The clinical spectrum of the HIV infection. A working hypothesis.

Many clinicians have realised that AIDS is only the most dreadful aspect of HIV infection. Together with the "asymptomatic carrier" condition, other syndromes have been described, including LAS, ARC and Lesser-AIDS. We have developed a working hypothesis to explain the natural history of HIV infection, basing our assumptions on the international literature and our own experience. We have found many analogies and some slight differences between the clinical courses of HIV infection and other chronic infections, especially syphilis. It is possible that, on clinical grounds, the natural histories of both diseases are so similar as to allow us to describe one of them within the scheme of the other. Only careful and prolonged clinical observation will solve the problem of the natural history of HIV infection and solve the problems which are still present in its comprehension.