Tag: HIV

  • In Memorium – Luc Montagnier, The Discoverer of HIV

    I don’t know how well-known Luc Montagnier is to the general public, but in my field of virology he was both a giant and a controversial figure. I only met him once as my wife and I had dinner with him and several other scientists at a small HIV meeting in Austin, Texas in 2012.…

  • HIV 2022 – The Battle Continues

    In 1982, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) coined the term Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) to describe a new disease that had appeared in the United States. Initially mysterious in its cause, AIDS was quickly shown to result from infection with a newly discovered virus (a discovery that eventually earned Dr. Luc Montagnier the 2008…

  • Rubella Has a Family at Last

    Some viruses, such as the human papillomaviruses (HPVs), have co-evolved with mankind throughout evolutionary history. These ancient human viruses often cause silent infections and may establish persistent infections that last for years to decades. Other viruses, often ones associated with common human acute diseases, entered the human population only within the last few millennia. Typically,…