AIDS in the United StatesFor an epidemic that has exploded throughout the world and is killing thousands every day, AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) has surfaced very discreetly in the United States. On June 4, 1981, a weekly bulletin published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta reported five unusual cases of pneumonia diagnosed in Los Angeles residents in the preceding months. All the patients were gay men with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, a rare lung infection usually found only in severely malnourished people who had undergone intensive chemotherapy. Before becoming ill, the five men were well nourished and considered to be in very good health and with strong immune systems (Odets, 20-23). ​​During the year, similar cases were reported across the country. Adults who seemed perfectly healthy were suddenly suffering from rare infections and malignancies. Most of the cases were reported in New York, California, Florida and Texas, but unlike the men involved in the Los Angeles cases, not all were gay men. Many were intravenous drug users, men with hemophilia, and immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. All these people had one thing in common: they had a significant absence of the number of white blood cells in their body (Odets, 67 years old). These cells, commonly called “T cells”, contribute to the proper functioning of the immune system. Due to the lack of T cells, the patient's immune system became very weak, making him vulnerable to one health problem after another. It was not until 1984 that it was concluded that the human immunodeficiency virus, commonly known as HIV, was responsible for this mysterious syndrome. Many people use the terms HIV and AIDS interchangeably, which is not entirely accurate. AIDS is defined as the most advanced stages of HIV infection (Russel, 86). It was discovered in the mid-1980s that HIV could be passed from person to person through sexual contact, through contact with infected blood, or from mother to baby through the breast. milk. It then settles into the body's T cells and gradually destroys them. In 1985, a major study was carried out so that scientists could get a better idea of ​​the structure of the virus and the exact effects it would have on infected individuals. The news was not good. Scientists discovered that the virus was shaped like an iceberg, with a small visible tip and a huge invisible base..