01354nas a2200157   4500000000100000008004100001260005600042653001300098653001800111100001600129700001400145700002100159245009000180856011300270520081300383       2020                            d  bAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science10aCovid-1910aSocial Stigma1 aGoldberg JB1 aPasztor A1 aChandrashekhar V00aHow stigmatizing disease—from COVID-19 to HIV—creates a vicious cycle of sickness  uhttps://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/how-stigmatizing-disease-covid-19-hiv-creates-vicious-cycle-sickness3 aAs India is becoming the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety about the disease has at times descended into violence against the sick, and even health care workers. The problem isn’t limited to India—people in countries from Nepal to Mexico to Italy have stigmatized individuals connected to COVID-19, making it harder for them to go about their daily lives and get much-needed care. And such ostracism isn’t new: Societies have spurned people with leprosy for ages, as far back as ancient Hindu texts, which proscribed marriage into families that had a member with the disease. In a new story in Science, journalist Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar discusses the history of disease stigma—from leprosy, to plague, to HIV/AIDS—and how its vitriol and isolation can create a vicious cycle of disease.