Caren Potter | Jun 27, 1993 | 6 min read
Safe laboratory handling of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) presents paradoxical extremes to lab chiefs: The odds that a lab worker will become infected with HIV on the job are extremely low, according to studies sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta; but experience indicates that the consequences of infection are almost always fatal. Even noting the minority scientific view that HIV is not the cause of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS),