The Sydney AIDS Project

Abstract

The frequency of specific clinical, epidemiological, and immunological characteristics associated with the possible development of AIDS was established in a cohort of homosexual men living in metropolitan Sydney. During a six‐month period, 289 subjects were enrolled into a prospective study. The initial findings in this cohort indicate that almost one‐third of subjects led a “fast‐lane” lifestyle, 28% had lymphadenopathy, and 27% had T4:T8 ratios below 0.9 – features which are risk factors associated with the development of AIDS and related disorders. Subjects will be examined every six months for at least two years to determine the relationship between lifestyle characteristics and changes in the results of immunological and antibody, status tests for human T‐cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV). the study population should not be considered representative of the homosexual population of Sydney, but the high prevalence of risk factors among the cohort gives cause for concern that AIDS may become a widespread public health problem in this community. The results of this study will assist in defining the natural history of AIDS in a population in which the incidence of disease is still relatively low.