THE AIDS MYTH (PART 1) - Fezisa Mdibi

It has become a common reaction to switch off when one hears HIV/AIDS. We have heard it all! We know what to do to protect ourselves from it. Whether we actually protect ourselves is another story. We have seen the campaigns, from television, newspapers, billboards , churches and schools.

The message is clear - if you do not use a condom you might get the HI-Virus which is incurable and leads to a syndrome called AIDS. If you do get HIV then to reduce your chances of dying early from AIDS associated illnesses, you MUST take Antiretroviral treatment - which is - for life.

We know this, its been drummed into our heads everywhere we go. We have seen infected people and have seen the statistics on how many people are on ARV treatment which is reported to be working for them.

BUT.....

What if I told you that HIV is not a killer virus? That a virus cannot cause a syndrome?

Well, I am 28 years old, HIV positive for the past 13 years, I was diagnosed after being raped twice in my teens. This is my take on the dogma that HIV=AIDS=DEATH. Before I begin to share what I have found out over the past years let me start with telling you that, for me, the research about AIDS wasn’t a story nor a matter of curiousity. It was MY life and death. It is MY truth. Being diagnosed with HIV is a traumatic experience emotionally, physically and mentally. Some never recover from the shock and some die from it.

THE DISCOVERERS OF HIV

Human Immunodeficiency Virus was discovered in 1981 in America. This virus is reported to cause Acquired Immunodeficiency Sydrome which is a condition in humans in which a progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.

We always hear about the year in which the virus was discovered in the media but seldom about the people who discovered it and how they did it.

Dr Gallo discovered the virus. At the time that of his discovery, gay men were dying of a mysterious cancer-like disease which the Center for Disease Control (CDC) could not identify. In 1980 there were no reported cases of HIV, yet in 1995 there were thousands of people infected.

Take note that there are currently 30 different diseases that result in AIDS death. We need to ask ourselves that after 30 years and billions of funds into research, why has the research failed?

In a press conference held in April 1984, Margaret Heckler - the then Secretary of Health and Human Services in America, with Dr Gallo, announced that the probable cause for AIDS is HIV.  Heckler then said a vaccine would be available for testing by 1986.

Dr Gallo in his discovery that HIV causes AIDS bypassed all checkpoints to his discovery as dictated by the scientific world. The research was not peer reviewed and it was published after the press conference which is something that goes against scientific protocol.

The Institute Pasteur in Paris proceeded to then claim that Gallo's AIDS virus was actually their discovery. This claim was diplomatically resolved by President Reagan and the agreement was for the US and France to split the profits on the antibody blood test kit.

When Gallo's research was published, it was also discovered that only 44 of the 93 AIDS patients he tested actually had the virus (1). The argument that HIV does not cause AIDS has been dismissed by many, suppressed by the media and disputed by the political-economic powers of AIDS industry, yet a growing group of scientist are disputing the current hypothesis. 

These scientists, comprising of 12 Nobel prize recipients (2) and lead by Charles Thomas - a medical research biologist and Havard Professor - believe that the reason AIDS research has failed is because it never found the cause of it. It is too late to turn back as millions of people have been told that they are dying, have been given a misdiagnosis and toxic drugs (ARVs). 

Neville Hodgkinson of London Sunday Times said in April 26, 1992 on the question of If HIV does not cause AIDS: '...then we will have witnessed the biggest medical and scientific blunder of this century.'

The group for scientific reappraisal of HIV/AIDS hypothesis, lead by Charles Thomas wrote a letter to many medical journals which stated: "It is widely believed by the general pubic that a retrovirus called HIV causes a group of diseases called AIDS.  Many bio-medical scientists now question this hypothesis. We propose a thorough re-appraisal of the existing evidence for and against this hypothesis be conducted by a suitable independent group. We further propose that a critical epidemiological study be devised and undertaken."

The letter was rejected by all medical journals.  The scientists then extended the number of signatories in the letter to 600, still unpublished.  Meanwhile at the San Franscisco AIDS conference in 1990, Luc Montagnier (French co-discoverer of HIV) said: "HIV might be benign (harmless).”

The matter did not receive any spotlight. If HIV does not cause AIDS, then what does?  Why are people dying from AIDS related symptoms after testing positive for HIV antibody test?

