HIV and AIDS: Questions of Scientific and Journalistic Responsibility

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HIV AND AIDS

pneumonia and candidiasis, are practically the only AIDS defining
diseases ever observed in recipients of transfusions; finally, until the
most recent reclassificaion of diseases under the AIDS umbrella on
January 1, 1993, bacterial infections were exclusively diagnosed in
babies who were defined as having AIDS according to the CDC..."
8. Differences with Africa. Differences exist not only internally
within the United States, but also internationally. According to
Duesberg ("The Last Word", Biotechnology Vol. 11, August 1993, p.
956), "since a clinical definition is used in Africa, statistics [about AIDS
patients] from this continent are not biased against HIV-free AIDS..."
Duesberg cites several specific studies about actual AIDS patients from
Africa which show that approximately 50% of the diagnosed AIDS
cases in these studies were HIV-antibody negative. Some of these
patients suffered from diseases such as weight loss, diarrhea, chronic
fever, tuberculosis, and neurological diseases. Statistics about AIDS
patients in Africa also report equal distribution of AIDS among male
and female. Some studies showed that HIV positivity did not precede
but followed weight loss by several months and possibly years.
Furthermore some diseases associated with specific risk groups in the
U.S. have not always been diagnosed as part of the "AIDS epidemic" in
Africa. For instance, the authors of one study wrote: "Since KS
[Kaposi's Sarcoma] has long been endemic in Zaire, only patients with
fulminant KS were included."4 Aside from all that, we recall that
antibodies to malaria and other diseases prevalent in Africa show up
as HIV-positive on tests. Hence the evidence suggests that whatever
epidemic is taking place in Africa is due to causes different from those
affecting the main risk groups in the U.S., such causes possibly
involving malnutrition, poor sanitation, and other factors.
The article cited in footnote 4 evaluates critically the AIDS situation
in Africa. In the abstract at the beginning of the article, one finds: "It
is concluded that both acquired immune deficiency (AID) and the
symptoms and diseases which constitute the clinical syndrome (S) are
long standing in Africa, affect both sexes equally, and are caused,
4For a more extensive account of such studies, see E. Papadopulos-Eleopulos,
V. F. Turner, J. M. Papadimitriou, and Harvey Bialy, "AIDS IN AFRICA:
DISTINGUISHING FACT FROM FICTION", in press, World J. Microbiology
& Biotechnology, 1995. Bialy is research editor of Biotechnology, and was an
active participant at the AAAS Pacific Division meeting on HIV and AIDS, 21
June 1994; see below.