Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has posed many dilemmas for health care workers and tapped into numerous fears. Health care professionals whose main professional task is to cure and to heal have been confronted with a disease with an unknown cause no known cure and a life-threatening nature. Moreover AIDS victims tend to come from groups that are not well accepted in the mainstream of society. One approach to the feelings of lack of control engendered by AIDS is for health workers to accumulate information about the epidemiology of AIDS its transmissibility effective precautions and the life-style issues involved. Another issue that health workers must face is their own homophobia which is often too subtle to recognize. Hospital administrations should be approached and asked to set up workshops on homophobia for employees. Finally it is noted that the biggest risk for the health worker is not that of contracting AIDS but the risk of becoming involved in the stresses of caring for young people with serious illnesses. These stresses are particularly acute for gay health workers. 6 suggestions are offered for health care workers who care for AIDS patients: 1) look at who gets AIDS and who does not as a guide to understanding transmission; 2) remember that deadliness and contagiousness are not the same; 3) be aware of emotions that get in the way of professional decisions; 4) gather information on AIDS to counteract hysteria; 5) take the risk of personal involvement; and 6) for administrators deal with employee grievances and be sure that the hospitals patient advocacy system is intact.