By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – 
The sudden emergence of the SARS virus has focused the attention of medical professionals around the world in a way not seen since the early 1980's, when the HIV-AIDS scare dominated the news of the day.
Though less attention is given to HIV these days, the virus remains a serious health threat that infects up to 50,000 people each year in the U.S. alone.
In the first of two reports, KWMU's Kevin Lavery takes a look at the growth of the epidemic in the St. Louis region.