When will prevention of HTLV-III infection be possible?
Over the last five years, the pattern and prevalence of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has taxed microbiologists. The disease has increasingly looked like the result of a transmissible agent which though of low infectivity, has a predilection for certain well-defined social groups. Homosexual men are among the most commonly affected but drug addicts and haemophiliacs are also at risk. The existence of the disease in central Africa suggests also that there may be a natural focus perhaps as the result of interaction between the human population and enzootic animal virus. Nevertheless, the origin of the disease remains obscure.