The HIV Controversy Revisited

In 1983, Science published a paper by Dr. Robert Gallo and his team, which stated that an antigenic reactivity to the human T-cell leukemia virus had been detected in AIDS patients (220, pp. 865–7). This meant that their immune system was producing antigens to a human retrovirus. This was human T-cell leukemia virus, whose existence was detected by the same Dr. Gallo in the mid-1970s. In the same issue, Science also published a paper by Dr. Luc Montagnier and his team from the Institut Pasteur in Paris (220, pp. 868–71). They claimed (1) the identification of a human retrovirus in the lymph tissues of an AIDS patient, and (2) that the retrovirus was responsible for the immune deficiency. In 1984, the same journal published another paper by Dr. Gallo and his team, claiming that a human retrovirus had been identified (a different one from that of Dr. Montagnier) and that it was causing the acquired immunodeficiency (Science, 224, pp. 497–500). Dr. Montagnier named the virus lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), emphasizing its detection in the lymph tissues. Dr. Gallo in turn named his virus the human T-lymphotropic virus III (HTLV-III), stressing its membership in the family of human T-cell leukemia viruses. The first member of this family (HTLV-I) had also been isolated by Dr. Gallo. What followed has been amply discussed in the sociological and political literature:

1. Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier each claimed that it was his virus that induced AIDS.

2. Dr. Gallo claimed that his virus was completely different from Dr. Montagnier's, whereas other researchers argued that they had an identical genetic structure: they were not exemplars of the same retrovirus, but practically the same exemplar.

3. […]