhill and Hilly Clothing Company, makers of performance apparel, and the second man ever to break two hours and ten minutes in the marathon (after Derek Clayton). is now facing charges that he knowingly infected two men with HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. . The 46-year-old former nurse, arrested on September 17, is one of the first to be tried under a 1998 California law that makes it a felony to willfully willfully adv. referring to doing something intentionally, purposefully and stubbornly. Examples: "He drove the car willfully into the crowd on the sidewalk." "She willfully left the dangerous substances on the property." (See: willful) infect someone with the virus. He pleaded not guilty on September 25. California is among 24 states with such laws but one of only four that require proof of intent, said Zita Lazzarini, director of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. study of HIV-related laws. That makes convicting Hill difficult, she said, but not impossible. "I think that using a law that has a relatively high threshold for prosecution makes sense of what you're looking to do is punish bad behavior," she said. Thomas Lister, one of the two men Hill is accused of infecting, said he hopes the trial "will help slow the rate of HIV transmission by promoting the honesty, responsibility, accountability, and mutual respect that should be taking place in sexual relationships." Lister won a $5 million civil suit against Hill in 2002. |
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