Editing Duesberg hypothesis (section)

===Scientific study and rejection of Duesberg's risk-AIDS hypothesis===
Several studies have specifically addressed Duesberg's claim that recreational drug abuse or [[sexual promiscuity]] were responsible for the manifestations of AIDS. An early study of his claims, published in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' in 1993, found Duesberg's drug abuse-AIDS hypothesis to have "no basis in fact."<ref name="drugusenature"/>

A large [[prospective study]] followed a group of 715 [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] men in the Vancouver, Canada, area; approximately half were HIV-[[seropositive]] or became so during the follow-up period, and the remainder were HIV-seronegative. After more than eight years of follow-up, despite similar rates of drug use, sexual contact, and other supposed risk factors in both groups, only the HIV-positive group suffered from [[opportunistic infection]]s. Similarly, [[CD4]] counts dropped in the patients who were HIV-infected, but remained stable in the HIV-negative patients, despite similar rates of risk behavior.<ref name="lancet1993"/> The authors concluded that "the risk-AIDS hypothesis ... is clearly rejected by our data," and that "the evidence supports the hypothesis that HIV-1 has an integral role in the CD4 depletion and progressive immune dysfunction that characterise AIDS."<ref name="lancet1993">{{cite journal |vauthors=Schechter M, Craib K, Gelmon K, Montaner J, Le T, O'Shaughnessy M | title = HIV-1 and the aetiology of AIDS. | journal = Lancet | volume = 341 | issue = 8846 | pages = 658–9 | year = 1993 | pmid = 8095571 | doi = 10.1016/0140-6736(93)90421-C| s2cid = 23141531 }}</ref>

Similarly, the [[Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study]] (MACS) and the [[Women's Interagency HIV Study]] (WIHS)—which between them observed more than 8,000 Americans—demonstrated that "the presence of HIV infection is the only factor that is strongly and consistently associated with the conditions that define AIDS."<ref name="macs">[http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/focuson/hiv/resources/macs_and_wihs.htm MACS and WIHS Studies Provide Overwhelming Evidence That HIV Causes AIDS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004002832/http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/focuson/hiv/resources/macs_and_wihs.htm |date=4 October 2006 }}. From the [[National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases]]. Retrieved 9 March 2007.</ref> A 2008 study found that recreational drug use (including [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]], [[cocaine]], [[poppers]], and [[amphetamines]]) had no effect on [[CD4]] or [[CD8]] T-cell counts, providing further evidence against a role of recreational drugs as a cause of AIDS.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Chao C |title=Recreational drug use and T lymphocyte subpopulations in HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected men |journal=Drug Alcohol Depend |volume= 94|issue= 1–3|pages= 165–171|year=2008 |pmid=18180115 |doi=10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2007.11.010 |pmc=2691391 |author2=Jacobson LP |author3=Tashkin D |last4=Martínez-Maza |first4=Otoniel |last5=Roth |first5=Michael D. |last6=Margolick |first6=Joseph B. |last7=Chmiel |first7=Joan S. |last8=Rinaldo |first8=Charles |last9=Zhang |first9=Zuo-Feng|display-authors=3 }}</ref>