Well I agree with you about the 80's and 90's. For sure there was no proof then that HIV was the cause of AIDS.
But here we are in the 21st century and if you are correct that the evidence has started to accumulate then it should be an easy thing to provide some links to that information. I've been looking and I can't find it.
Can you help?
2) People who are HIV positive with high viral loads have a corresponding low CD4+ T cell count. When antiviral medication is used to reduce the viral load, CD4+ T cell counts go up. This correlation between viral load and CD4+ cell count is well documented.
3) People with low CD4+ T cell counts are susceptible to diseases that people with a functioning immune system are not usually susceptible to. This is what we call AIDS as they do have a deficient immune system. This correlation between CD4+ T cells and immune deficiency is also well documented.
Where exactly are you having problems?
You should find all you’ll need here:
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/focuson/hiv/resources/default.htm
A short form follows:
Among many criteria used over the years to prove the link between putative pathogenic (disease-causing) agents and disease, perhaps the most-cited are Koch’s postulates, developed in the late 19th century. Koch’s postulates have been variously interpreted by many scientists, and modifications have been suggested to accommodate new technologies, particularly with regard to viruses (Harden. Pubbl Stn Zool Napoli [II] 1992;14:249; O’Brien, Goedert. Curr Opin Immunol 1996;8:613). However, the basic tenets remain the same, and for more than a century Koch’s postulates, as listed below, have served as the litmus test for determining the cause of any epidemic disease:
Epidemiological association: the suspected cause must be strongly associated with the disease.
Isolation: the suspected pathogen can be isolated - and propagated - outside the host.
Transmission pathogenesis: transfer of the suspected pathogen to an uninfected host, man or animal, produces the disease in that host.
With regard to postulate #1, numerous studies from around the world show that virtually all AIDS patients are HIV-seropositive; that is they carry antibodies that indicate HIV infection. With regard to postulate #2, modern culture techniques have allowed the isolation of HIV in virtually all AIDS patients, as well as in almost all HIV-seropositive individuals with both early- and late-stage disease. In addition, the polymerase chain (PCR) and other sophisticated molecular techniques have enabled researchers to document the presence of HIV genes in virtually all patients with AIDS, as well as in individuals in earlier stages of HIV disease.
Postulate #3 has been fulfilled in tragic incidents involving three laboratory workers with no other risk factors who have developed AIDS or severe immunosuppression after accidental exposure to concentrated, cloned HIV in the laboratory. In all three cases, HIV was isolated from the infected individual, sequenced and shown to be the infecting strain of virus. In another tragic incident, transmission of HIV from a Florida dentist to six patients has been documented by genetic analyses of virus isolated from both the dentist and the patients. The dentist and three of the patients developed AIDS and died, and at least one of the other patients has developed AIDS. Five of the patients had no HIV risk factors other than multiple visits to the dentist for invasive procedures (O’Brien, Goedert. Curr Opin Immunol 1996;8:613; O’Brien, 1997; Ciesielski et al. Ann Intern Med 1994;121:886).
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/Factsheets/evidhiv.htm