HIV infections and AIDS development: the role of adjuvant activation

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has probably coexisted with humans for nearly a century. However, towards the end of the 1970s, it appeared as the etiologic agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In this paper, we propose a hypothesis for HIV infection and AIDS development, considering the role of secondary adjuvant infections. This hypothesis takes into account the natural history of the development of the AIDS epidemic from the standpoint of an emerging infection due to the increased risk caused by anthropogenic activities, and it also considers the progression of the infection to the syndrome, in terms of cellular population dynamics.