Aids

A New Disease.

About the beginning of the decade, physicians discovered the existence of a "new" illness. This disease burst on the world scene in a terrible way as a new "plague" striking mankind. For a while there was general alarm when Americans discovered that the disease was linked to sex, blood, and drugs. It came to be known as AIDS, an acronym that stood for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. AIDS is caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which attacks certain cells in the immune system, leaving it unable to fight off "opportunistic" infectious diseases and certain unusual cancers. The virus also can invade brain cells, leading to psychological disturbances. The disease is always fatal.

Early Cases.

The first warnings came when a Los Angeles physician noticed a cluster of symptoms from young men in California who were members of the growing gay community there. The first official...

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