1. Jonathan Elford, Robert Bor, and Pauline Summers, "Research into HIV and AIDS between 1981 and 1990: The Epidemic Curve," AIDS 5 (December 1991): 1515-1519, esp. 1516.

2. C. Self, W. Filardo, and W. Lancaster, "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and the Epidemic Growth of Its Literature," Scientometrics 17 (July 1989): 49-60, esp. 55. The increasing importance of AIDS research within biomedicine and scientific research as a whole is suggested by the "maps" of scientific research patterns generated by co-citation analysis, a quantitative technique that constructs linkages between articles that have been jointly cited by other researchers. See Henry Small and Edwin Greenlee, "A Co-Citation Study of AIDS Research," in Scholarly Communication and Bibliometrics, ed. Christine L. Borgman (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 1990), 166-193.

3. See the semilogarithmic graph in I. N. Sengupta and Lalita Kumari, "Bibliometric Analysis of AIDS Literature," Scientometrics 20 (January 1991): 301.

4. The following figures are from Elford et al., "Research into HIV and AIDS," 1517, and are based on the indexing schema used in the Medline database of the National Library of Medicine.

5. "New AIDS Virus Found Different from First," New York Times, 18 December 1986, B-31.

6. Paula A. Treichler, "AIDS, HIV, and the Cultural Construction of Reality," in The Time of AIDS: Social Analysis, Theory, and Method, ed. Gilbert Herdt and Shirley Lindenbaum (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 1992), 65-98, quote from 76.

7. Robert C. Gallo et al., "Frequent Detection and Isolation of Cytopathic Retroviruses (HTLV-III) from Patients with AIDS and at Risk for AIDS," Science 224 (4 May 1984): 500-502.

8. On the transformation of scientific facts into taken-for-granted knowledge, see, for example, Bruno Latour, Science in Action (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1987), 42-43. Montagnier's 1983 paper, initially almost ignored but increasingly recognized as the first report of the discovery of HIV, ended up being cited even more often than Gallo's 1984 paper: Montagnier's paper was cited 147 times in 1984, 366 times in 1985, 416 times in 1986, and 399 times in 1987. My content analysis focuses on Gallo's 1984 paper only: For my purposes, it was more important to study citations of Gallo's work, since he has tended to receive credit for confirming that the virus causes AIDS, than to study citations of Montagnier's work, since he has tended to be credited instead for the discovery of the virus (see Small and Greenlee's conclusions on this point, "Co-Citation Study of AIDS Research," 185). In practice, my content analysis revealed that the two papers were very frequently co-cited, often along with Levy's 1984 article in Science. See also Alison Rawling, "The AIDS Virus Dispute: Awarding Priority for the Discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)," Science, Technology, & Human Values 19 (summer 1994): 342-360.

9. A chi-square test using the data in table 1 (comparing the five categories over the three years) confirms that the shift is highly statistically significant (c ² = 68.5, df = 8, p < .001).

10. Council on Scientific Affairs of the Division of Scientific Activities of the American Medical Association, "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: Commentary," Journal of the American Medical Association 252 (19 October 1984): 2039.

11. James W. Curran et al., "The Epidemiology of AIDS: Current Status and Future Prospects," Science 229 (September 1985): 1352.

12. Gerald V. Quinnan Jr. et al., "Mechanisms of T-Cell Functional Deficiency in the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome," Annals of Internal Medicine 103 (November 1985): 710.

13. "AIDS and HTLV Type III," Lancet 1 (5 May 1984): 1031 (editorial note); "The Cause of AIDS?" Lancet 1 (12 May 1984): 1053-1054 (editorial), quote from 1054.

14. Robert S. Klein et al., "Oral Candidiasis in High-Risk Patients as the Initial Manifestation of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome," New England Journal of Medicine 311 (9 August 1984): 354.

15. Arthur J. Ammann, "Etiology of AIDS," Journal of the American Medical Association 252 (14 September 1984): 1281-1282 (letter to the editor).

16. This was confirmed by performing separate chi-squares (on the five citation categories vs. the two authorship categories) for each of the three years reported in table 2. In each case, the differences between articles without an author from the Gallo group and articles with such an author were not statistically significant (1984: c ² = 5.5, df = 4, p < .30; 1985: c ² = 1.7, df = 4, p<.80; 1986: c ² = 1.2, df = 4, p < .90).

17. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi et al., "Isolation of Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus (LAV) and Detection of LAV Antibodies from US Patients with AIDS," Journal of the American Medical Association 253 (22-29 March 1985): 1737.

18. Luc Montagnier, "Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus: From Molecular Biology to Pathogenicity," Annals of Internal Medicine 103 (November 1985): 693.

