Several healthy young men suddenly develop a rare, fatal pneumonia and cancer that's almost never seen in younger men. Something is wrong with their immune system, the system in our body that protects us against disease. 1981 US researchers begin getting reports of an unusual immune system failure in young men. A similar disease is reported in other parts of the world. They are almost all young homosexual men.
Epidemiologists suspect that the illness is spread through sexual intercourse between men.
It may be carried in semen. The number of new patients and deaths continues to climb. Scientists realize that an epidemic is underway. Doctors report that a few injection drug users, people who sometimes share needles, also show signs of the new disease. A small amount of blood in shared needles may be spreading the disease.