Xref: utzoo sci.med:5156 sci.bio:1146
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!att-ih!chinet!saj
From: saj@chinet.UUCP (Stephen Jacobs)
Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.bio
Subject: Re: Allergies
Message-ID: <5048@chinet.UUCP>
Date: 30 Apr 88 03:10:22 GMT
References: <1160@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> <4568@blia.BLI.COM>
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Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX
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Summary: AIDS is a new disease


In the course of an interesting note on allergies, Heather Mackinnon offered
the opinion that AIDS is not a 'new' disease, since until relatively recent-
ly, its victims would simply have been said to have wasted away.  This
ignores the very aspect of AIDS which caused it to be recognized in the US:
Kaposi's sarcoma.  This disease is relatively spectacular, accompanied as it
is by skin discolorations.  Until recently, it was considered a disease of
men over sixty years of age.  Now it isn't.  HIV has been infecting people
for at  least a few generations(based on genetic distance from most related
known animal viruses) AIDS is new.  Whatever new means.