Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1984. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - December 6, 1984
The researchers, at the University of California at Davis, said Monday that they would take many of the samples at random from blood donated to the Sacramento Medical Foundation Blood Center.
The blood test for the disease, which breaks down the body's immune system, is one of the first in the nation to be used in practical application, the researchers said
The university's Comparative Retrovirology Research Group, created to study AIDS and other diseases, is one of only four research groups in the nation involved with the disease, whose full name is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The others are the National Institutes of Health, the Federal Centers for Disease Control and the University of California at San Francisco.
The test checks for antibodies to the virus, called a retrovirus, associated with AIDS. The presence of the antibodies means the subject has been exposed, although it does not tell if the virus is active or if it will be.
AIDS renders the victim's immunity system incapable of fighting off serious diseases.
Since 1982, when researchers began compiling AIDS statistics, 6,931 cases have been diagnosed, 3,294 of them fatal.
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