It's very difficult in our society. You cannot impose certain behavioral changes. Education can do it at the right time, probably by high school. After that it is too late.

We don’t know why, but there are some gradients of infection.

It’s easier to learn things for life by the age of 12 and not the age of 18. This is just my guess.

I’ve participated in meetings where there were concerns by ethical experts. There is no clear solution.

Our goal is not to completely eradicate the infection – that would be very difficult – but to produce a vaccine that will prevent not infection but disease. I think this is more possible.

Psychological factors are critical in supporting immune function. If you suppress this psychological support by telling someone he’s condemned to die, your words alone will have condemned him.

It’s clear that prevention will never be sufficient. That’s why we need a vaccine that will be safe.

The danger is that many people believe that AIDS is a treatable disease and should not receive more attention than other diseases.

We can be exposed to HIV many times without being chronically infected. Our immune system will get rid of the virus within a few weeks, if you have a good immune system.

We did not purify [isolate] ... We saw some particles but they did not have the morphology [shape] typical of retroviruses ... They were very different ... What we did not have, as I have always recognized it, is that it was truly the cause of AIDS.