Editing Misconceptions about HIV/AIDS (section)

====Behavioral factors such as recreational drug use and multiple sexual partners—not HIV—account for AIDS====
The proposed behavioral causes of AIDS, such as multiple sexual partners and long-term [[recreational drug use]], have existed for many years. The epidemic of AIDS, characterized by the occurrence of formerly rare opportunistic infections such as ''[[Pneumocystis carinii]]'' pneumonia (PCP), did not occur in the United States until a previously unknown human [[retrovirus]]—HIV—spread through certain communities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.niaid.nih.gov/publications/hivaids/21.htm |title=NIAID }}</ref>

Compelling evidence against the hypothesis that behavioral factors cause AIDS comes from recent studies that have followed cohorts of [[homosexual]] men for long periods of time and found that only HIV-seropositive men develop AIDS. For example, in a prospectively studied cohort in [[Vancouver, British Columbia]], 715 homosexual men were followed for a median of 8.6 years. Among 365 HIV-positive individuals, 136 developed AIDS. No AIDS-defining illnesses occurred among 350 seronegative men, despite the fact that these men reported appreciable use of [[nitrite inhalants]] ("poppers") and other recreational drugs, and frequent receptive [[anal intercourse]] (Schechter et al., 1993).<ref name="Schechter, 1993">{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0140-6736(93)90421-C | last1 = Schechter | first1 = M.T. | last2 = Craib | first2 = K.J. | last3 = Gelmon | first3 = K.A. | last4 = Montaner | first4 = J.S. | last5 = Le | first5 = T.N. | last6 = O'Shaughnessy | first6 = M.V. | year = 1993 | title = HIV-1 and the aetiology of AIDS | journal = Lancet | volume = 341 | issue = 8846| pages = 658–59 | pmid = 8095571 | last7 = Schechter | first7 = M.T. | last8 = Gelmon | first8 = K.A. | last9 = Montaner | first9 = J.S.G.  | s2cid = 23141531 }}</ref>

Other studies show that among homosexual men and injection-drug users, the specific immune deficit that leads to AIDS—a progressive and sustained loss of [[CD4]]+ [[T-cell]]s—is extremely rare in the absence of other immunosuppressive conditions. For example, in the [[Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study]], more than 22,000 T-cell determinations in 2,713 HIV-seronegative homosexual men revealed only one individual with a CD4+ T-cell count persistently lower than 300 cells/μL of blood, and this individual was receiving [[immunosuppressive therapy]].<ref name="Vermund, 1993">{{cite journal | last1 = Vermund | first1 = S.H. | last2 = Hoover | first2 = D.R. | last3 = Chen | first3 = K. | year = 1993 | title = CD4+ counts in seronegative homosexual men. The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study | journal = N. Engl. J. Med. | volume = 328 | issue = 6| page = 442 | pmid = 8093639 | doi = 10.1056/NEJM199302113280615 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

In a survey of 229 HIV-seronegative injection-drug users in [[New York City]], mean CD4+ T-cell counts of the group were consistently more than 1000 cells/μL of blood. Only two individuals had two CD4+ T-cell measurements of less than 300/μL of blood, one of whom died with cardiac disease and [[non-Hodgkin's lymphoma]] listed as the cause of death.<ref name="Des Jarlais, 1993">{{cite journal | last1 = Des Jarlais | first1 = D.C. | last2 = Friedman | first2 = S.R. | last3 = Marmor | first3 = M. | last4 = Mildvan | first4 = D. | last5 = Yancovitz | first5 = S. | last6 = Sotheran | first6 = J.L. | last7 = Wenston | first7 = J. | last8 = Beatrice | first8 = S. | year = 1993 | title = CD4 lymphocytopenia among injecting drug users in New York City | journal = J. Acquir. Immune Defic. Syndr. | volume = 6 | issue = 7| pages = 820–22 | pmid = 8099613 }}</ref>