# Video research insert: HIV as the Cause of AIDS

Draft narration and storyboard; no rendered video is claimed. Intended insert: roughly 60–90 seconds, depending on delivery.

HIV causality rests on evidence that fails in different ways: documented infection and prognosis, prevention of acquisition, and clinical outcomes after targeted suppression. Randomized early treatment reduces disease progression, while interrupted suppression increases clinical harm. These findings are stronger together than viral-load correlation alone. Some people progress slowly, and HIV-negative immune-deficiency syndromes exist. Neither observation removes the causal role of HIV in HIV-associated AIDS. Precise endpoints still matter: one HPTN follow-up had a nonsignificant primary composite despite an AIDS-event benefit. Our Theta rating applies to the specified syndrome. The remaining questions include persistent immune dysfunction during successful suppression and how to improve long-term recovery.

## Visual sequence

1. Show the exact registered hypothesis and its overall HSEF level.
2. Animate the selected publication milestones from research-timeline.json; label clinical trials, observational studies and models distinctly.
3. Contrast the strongest source result with its scope or endpoint limitation.
4. End on the registered boundary experiment, with primary-source links on screen.

Use newly authored schematic graphics. Do not turn Consensus meters into causal confidence graphics. If depicting a study endpoint, show its actual hierarchy; do not animate an exploratory subgroup as a confirmed treatment effect.

## Source cues

- 1987: [PMID 3299089](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3299089/) — Placebo-controlled AZT trial measures short-term clinical outcomes.
- 1994: [PMID 7935654](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7935654/) — Maternal and infant prophylaxis tests HIV acquisition.
- 1996: [PMID 8638160](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8638160/) — Plasma viral load predicts clinical prognosis observationally.
- 2006: [PMID 17135583](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17135583/) — SMART suppression/withdrawal design tests clinical disease modification.
- 2008: [PMID 19020325](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19020325/) — CHER early infant treatment tests mortality and progression.
- 2011: [PMID 21767103](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21767103/) — HPTN 052 treatment tests linked transmission and clinical outcomes.
- 2015: [PMID 26192873](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26192873/) — START tests immediate treatment against deferred initiation.