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636

BRAGDON v. ABBOTT

Opinion of the Court

thought the virus became inactive during this period, but it
is now known that the relative lack of symptoms is attribut-
able to the virus’ migration from the circulatory system into
the lymph nodes. Cohen & Volberding, AIDS Knowledge
Base 4.1–4. The migration reduces the viral presence in
other parts of the body, with a corresponding diminution in
physical manifestations of the disease. The virus, however,
thrives in the lymph nodes, which, as a vital point of the
body’s immune response system, represents an ideal environ-
ment for the infection of other CD4‘ cells. Staprans &
Feinberg, Medical Management of AIDS 33–34. Studies
have shown that viral production continues at a high rate.
Cohen & Volberding, AIDS Knowledge Base 4.1–4; Stap-
rans & Feinberg, Medical Management of AIDS 38. CD4‘
cells continue to decline an average of 5% to 10% (40 to 80
cells/mm3) per year throughout this phase. Saag, AIDS:
Etiology 207.

A person is regarded as having AIDS when his or her
CD4‘ count drops below 200 cells/mm3 of blood or when
CD4‘ cells comprise less than 14% of his or her total lym-
phocytes. U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public
Health Service, CDC, 1993 Revised Classiﬁcation System for
HIV Infection and Expanded Surveillance Case Deﬁnition
for AIDS Among Adolescents and Adults, 41 Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Rep., No. RR–17 (Dec. 18, 1992); Osmond,
AIDS Knowledge Base 1.1–2; Saag, AIDS: Etiology 207;
Ward, Petersen, & Jaffe, Current Trends in the Epide-
miology of HIV/AIDS, in Medical Management of AIDS 3.
During this stage, the clinical conditions most often asso-
ciated with HIV, such as pneumocystis carninii pneumonia,
Kaposi’s sarcoma, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, tend to ap-
pear.
In addition, the general systemic disorders present
during all stages of the disease, such as fever, weight loss,
fatigue, lesions, nausea, and diarrhea, tend to worsen.
In
most cases, once the patient’s CD4‘ count drops below 10