19. Chi-square tests were performed separately for the 1985 and 1986 data. Data from table 3 were combined into 2 × 2 tables: explicit unqualified references vs. all other references (combined); and those citing early papers vs. those citing later research. In 1985 there was no statistically significant difference between those citing early papers and those citing later research, in terms of the tendency to make explicit unqualified references (c ² = .0028, df = 1, p < .95). Similarly, in 1986, the difference was not statistically significant (c ² = 1.84, df = 1, p < .20).

20. This shift is highly significant statistically, as confirmed by a chi-square test of the "Citations of early papers" column (the four citation categories in 1985 vs. the four categories in 1986): c ² = 332.4, df = 3, p < .001.

21. Samuel Broder and Robert C. Gallo, "A Pathogenic Retrovirus (HTLV-III) Linked to AIDS," New England Journal of Medicine 311 (15 November 1984): 1292-1297; Flossie Wong-Staal and Robert C. Gallo, "Human T-Lymphotropic Retroviruses," Nature 317 (3-9 October 1985): 395-403.

22. S. Zaki Salahuddin et al., "Isolation of Infectious Human T-Cell Leukemia/Lymphotropic Virus Type III (HTLV-III) from Patients with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-Related Complex (ARC) and from Healthy Carriers: A Study of Risk Groups and Tissue Sources," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 82 (August 1985), 5530-5534.

23. Ibid., 5533.

24. Flossie Wong-Staal and Robert C. Gallo, "The Family of Human T-Lymphotropic Leukemia Viruses: HTLV-I as the Cause of Adult T Cell Leukemia and HTLV-III as the Cause of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome," Blood 65 (February 1985): 253-263.

25. This study, coauthored by Gallo, was reported in Harvey J. Alter et al., "Transmission of HTLV-III Infection from Human Plasma to Chimpanzees: An Animal Model for AIDS," Science 226 (2 November 1984), 549-552.

26. Wong-Staal and Gallo, "The Family of Human T-Lymphotropic Leukemia Viruses," 259.

27. See, for example, the summary of the evidence in S. Harada, Y. Koyanagi, and N. Yamamoto, "Infection of HTLV-III/LAV in HTLV-I-Carrying Cells MT-2 and MT-4 and Application in a Plaque Assay," Science 229 (9 August 1985): 563-566.

28. For example, CDC researcher Paul Feorino and his coauthors, reporting on an early transfusion study in Science in July 1984, noted that "the ultimate proof that LAV or any other virus is the cause of AIDS requires studies that cumulatively fulfill the modern equivalent of Koch's postulates." See P. M. Feorino et al., "Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus Infection of a Blood Donor-Recipient Pair with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome," Science 225 (6 July 1984): 70-71.

29. Wong-Staal and Gallo, "The Family of Human T-Lymphotropic Leukemia Viruses," 259.

30. Jeffrey Laurence et al., "Lymphadenopathy-Associated Viral Antibody in AIDS," New England Journal of Medicine 311 (15 November 1984), 1269-1273.

31. Harada et al., "Infection of HTLV-III/LAV," 563.

32. See "Chimp Finally Shows AIDS Symptoms," Science 270 (13 October 1995): 223.

33. Donald P. Francis et al., "Infection of Chimpanzees with Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus," Lancet 2 (1 December 1984): 1276-1277 (letter to the editor).

34. For an early example, see Jerome E. Groopman et al., "Virologic Studies in a Case of Transfusion-Associated AIDS," New England Journal of Medicine 311 (29 November 1984): 1419.

35. Paul M. Feorino et al., "Transfusion-Associated Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome," New England Journal of Medicine 312 (16 May 1985): 1293-1296.

36. H. W. Jaffe et al., "Transfusion-Associated AIDS: Serologic Evidence of Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Infection in Donors," Science 223 (23 March 1984): 1309-1311.

37. The crucial differences are (1) that Feorino and his co-researchers actually isolated the virus, instead of simply assaying for antibodies; and (2) that Feorino and his associates found the virus more consistently both in donors and recipients than Jaffe and his associates had found antibodies in either group. In fact, buried in the paper by Jaffe et al. was the admission that they could find HTLV-I antibodies in only three of the eight transfusion recipients for whom serum samples were available (p. 1310).

38. Robert C. Gallo, "AIDS: Words from the Front," interview by Anthony Liversidge and Celia Farber, Spin, February 1988, 56.

39. S. Pahwa et al., "Influence of the Human T-Lymphotropic Virus/ Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus on Functions of Human Lymphocytes: Evidence for Immunosuppressive Effects and Polyclonal B-Cell Activation by Banded Viral Preparations," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 82 (December 1985): 8198-8202.

