The Link between HIV and the Development of AIDS :: Free AIDS Essays

The Link between HIV and the Development of AIDS The breakout of the AIDS pandemic during the early eighties is considered one of the biggest challenges in modern medicine. Twenty years after the first AIDS cases were recorded, we are far from developing a cure for this devastating pandemic. Although our knowledge of this condition remains limited, the vast majority of scientists now agree that the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is the predominant cause of AIDS, and the notion that HIV equals AIDS is widely regarded as a fact by the general public. Since 1998, however, a group of dissenters led by Dr. Peter Duesberg has questioned the validity of this theory. Duesberg, an accredited biologist, believes that there is no cause and effect relationship between HIV and AIDS. Instead, he has proposed that drugs, recreational or prescribed, are responsible for the onset of AIDS in humans. Although his claims have been largely refuted by the scientific community, Duesberg has generated a large supporter base, which includes activist Christina Maggiore and South African President Thabo Mbeki. Since Duesberg's ideas were first introduced to the public in 1987, hundreds of HIV positive patients have followed the dissenter's advice and stopped taking available medication, even when there is no clear scientific evidence supporting his theory. Despite the gravity of the situation, the approach taken by the media and the scientific community has been to ignore the issues at hand, giving little to no coverage of this critical topic. Meanwhile, the number of dissenters continues to rise, as does the number of patients jeopardizing their lives. The first cases of the condition now known as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) were reported in the United States in 1981, when five young males died from severe cases of pneumonia. At the time the disease was thought to be strongly associated with homosexuality and was known as the "gay cancer" or "gay pneumonia" (Duesberg 1996). The number of deaths under similar circumstances rose to over eight hundred in 1982, but it was not until 1984 that Dr. Robert Gallo successfully isolated the human immunodeficiency virus and declared it "the probable cause of AIDS" (Derbyshire 1997). No one has ever acquired AIDS symptoms without first having HIV. Over the past twenty years, our knowledge of HIV and AIDS has increased. We know that HIV can be transmitted through sexual contact, as well as through blood transfusions and during pregnancy from mother to child.