The diseases of the AIDS syndrome are caused by germs we encounter every day. In fact, some of these germs permanently live, in small numbers, inside the human body. When the immune (defense) system weakens, these germs have the opportunity to multiply freely, so the diseases these germs cause are called "opportunistic diseases."
AIDS first claimed national attention when, in 1981, five homosexual men in Los Angeles were simultaneously hospitalized due to Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). At that time, PCP normally occurred in kidney transplant patients whose immune systems had been chemically suppressed (blocked). PCP was usually cured by antibiotic drugs. The PCP is these men, however, resisted drug therapy.
As more cases of mysterious immune-deficiency diseases came into being among more and more homosexual men, doctors guessed that it was an acquired disease; a disease that could be passed from one person to another. The mysterious disease was given its name, AIDS, before its cause was discovered.
Initially, doctors and scientists were baffled. Theories of the cause regarding AIDS changed over time. First, some scientists thought some factor in homosexual lifestyle caused AIDS. Eventually, this line of thought led to the "immune-overload theory." In this theory, the immune system was thought to collapse from overwork: being exposed to too many diseases. Many of the first people to catch AIDS practiced a number of habits known to increase the likelihood of catching diseases, namely, having sexual contact with large numbers of people, using large quantities of legal and illegal drugs, and having irregular sleeping and eating habits.
The immune-overload theory was rejected as scientists found evidence that AIDS was caused by an infectious agent (germ). First, doctors found that sexual partners of AIDS patients were coming down with AIDS. Second, it was discovered that intravenous (IV) drug abusers, who use medical needles to inject drugs into their bodies and often share these needles with other people, were also coming down with AIDS. In retrospect, it is now known that AIDS was present in the U.S. population before 1981. Several doctors, epidemiologists (scientists who study the spread of disease in populations), and members of the homosexual community had recognized the presence of a disease alternately called "the gay cancer," the "gay plague," and GRID (Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease).
Finally, in May 1983, Dr. Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris obtained a virus from an AIDS patient which he believed to cause AIDS. Few other scientists believed Dr. Montagnier, though, and lacking the resource to continue studying the virus, he placed his samples on ice. Then, in may 1984, Dr. Robert Gallo at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) isolated a virus he believed to cause AIDS. Evidently, they were both right, but the legal battle continues over the rights of discovery. Eventually this virus was named the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV for short. The acronym HIV is used throughout this book.