40. R. F. Wykoff, E. R. Pearl, and F. T. Saulsbury, "Immunologic Dysfunction in Infants Infected through Transfusion with HTLV-III," New England Journal of Medicine 312 (31 January 1985): 294-296.

41. On bandwagons in science, see Joan H. Fujimura, "The Molecular Biological Bandwagon in Cancer Research: Where Social Worlds Meet," Social Problems 35 (June 1988): 261-283.

42. H. M. Collins, "Certainty and the Public Understanding of Science: Science on Television," Social Studies of Science 17 (November 1987): 692.

43. "Revision of Case Definition of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome for National Reporting—United States," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 34 (28 June 1985): 373-375.

44. Antibody-negative patients could still be included, however, if they had a positive result on another test (such as a viral culture) or if they had a low ratio of helper T cells to suppressor T cells. Moreover, the CDC continued to count as AIDS cases patients with diseases included on the list who had simply never been tested for HIV antibodies.

45. Karen Wright, "Mycoplasmas in the AIDS Spotlight," Science 248 (11 May 1990): 682-683.

46. Lawrence K. Altman, "AIDS Findings Made by a Virus Expert," New York Times, 3 August 1986, 1.

47. Wright, "Mycoplasmas in the AIDS Spotlight," 683.

48. See Shyh-Ching Lo et al., "Enhancement of HIV-1 Cytocidal Effects in CD4+ Lymphocytes by the AIDS-Associated Mycoplasma," Science 251 (1 March 1991): 1074-1076.

49. On the role of the news media as a "reflexive" institution whose "accounts are embedded in the very reality that they characterize, record, or structure," see Gaye Tuchman, Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality (New York: Free Press, 1978), 189.

50. See the Methodological Appendix for details concerning article selection and coding.

51. The term "the AIDS virus" was actually used most often in the second half of 1985, which was also when news coverage of AIDS soared following the announcement that Rock Hudson suffered from the syndrome.

52. The trend over time toward implicit etiological claims-making, shown in table 4, was found to be highly significant statistically. (Implicit claims were compared to all other claims combined, over the five time periods [a 2X5 table] [c ²=31.1, df=4, p < .001].)

53. Judy Glass, "L.I. Cases of AIDS Reported on Rise," New York Times, 3 June 1984, Section 11, p. 1.

54. Lawrence Altman, "How AIDS Researchers Strive for Virus Proof," New York Times, 23 October 1984, C-3.

55. Lawrence K. Altman, "AIDS Immunization Tested on Humans," New York Times, 17 December 1986, A-1.

56. Chuck Frutchey, letter, 10 December 1984, included in "AIDS: An Infection Control and General Information Packet for Health Care Providers" (San Francisco: San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Association for Practitioners in Infection Control and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, 1984).

57. Dennis Altman, AIDS in the Mind of America (Garden City, N.J.: Anchor Press, 1986), 182.

58. Paul Cameron, "Homosexuality: A Deathstyle, Not a Lifestyle," Moral Majority Report, September 1983, 7.

59. D. Altman, AIDS in the Mind of America, 64.

60. See, for example, the leaflet "AIDS Is Germ Warfare by the U.S. Gov't against Gays and Blacks!" (San Francisco: Information Network against War & Fascism, n.d. [circa 1987], photocopy); James Brooke, "In Cradle of AIDS Theory, a Defensive Africa Sees a Disguise for Racism," New York Times, 19 November 1987, B-13; Tom Curtis, "The Origin of AIDS," Rolling Stone, 19 March 1992, 54; Tom Curtis, "Did a Polio Vaccine Experiment Unleash AIDS in Africa?" Washington Post, 5 April 1992, C-3 (op-ed); Charles Gilks, "AIDS, Monkeys and Malaria," Nature 354 (28 November 1991): 262 (commentary); Red Jackson, "Hitler's Labs Created AIDS Virus," Sun, 3 January 1989, 7; Robert Lederer, "Chemical-Biological Warfare, Medical Experiments, and Population Control," Covert Action Information Bulletin, summer 1987, 33-42; Robert Lederer, "Origin and Spread of AIDS: Is the West Responsible?" Covert Action Information Bulletin, summer 1987, 43-54; Brian Martin, "Peer Review and the Origin of AIDS—A Case Study in Rejected Ideas," BioScience 43 (October 1993): 624-627 (roundtable discussion); Gary Null, "AIDS: A Man-Made Plague?" Penthouse, January 1989, 160; Louis Pascal, What Happens When Science Goes Bad. The Corruptionof Science and the Origin of AIDS: A Study in Spontaneous Generation, working paper no. 9, University of Wollongong, Australia: Science and Technology Analysis Research Programme, December 1991; "Soviets Say CIA Created AIDS to Use in Biological Warfare," San Francisco Examiner, 31 October 1985, A-9; Pearce Wright, "Smallpox Vaccine 'Triggered Aids Virus,'" London Times, 11 May 1987, 1.

