Robert Rayford

Robert Lee Rayford
BornFebruary 3, 1953
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedMay 15, 1969 (aged 16)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Cause of deathPossible AIDS-related complications
Known forAlleged 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.

  1. ^ "Headline: AIDS / History / Rayford Case". Vanderbilt Television News Archive. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  2. ^ Gorman, Christine (November 9, 1987). "Strange Trip Back to the Future". Time. Archived from the original on March 2, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
  3. ^ Garry RF, Witte MH, Gottlieb AA, Elvin-Lewis M, Gottlieb MS, Witte CL, Alexander SS, Cole WR, Drake WL Jr (October 1988). "Documentation of an AIDS virus infection in the United States in 1968". JAMA. 260 (14): 2085–7. doi:10.1001/jama.1988.03410140097031. PMID 3418874.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference McMichael2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ The Pre-Pandemic Puzzle by W. Pate McMichael August 2007 St. Louis Magazine