# Consensus and original-source cross-check: HIV as the Cause of AIDS

Literature cutoff: 9 October 2026. Reconciliation completed 11 October 2026. Consensus Pro browser output is a discovery/synthesis aid; original source sections determine attribution. Provider meters are not evidence probabilities or examined-primary counts.

## Earlier suppression reduces clinical progression.
Original START abstract shows a positive primary clinical composite for immediate ART, supporting disease modification rather than merely changing a laboratory marker. [Original primary source: PMID 26192873](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26192873/). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1506816. Access: full_text_partial.

## Withdrawal of suppression tests progression.
Original SMART abstract links episodic treatment with increased opportunistic disease/death and rising viral RNA. This controlled perturbation carries stronger causal weight than correlation alone. [Original primary source: PMID 17135583](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17135583/). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa062360. Access: abstract_metadata.

## HPTN 052 supports earlier treatment.
Original clinical follow-up abstract retains the nonsignificant primary composite (p=.074) while noting the positive AIDS-event comparison (p=.031). Secondary benefit is not substituted for a primary result. [Original primary source: PMID 24602844](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24602844/). DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(13)70692-3. Access: full_text_partial.

## Untreated progression-free fractions decline with time.
Original CASCADE abstract defines progression-free jointly as no AIDS, ART-naive and CD4 at least 500. Those percentages are not simply the percentage remaining AIDS-free. [Original primary source: PMID 26423816](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26423816/). DOI: 10.1016/S2352-3018(14)70016-5. Access: abstract_metadata.

## HIV infection is not required for every low-CD4 syndrome.
Original ICL follow-up shows an HIV-negative immune phenotype. The registered causal claim concerns HIV-associated AIDS, not every immune-deficiency presentation. [Original primary source: PMID 18456875](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18456875/). DOI: 10.1182/blood-2007-12-127878. Access: abstract_metadata.

## Methods wording
Consensus was used to identify literature and cross-check specific claims about study design, endpoints, scope and research gaps. Those claims were checked against original primary abstracts/status records and, for selected studies, original Methods or Results passages. Consensus output was not treated as original full text. Source-specific access depth and receipts are retained. Scite supplied one five-anchor citation-context/tally query; returned contexts were outgoing references, not an audited incoming contradiction set. SciSpace supplied one discovery pass; it added no primary-count credit.