61. Susan M. Blake and Elaine Bratic Arkin, AIDS Information Monitor: A Summary of National Public Opinion Surveys on AIDS: 1983 through 1986 (Washington, D.C.: American Red Cross, 1983).

62. Of course, the danger was that, by encouraging people at risk for AIDS to take the test, AIDS organizations might make a quarantine more feasible simply by identifying more people who carried the virus. For this reason, the pros and cons of "taking the test" were fiercely debated in gay communities in the mid-1980s, and many groups (particularly on the East Coast, where suspicions ran higher) promoted the message "Don't take the test." Other groups rallied behind the idea of anonymous testing, which provided people with test results while protecting their identities. Eventually, a consensus in favor of anonymous testing materialized among the AIDS organizations, but not until the tests were shown to be relatively accurate, and never fully until the advent of "early intervention" therapies in the late 1980s.

63. See Cindy Patton, Inventing AIDS (New York: Routledge, 1990), 42.

64. D. Altman, AIDS in the Mind of America, 153.

65. For a somewhat contrasting perspective, see Patton, Inventing AIDS, 42.

66. Nathan Fain, "The Proof Is In on a Virus," Advocate, 4 September 1984, 8-9.

67. Christine Guilfoy, "HTLV-III Test Availability Elicits Mixed Response," Gay Community News, 27 April 1985, 3.

68. John Lauritsen and Hank Wilson, Poppers & AIDS, 2d ed. (San Francisco: Committee to Monitor Poppers, 1985).

69. John Lauritsen, "The Drugs Connection," Gay Community News, 12 October 1986, 5 (op-ed).

70. For representative criticism of Ortleb by an AIDS activist, see Douglas Crimp, "How to Have Promiscuity in an Epidemic," in AIDS: Cultural Analysis, Cultural Activism, ed. Douglas Crimp (Cambridge, Mass.: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1988), 237-270, esp. 238. The best analysis of the role of the Native in covering AIDS is provided by James Kinsella in chapter 2 of Covering the Plague: AIDS and the American Media (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1989).

71. J. A. Sonnabend and S. Saadoun, "What Does a Positive Test Mean?" New York Native, 24 September-7 October 1984, 19-20.

72. Barry Adkins, "Looking at AIDS in Totality: A Conversation with Joseph Sonnabend," New York Native, 7 October 1985, 24.

73. James E. D'Eramo, "Discovering the Cause of AIDS: An Interview with Dr. Robert C. Gallo," New York Native, 27 August 1984, 17, 18.

74. Jane Teas, "Could AIDS Agent Be a New Variant of African Swine Fever Virus?" Lancet 1 (23 April 1983): 923 (letter to the editor).

75. J. Colaert et al., "African Swine Fever Virus Antibody Not Found in AIDS Patients," Lancet 1 (14 May 1983): 1098 (letter to the editor); Emmanuel Arnoux et al., "AIDS and African Swine Fever," Lancet 2 (9 July 1983): 110 (letter to the editor).

76. Council on Scientific Affairs of the Division of Scientific Activities of the American Medical Association, "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: Commentary."

77. Jane Teas, "An AIDS Odyssey," New York Native, 17 December 1984, 15.

78. Ibid.

79. Kinsella, Covering the Plague, 38-44; D. Altman, AIDS in the Mind of America, 52.

80. See Kinsella's account in Covering the Plague, 41-42.

81. Lawrence K. Altman, "Studies Fail to Link AIDS with Swine Fever," New York Times, 19 September 1985, B-15.

82. Crimp, "How to Have Promiscuity in an Epidemic," 238.

83. Helene M. Cole and George D. Lundberg, eds., AIDS: From the Beginning (Chicago: American Medical Association, 1986).

84. Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, Confronting AIDS: Directions for Public Health, Health Care, and Research (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1986), quote from viii. For an extended critique of the report, see Alfred J. Fortin, "AIDS, Surveillance and Public Policy: The Politics of Medical Discourse" (Ph.D. diss., University of Hawaii, 1989).

85. Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, Confronting AIDS, 40.

86. Ibid., 195.

87. Ibid., 177-259.

88. John Lauritsen, "Caveat Emptor: The Report of the National Academy of Sciences on AIDS Is Filled with Misinformation," New York Native, 9 March 1987, 32.