[Letter to Colleagues from Peter Duesberg]

p4 120 "This increased mortality corresponds to about
10,000 deaths, assuming that this group co i-&t-s-of--about 50
million. It may thus include most of-thu to 10,000 A Sdeaths recorded annually up to 1987 (1-3,15)l.
This reviewer finds that =1 f Table 12 for 1987
that there are 7,282 + 7,663 144 deaths for the >13
group - not 10,000. However, res ricting this to the 20-44
group, we multiply by 0.80, and to restrict it to males we
multiply by 0.90 - presuming that 1987 is not far from the
1991 cumulative total percentages.
1987 14,945 x 0.80 x 0.90 = 10,760
1983 1,433 x 0.80 x 0.90 = 1,032
9,728 bang on!
Recommend change to: "It may thus include most of the up to
10,000 male AIDS-deaths recorded in this age group annually
up to 1987 (1-3,15 Table 12 corrected for age group and
(fraction of male AIDS)." Or possibly better:
"Presuming that other causes of mortality for this
roup remain the same, it would appear that the entire
increase in mortality for this group between 1983 and 1987
can be attributed to AIDS deaths."
p4 1 21 In light of these data the CDC acknowledges that
"We cannot discern, however, to what extent the upward trend
in death rates (or) for drug abuse reflects trends in
illicit drug use independent of the HIV epidemic (34)." The
actual text of ref 34 reads "for" not "or" and it makes a
lot more sense that way.
p5 18-10 Actually there are three subsections beneath the
next header: Intravenous drug.., Oral drug..., and
Medical drug... Among the last are many substances, for
example AZT, which are not thought to be psychoactive.
Therefore, this sentence should be modified as follows:
"..... acquired by the consumption of psychoactive or
medicinaldrugs." Or better:
"In the following paragraphs, I examine the hypothesis that
AIDS can be acquired by the consumption of psychoactive and
medicinal drugs."
p~.5 110 "Correlations between drugs, AIDS and non-AIDS
(.- diseases.*"
In actual fact it is drug consumption, not the
existence of drugs that correlates with AIDS. Recommend
change to:"The Correlation between Drug Consumption and AIDS and non
AIDS diseases."