THE HIV ANTIBODY TEST

There are currently numerous studies listing 70 non-HIV conditions that can make the test produce false positive results.(3)  Christine Johnson from the HEAL organisation in Los Angeles listed these condition in a September/October 1996 Continuum with over 60 references to the false positive study from scientists. One of the facts Christine points out is that the proteins used in the HIV test have never been proven to be unique or specific to for HIV. 

That means the scientific evidence cannot prove that a positive HIV test means that you have HIV or any other health problem and it says so right on EVERY TEST PACKAGE.  Most doctors and patients never see this disclaimer. It is reported that when Dr Gallo and Margaret Heckler were making the announcement of HIV causing AIDS at the press conference in 1984, the blood test/method used to detect HIV was being patented [By whom? Gallo?]. This patent would subsequently earn large sums of money in royalties to Gallo (4).

HIV follows the pattern of passenger viruses that do not cause a disease. Passenger viruses typically infect and are neutralized long before a disease can occur. HIV follows the same pattern. Because only antibodies against HIV are detected in the test, therefore AIDS is defined by these since it was discovered. Virologist Peter Deusberg has said.

REASONS WHY HIV DOESN’T CAUSE AIDS

* HIV, like any retrovirus, is harmless after antibody immunity.

* HIV does not kill the T-cells it infects. Retroviruses do not kill the host cells.

* HIV does not infect enough T-cells to cause AIDS. T-cells reproduce at a rate of 5% a day.  HIV infects 1 out of every 1000 T-cells.  AIDS patients lack T-cells and depletion should kill more than half of these cells.

* There is no such thing as a slow virus yet the HI-Virus takes years to cause AIDS.  HIV is inactive for over 10 years then causes 30 different diseases that are previously known to men. In 1984 the life expectancy with HIV was one year, in 1996 it was 10-12 years.

* HIV is not a new virus so it could not cause a new epidemic yet AIDS cases have increased from 0 in 1980 to half a million in 1995 (5).

* HIV fails the Koch's postulates (Robert Koch discovered that TB is caused by bacteria) which states that with the discoveries of viruses, they should all follow the same 4 patterns using these guidelines - Associate, Isolate, RE-isolate and Inoculate.  Koch specifies that

1.1 The same micro-organism must be present in every case of the disease (there are currently HIV negative AIDS patients)

1.2 The virus must be cloned and grown in pure culture

1.3 The virus must cause the disease when inoculated into a healthy host

1.4 The virus must be isolated in pure culture from an experimentally infected host

Other diseases that failed Koch's postulates and failed to be infectious are: Scurvy, Beri Beri, Pelegra, SMON and VIrus Cancer (6)

* According to science, the virus incubation period is 8-24 hours. HIV infections show signs within 5-10 years yet HIV replicates in 24 hours? (7)

* AIDS has remained in the original risk groups. If a disease does not spread across the population, it must be caused by something non-infectious. In 1992 the number of infections between different risk groups were: Gay 62%, IV Drug users 32% Hemophiliacs 1%, Blood transfusion patients 2%  (8).

* The international profile of AIDS patients is inconsistent.  While in the US aids resides in 97% of the risk groups, in Africa it is a random occurrence. 

As an HIV positive person, I have gone through different HIV/AIDS institutions from public to private health care centres.  Most testing centres do not have sufficient knowledge, they simply repeat what they have been told. I have posed questions to them about the testing process and the different testing kits and have been met with blank stares in some and those who have the answers repeat the same thing.

It is not their fault as they are doing a job they have been taught, but it is irresponsible to put millions of people's mental, emotional and physical well being on individuals that do not know the difference between an ELISA and Western Blot test or what the test package insert says. These are people's lives.

People that have been given the authority to tell others that they have a killer virus should at least have advanced knowledge on the subject. Being told you are HIV positive is a traumatic experience.

The truth is that these diseases had to be put under one umbrella as AIDS for research funding while people were in fact dying of age old diseases. What is new about TB and diarrhoea in Africa? There are also other diseases that resemble AIDS i.e. drug use and anorexia.  HI-Virus has no specific new disease but somehow causes the previously known diseases under the AIDS umbrella.  The real causes of AIDS will continue to take lives while funds go to a failed hypothesis. 

(In Part 2 I explore the causes of AIDS in Africa)

References:

1. Science Volume 224 May 4 1984

2. The Group of Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis

3. www.helpforhiv.com

4. The emperor's new disease

5. CDC report June 1995

6&7. 'A World Without Aids' by Phillip Day and Steven Ransom (Credence Publishers 2000)

8. CDC report 1992

Photography by: Flo Mokale (Thanks to Fesiza)