Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified a new disease in Asia that causes AIDS-like symptoms but is not associated with HIV.

The cases date back to 2004.

Most of them are in Thailand and Taiwan.

The NIH study, which appears in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows patients with the disease were making antibodies that attacked their immune systems.

The disease is being called an adult-onset immunodeficiency syndrome.

Scientists don’t think it’s contagious.

The study’s lead author says it’s rare here in the United States, but the NIH has seen about 12 cases - all of those patients are of Asian descent.

No one has died from it here, though some may have in other countries.

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CNN Wire