[Letter to Colleagues from Peter Duesberg]

7
are confirmed intravenous drug users and another 17% to
mothers who had "sex with intravenous drug users" and
therefore are likely users themselves (15. Table 3). [I have
xot checked ref 47].(underlined is the reviewer's suggested
addition.)
In any event, the case of pediatric AIDS could well afford a
new paragraph here, and include some explanation. The
average reader does not understand that newborns inherit the
immunocompetence of the mother, indeed it is not for 3
months that the child's immunoglobulin synthesis gets
underway. A good reference here would be Root-Bernstein who
(I believe) has treated this extensively in his 1990 paper.
The pediatric AIDS story belongs in this section, either
here, or at the end of this section (p6 middle).
p6 11 This paragraph is too long. It contains at least
three different kinds of ideas. Some separation and
narrative is required.
"It appears that the consumption of drugs by itself,
without the presence of HIV antibody, is strongly correlated
with AIDS indicator diseases, and non-AIDS indicator
diseases as well. For example, HIV antibody was only
observed in 22 out of 50 pneumonia deaths, 7 out of 22
endocarditis deaths, and 11 out of 16 tuberculosis deaths
(42). Likewise HIV antibody...
p6 119 "Moreover, similar....
This might be the place to make a new paragraph, deleting
the word "Moreover"
p6 121 Delete the word "Further." (It is the feeling of
this reviewer that any sentence introduced by a word that
signals its triviality should be deleted - or that word
should be deleted.]
p6 126 (last line) "AIDS risk" I would suggest spelling
it out for the lay reader as follows:...., the fraction of individuals developing AIDS indicator
three times higher in those who persisted than in those who
stopped injecting drugs (46).
p7 14 Delete "Moreover"
Recommend: "A convincing study has recently been

reported comparing 111 HIV-positive and 210 HIV-negative
intravenous drug users from Holland. The lymphocyte
abundance and reactivity is depressed by long-term drug
injection, irrespective of the presence of HIV antibody
(56)."