#25: The Mystery of Robert Rayford’s AIDS Infection

Where? Missouri

When? 1969

In 1969, Robert Rayford, a 16-year-old boy from St. Louis, Missouri, succumbed to mysterious infections and severe weight loss, baffling doctors. Rayford passed away without a diagnosis. Years later, after the discovery of HIV/AIDS in the USA, tests on Rayford’s stored blood samples astonishingly confirmed the virus had infected him.

Intriguingly, having never left the country or received blood transfusions, Rayford’s case became an enigma, as he died from AIDS nearly a decade before the disease was identified.