HIV and AIDS: Questions of Scientific and Journalistic Responsibility

HIV AND AIDS

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possible role of HIV as a cause of diseases. In the rare cases
where such controlled studies have been done, the mortality has
been the same for both groups...
(b) Hemophiliacs. The mortality of American hemophiliacs
has actually decreased since 75% (some 15,000) of them were
infected by HIV via transfusions received over a decade ago...As
for the incidence of immunodeficiency in hemophiliacs with and
without HIV, at least 16 controlled studies comparing these
incidences have shown that immunodeficiency is independent of
HIV, but depends on the lifetime dose of transfusions and factor
VIII...
See also Duesberg's comments on hemophiliacs in his Pharmac. Ther.
paper, pp. 216-220, as well as an exchange concerning hemophiliacs at
the AAAS meeting mentioned in ~4 below.
Furthermore, among other places, a London Sunday Times editorial
taking to task some of the establishment press for not reporting
properly on the AIDS situation, had this to say about the case of
hemophiliacs (12 December 1993): "Nature should also be discussing
the remarkable story of the HIV positive hemophiliacs whose immune
systems, after declining for many years in ways that were 'attributed to
HIV, have recovered fully after they were switched to a new form of
treatment for their blood-clotting disorder. There now seems no reason
why they should not live a normal lifespan, regardless of their HIV
status."
As for Kary Mullis, in his California Monthly interview, he said:
"The IV-drug users are exchanging blood all the time, so they're getting
everybody's diseases. This was true for hemophiliacs too before
recombinant factor was available. If you're getting blood from lots of
other people, you're getting a lot of organisms along with it."
7. Different diseases in different risk groups. In addition, Duesberg's
letter to Jaffe pointed out that people in different risk groups in the
United States come down with different "AIDS-defining" diseases.
This phenomenon provides evidence that those diseases do not have a
single cause, but different causes depending on different circumstances.
For example, Duesberg wrote that among patients who have "AIDSdefining" diseases according to the CDC, "Kaposi's sarcoma is almost
totally restricted to male homosexuals; tuberculosis is prevalent in
intravenous drug users; microbial and fungal diseases, such as