Dave the Gnome says: I would tackle the epidemic by ensuring there is enough money for research into the condition without having people whinging that good money is being spent on perverts! You still haven't answered my question. How can you enforce compulsory testing without involving the legal agencies, therefore criminalising those who are not tested.

Dave, I worked for thirty years as an investigator for the U.S. Government, and I had a national reputation for the quality of my work. I relied completely on the good will of the people who had information to give me, and I knew that I had to win that good will. I knew that if I had to resort to coercion, I had failed - so I never made use of threats or coercion.

I had a coworker who had worked for the State of California as a venereal disease investigator before he worked for us doing security clearance investigations. It sounded to me like it would be horrible doing VD investigations, but my friend learned to take it as a matter of course - to earn cooperation from people, never to force it.

-Joe-