AIDS in the United StatesFor an epidemic that has exploded throughout the world and claims thousands of victims every day, AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) emerged very quietly in the United States. On June 4, 1981, a weekly newsletter published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta reported five unusual cases of pneumonia that had been diagnosed in Los Angeles residents in the previous months. All patients were homosexual males suffering from Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, a rare lung infection usually found only in severely malnourished individuals undergoing intensive chemotherapy. Before becoming ill, all five men were well-nourished and considered very healthy with strong immune systems (Odets, 20-23). Similar cases were reported across the country during the year. Adults who seemed perfectly healthy suddenly became ill with rare infections and malignant tumors. Most cases were reported in New York, California, Florida and Texas, but unlike the men in the Los Angeles cases, not all were homosexual males. Many were intravenous drug users, men with hemophilia, and immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. All of these people had one thing in common: they had a notable absence of white blood cells in their bodies (Odets, 67). These cells, commonly called “T cells,” help keep the immune system functioning properly. Due to the lack of T cells, the patient's immune system has become very weak, making him vulnerable to one health problem after another. Only in 1984 was it concluded that the cause of this mysterious syndrome is the human immunodeficiency virus, commonly called HIV. Many people use the terms HIV and AIDS interchangeably, which is not exactly accurate. AIDS refers to the most advanced stage of HIV infection (Russel, 86). In the mid-1980s it was discovered that HIV can be transmitted from one person to another through sexual contact, contact with infected blood or from mother to child through the breast. milk. It then settles in the body's T cells and progressively destroys them. In 1985, a major study was conducted so that scientists could have a better idea of ​​the structure of the virus and the exact effects it would have on infected individuals. The news wasn't good. Scientists found that the virus was shaped like an iceberg, with a small visible tip and a huge invisible base.