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Mucosal origin of AIDS
1Department of Pediatrics, NYU Medical Center, NY 10016.
Medical Hypotheses
|January 1, 1994
Abstract:
The natural history of AIDS implies sexual and breast-milk transmission of HIV across the mucosal lining of digestive and reproductive organs. Intraepithelial mucosal lymphocytes specialized in handling foods, air-borne, and microbial pathogens crossing the mucosal barrier represent up to 90% of immunocompetent cells in a human body. Enteropathy and respiratory infections, the main symptoms and cause of death in AIDS, are attributed to the failure of mucosal immunity.