HIV and AIDS: Myths, Facts, and the Future
Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: he first cases of HIV* infection in the United States began to be reported to physicians almost 25 years ago, although at the time, physicians did not know what agent was responsible for the onset of what appeared to be the emergence of an immunodeficiency syndrome. These initial reports in 1981, described unexplained cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) among young homosexual and bisexual men. 1, 2 The cause or reason for the clustering of these conditions among homosexual and bisexual men, particularly along the coastal areas of the United States, was unknown at the time, but subsequent reports that pneumonia and KS were also increasing among hemophiliacs and injecting drug users, which were such separate and distinct populations, suggested that an infectious agent might be involved. 3 The first myths surrounding the syndrome that eventually would become known as AIDS, caused by the HIV retrovirus, began to emerge at this time. The most common are listed in the sidebar (see Page 13) along with information to dispel the myth. This article looks at the demographics of HIV/AIDS in the United States, before going into a detailed discussion of how the infection manifests itself in the body. The remainder of the article touches on co-infection with other viruses.
Source: CommonHealth
Authors: Joseph Kulkosky, Giuseppe Nunnari
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2113375223