Is AIDS caused by HIV? There is a longstanding debate between scientists and clinicians about the cause of HIV/AIDS that relates to what causes it. HIV is a retrovirus; none have ever been shown to cause disease in humans. All known viral disease have demonstrable viral particles that can be isolated and shown to infect other humans. This has never been done with AIDS. The HIV virus is a passenger virus that is a marker of AIDS, but it is not its cause.
Retroviruses are not sexually transmitted. There is a selective population of people who get AIDS that makes it difficult to conclude it is an infectious disease. There are no scientific studies showing that AIDS is sexually transmitted.
