The gerrymandering of AIDS inflammation
If AIDS is primarily a disease of inflammation, could one say that the nosology that has separated AIDS from other inflammatory conditions that exploded at the same time is a kind of nosological and epidemiological gerrymandering? There is increasing scientific discussion around the role of chronic inflammation in the pathogenesis and progression of AIDS. HIV infection is now known to activate multiple inflammasomes, triggering a chronic inflammatory response that persists even with suppressed viral load and effective ART. This has led some researchers to frame HIV/AIDS as a disease substantially characterized by unresolved or dysregulated inflammation. However, the established nosology (disease classification system) of AIDS has historically focused on its immunodeficiency aspects, categorizing it primarily by vulnerability to opportunistic infections and secondary cancers, and as distinct from classical inflammatory or autoimmune syndromes. This system separated AIDS from other...
