[Note to Jon Cohen from Ronald C. Desrosiers]

HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTER
JYrfemorandum
To: Members of the Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis
FROM: Ronald C. Desrosiers
DATE: February 24, 1995
RE _
There is already more than ample evidence of the type you seek in your letter
to Science 267:945 (1995). Approximately 95% of individuals with hemophilia who
are.HIV-1 positive show progressive declines in CD4 lymphocyte concentrations.
Approximately 100% of individuals with hemophilia who are not HIV-1 positive,
even such individuals in the same cohort, show no such declines in CD4 lymphocyte
concentrations. In one case from the small percentage of HIV-1 positives without
progressive CD4 declines, the HIV-1 was shown to be defective in that it was
missing one of the auxiliary genes. As a separate example, monkeys inoculated with
SIV develop CD4 declines, opportunistic infections and die usually within three
years. Control monkeys that are uninoculated or inoculated with SIV missing nef or
other genes show no such disease pattern.
I wish that HIV were not here, but suggesting that it may not be the cause of
AIDS in the majority of cases does a great public health disservice. How many new
HIV infections may result from a misguided notion that protection against HIV
infection is not important?