Those Who Aren't Dying of AIDSby
Vin Suprynowicz
Last time, we were discussing the notion that AIDS is epidemic in Africa, and that the prevalence of AIDS among women as well as men there proves the disease really does have something to do with a virus that can be readily spread through heterosexual contact. At the Web site of Christine Maggiore, we find the following. "Is AIDS Devastating Africa?" Ms. Maggiore asks. "According to the 1999 World Health Organization (WHO) report, the total number of actual diagnosed AIDS cases on the African continent is about equal to the total for AIDS in America even though Africa, with its 650 million people, has more than two times the population of the USA. Africa is often cited as a worst case example of what could happen in America despite figures that demonstrate that 99.5 percent of Africans do not have AIDS, and among Africans who test HIV positive, 97 percent do not have AIDS. "Unlike in the United States, AIDS in Africa may be diagnosed based on four clinical symptoms – fever, involuntary loss of 10 percent of normal body weight, persistent cough, and diarrhea – and HIV tests are not required. The four clinical AIDS symptoms are identical to those associated with conditions that run rampant on the African continent such as malaria, tuberculosis, parasitic infections, the effects of malnutrition, and unsanitary drinking and bathing water. ... "While Africa is the frequent subject of dramatic media reports, actual numbers of diagnosed AIDS cases on the continent are relatively unremarkable. For example, 1981 through 1999 cumulative AIDS cases for South Africa, the new epicenter of AIDS, total just 12,825." Well, so what? Anyone can set up a Web site and post whatever they please. Who's this Maggiore woman that we should give her any credence? Mrs. Maggiore, the author of the slim (but profusely footnoted) book "What If Everything You Thought About AIDS Was Wrong?" introduces herself as follows: "In 1992, I took what is commonly referred to as an HIV test. I had no symptoms of illness, no particular risks or fears, just a new doctor who insisted the test should be part of a regular medical exam. What began as a simple check-up turned from routine to life altering when my results came back HIV positive. "Putting aside my shock and shame, I immediately sought out an AIDS specialist. ... The doctor ... told me that despite my exceptional health, there was nothing I could do to prevent devastating disease and an eventual death from AIDS. According to official estimates, I had between five and seven years to live." Soon, Christine was touring local high schools and colleges, speaking on behalf of the AIDS Project Los Angeles. "I appeared as the person that HIV should never have happened to – a white, heterosexual, non-IV drug using business professional. ... I made audiences laugh, cry, and most importantly scared since I seemed to embody the slogan that everyone is at risk for AIDS. ..." But a year later, she found a dissident doctor who noticed Christine's continued good health. More tests were scheduled. Some were positive, some negative. "My desire to learn finally led me outside the confines of the AIDS establishment and into a body of scientific, medical and epidemiological data that defied everything I had been taught about AIDS, and everything that I had been teaching others. The more I read, the more I became convinced that AIDS research had jumped on a bandwagon that was headed in the wrong direction." But, "It became clear that the information I had found, however life-affirming, was not welcome among the AIDS organizations I belonged to. ... "The most surprising aspect of my story is that it is not at all unusual – I know hundreds of HIV positives that are alive and naturally well many years after receiving their own dire prognoses. ... " OK, perhaps young Mrs. Maggiore is sincere. But so what? If she wanted to demonstrate she had any credibility, she would submit her findings to scientific professionals. If they found her efforts credible, they would then summon up the enormous courage necessary to risk the scorn of their colleagues – and most significantly the fact that their tax-funded research grants would almost immediately dry up – to defy conventional wisdom and allow their names to be listed on the professional advisory board of "Alive and Well," wouldn't they? Yes, they would. And that board includes:
Vin Suprynowicz [send him mail] is assistant editorial page editor of the daily Las Vegas Review-Journal and author of The Black Arrow. Copyright © 2005 Vin Suprynowicz |
