Question
What is the proof that HIV causes AIDS?
2 December 2015. Related: All topics, HIV testing, HIV transmission.
Answer
There is a wealth of evidence that HIV causes AIDS.
Over time, without HIV treatment (ART), nearly everyone living with HIV will develop AIDS.
The immune damage and associated AIDS-related infections do not exist in people who do not have HIV.
Large population studies confirm this link. Specialist research into immunology also confirms this.
This includes cases where healthcare workers have been exposed through needlestick injuries to blood from someone who is HIV-positive, and who then progress to AIDS.
Most importantly, drugs have been developed to target specific enzymes and proteins in the HIV life cycle. These drugs reduce HIV levels as soon as they are started
For most people this enables the immune system to rebuild and for the CD4 count to increase again, People who previously had AIDS are able to recover and lead a long and active life.
Useful links to sites with non-technical information about this in more detail are:
- Community responses to mainstream US magazine supporting HIV denialists
- AIDSTruth.org
- The Evidence that HIV causes AIDS
- HIV causes AIDS
This question from August 2006 was updated in December 2015.