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- $Unique_ID{BRK00600}
- $Pretitle{}
- $Title{Does Anybody Know Where AIDS Started?}
- $Subject{AIDS origin Infections Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
- HIV Human immunodeficiency virus viruses viral infection blood origins}
- $Volume{A-7}
- $Log{
- HIV--Human Immune Deficiency Virus*0001001.scf
- Who Gets AIDS*0001002.scf
- AIDS Weakens the Immune System*0001003.scf}
-
- Copyright (c) 1991-92,1993 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
-
-
- Does Anybody Know Where AIDS Started?
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-
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-
- QUESTION: I am confused and distressed by all the suffering caused by AIDS,
- and by people not being heard when they cry for help. I can not recall
- anything like this happening years ago. Does anybody know where this terrible
- disease started, and could it have been stopped before it spread this far?
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ANSWER: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, was first seen in the
- United States around 1979. The virus that causes the disease probably
- originated in Africa, but no one is certain exactly how it spread to this
- country.
- Researchers do have several theories, however. One is that the French
- and Belgians who lived in Central Africa, especially around Zaire, could have
- carried the virus back to Western Europe. Another theory states that Haitians
- who visited Africa may have brought AIDS back, and Haitian male prostitutes
- spread it to U.S. homosexuals vacationing in the Caribbean. Cuban soldiers
- stationed in Angola, a neighboring country of Zaire, in the mid-1970's may
- have brought the virus to the Caribbean. Then, the virus was carried into the
- U.S. when "undesirables"--who included some homosexuals--were kicked out of
- Cuba by Fidel Castro.
- Once in this country, AIDS first appeared among male homosexuals, leading
- doctors to call the disease "Gay Related Immune Deficiency." Later, however,
- it began showing up among drug addicts and other people like hemophiliacs who
- had received blood transfusions, as well as women and babies, and so and the
- name was changed to reflect our newer understanding.
- All this of course is theory, and no one really knows for certain. Since
- we had little positive proof of its origins, it probably was unstoppable, and
- now education and research are the best lines of defense we possess to bring
- the tragedy of AIDS under control.
-
- ----------------
-
- The material contained here is "FOR INFORMATION ONLY" and should not replace
- the counsel and advice of your personal physician. Promptly consulting your
- doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical
- problem.
-
-