The Relationship between the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (Draft)

DRAFT

Initial Theories
The fact that homosexual men constituted the initial population in which AIDS occurred
in the United States led some to surmise that a homosexual lifestyle was specifically related to
the disease (Goedert et al., 1982; Hurtenbach and Shearer, 1982; Sonnabend et al., 1983;
Durack, 1981; Mavligit et al., 1984). These early suggestions that AIDS resulted from some
facet of homosexual lifestyle were largely dismissed when the syndrome was observed in
distinctly different population groups in the United States: in male and female injection drug
users; in hemophiliacs and blood transfusion recipients; among female sex partners of
bisexual men, recipients of blood or blood products, or injection drug users; and among
infants born to mothers with AIDS or who used drugs (CDC, 1982f; CDC, 1982b,c,d; CDC,
1983a; Poon et al., 1982; Elliot et al., 1982; Curran et al., 1984; Pitchenik et al., 1984; Jaffe et
al., 1984, 1985b; Rubinstein et al., 1983; Oleske et al., 1983; Scott et al., 1984; Ammann et
al., 1983b; Masur et al., 1982b). In 1983, for example, a study found that hemophiliacs with
no history of any of the proposed causes of AIDS in homosexual men had developed the
syndrome, and some of the men had apparently transmitted the disease to their wives (de
Shazo et al., 1983).
Many public health experts concluded that the clustering of AIDS cases (Auerbach et
al., 1984) and the occurrence of cases in diverse risk groups could be explained only if AIDS
were caused by an infectious microorganism transmitted in the manner of hepatitis B virus
(HBV): by sexual contact, by inoculation with blood or blood products, and from mother to
newborn infant (Francis et al., 1983; Curran et al., 1984; AMA, 1984; CDC, 1982f; CDC,
1983a, 1983b.).
Early suspects for the cause of AIDS were cytomegalovirus (CMV), because of its
association with immunosuppression, and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which has an affinity for
lymphocytes (Gottlieb et al., 1981; Hymes et al., 1981; CDC, 1 982f). However, AIDS was a
new phenomenon, and these viruses already had a worldwide distribution. Comparative

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