Evidence that HIV Causes AIDS

Many recent media reports have drawn attention to South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki’s skepticism that HIV causes AIDS. The prominent leader’s doubt has revisited a question that most medical experts had long ago considered indisputably answered: Does HIV causes AIDS?  

Abundant evidence indicates that HIV does, in fact, cause AIDS. To better answer questions from your patients and the general public about scientific evidence showing that AIDS is caused by HIV, IDSA recommends a number of resources from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), including a fact sheet titled "The Evidence that HIV Causes AIDS" that can be viewed on NIAID's website in Focus on the HIV-AIDS Connection.  Also see the Durban Declaration, a document signed by doctors and scientists from around the world at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa.  The Declaration unambiguously states that HIV has been scientifically proven to cause AIDS and offers references as evidence.