Robert Lee Rayford | |
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Born | February 3, 1953 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
Died | May 15, 1969 (aged 16) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
Cause of death | Possible AIDS-related complications |
Known for | Alleged first known AIDS death in the United States |
Robert Lee Rayford[1] (February 3, 1953 – May 15, 1969),[2] sometimes identified as Robert R. due to his age, was an American teenager from Missouri who has been suggested to represent the earliest confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America. This is based on evidence published in 1988 in which the authors claimed that medical evidence indicated that he was "infected with a virus closely related or identical to human immunodeficiency virus type 1."[3] Rayford died of pneumonia,[4] but his other symptoms baffled the doctors who treated him. A study published in 1988 reported the detection of antibodies against HIV.[5] Results of testing for HIV genetic material were reported once at a scientific conference in Australia in 1999; however, the data has never been published in a peer-reviewed medical or scientific journal.
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