Coincidental Appearance of LAV/HTLV-III Antibodies in Hemophiliacs and the Onset of the AIDS Epidemic

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Abstract
THE acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) may be caused by a human T-cell lymphotropic retrovirus, termed "lymphadenopathy-associated virus" (LAV) by Institut Pasteur scientists in France1 , 2 and "human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III" (HTLV-III) by scientists at the National Institutes of Health in the United States.3 , 4 These retroviruses are antigenically indistinguishable5; they have been isolated from a large number of patients with AIDS or AIDS-related conditions in France and the United States,1 2 3 4 5 6 and in one instance from a blood donor and the recipient of the donor's blood, both of whom contracted AIDS.7 Patients with AIDS or the lymphadenopathy syndrome and other . . .