Cyclosporin Immunosuppression as the Possible Cause of AIDS

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Abstract
To the Editor: Investigators have suggested that the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) results from a transmissible infectious agent, probably a virus.1 We propose a nonviral infectious agent as either a possible primary causative agent of AIDS or a secondary agent that contributes to the persistent immunosuppression. Our hypothesis suggests that the severe impairment of the immune system and the subsequent fatal opportunistic infections result from the systemic release of a potent cyclosporin-like immunosuppresive molecule from a chronic fungal infection in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. One of us (T. F.) isolated three different strains of the same fungal species . . .