The enormity of the tragedy facing America today, however, is dwarfed
by the tragedy sweeping Asia and Africa. As of mid-1994, in the small
landlocked nation of Malawi in Southern Africa, 30% of high school
students
and 68% of college students tested were found to be HIV infected. (1)
Recent testing of soldiers throughout Africa revealed a 50% HIV
infection
rate, while testing of military units in Zimbabwe revealed a 90%
infection
rate. It is estimated that in Zimbabwe between one-quarter and
one-third
of President Mugabe's Cabinet have already perished from AIDS. (2)
In the May, 1996 issue of Special Warfare, a magazine distributed
primarily
to members of Special Operations (Military Intelligence) units, Dr.
Brian
Sullivan writes:
"The immediate future may present other daunting
challenges...Because of complicated social and cultural reasons, AIDS
already infects a high proportion of the military and civilian
officials
of Zaire, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and other central African countries. In
some or all of these countries government establishments may collapse
in the next 10-15 years...civil rule may also erode or break down in
parts
of North Africa, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia." (3)
In Uganda, the average life span of men has fallen to 30 years, while
the average life span of women has fallen to 27 years. (4) A missionary
friend living in Africa reports that there are over nine million
children
in sub- Saharan Africa who have lost their mothers to AIDS, and that
one
in every four miners working in South Africa are HIV positive. These
statistics
were communicated to me by E-mail from Vern Tisdalle, a missionary
stationed
in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is estimated that by the turn of the
century the epicenter of the epidemic will have shifted from Africa to
Asia. Indian health authorities currently estimate that "as many
as 20 million or even 50 million Indians will be infected by the year
2000, and that there will be more AIDS patients than hospital
beds".
(5) On June 1, 1996 Reuter's News Service reported that Dr. William
Blattner
of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland
estimated
that 100 million people will be HIV infected by the year 2000. (6) In
both Asia and Africa, HIV infection (AIDS) is primarily a heterosexual
disease, while in Western nations the illness is found almost
exclusively
among homosexuals, IV drug users, and more recently among heterosexual
blacks. Why is there such variance between the continents? There are
several
possible explanations. Dr. Max Essex, Director of the Harvard AIDS
Institute,
has reported that the predominant subtype of the virus found in Western
nations is HIV-I: subtype B, whereas in both Asia and Africa the
predominant
subtypes are C and E. Dr. Essex believes that the Langerhans cells
which
line the vagina and oral cavities are the primary sites for HIV
infection.
In laboratory experiments using Langerhans cell cultures, investigators
have discovered that HIV I: subtype B is only minimally infectious to
LH cells, whereas subtypes C and E are highly infectious. This study
may
explain why we find heterosexual spread of HIV infection in Asia and
Africa
where subtypes HIV I: C and E predominate, but only rarely in Western
nations where subtype B is found. It is presumed that homosexuals and
IV drug users contract HIV I: subtype B readily because of their
lifestyles
involving needle sharing and rectal sex. (7) Dr. Essex's work, however,
does not explain the heterosexual epidemic developing within black
America
today. This aberration may be explained by studies which have found
that
certain genetic factors predispose blacks to HIV infection. Researchers
have recently identified two mutated genes in some whites that are not
found in blacks; these altered genes protect their hosts from HIV
infection.
There may well be other yet unrecognized genetic factors which confer
complete or partial immunity to whites, but these factors have yet to
be identified. (8,9)
Shortly after the year 2000 blacks will make up the majority of new HIV
infections occurring here in the United States. (10) That supposition
is reflected in statistics released by the Department of Health in
Virginia
in 1996. Because of the 10-year latency period between HIV infection
and
immunodeficiency, AIDS statistics reflect the status of the epidemic 10
years ago rather than what is happening today. Virginia's current AIDS
statistics suggest equal numbers of blacks and whites infected while
HIV
statistics reveal that 64% of recent infections are among blacks while
only 31.8% are among whites. These figures become even more frightening
when one reflects that blacks make up only 22.6% of Virginia's
population.
(11)
What most people do not realize is that all efforts to utilize public
health measures to slow spread of the HIV epidemic have been thwarted.
Why?
(A) Because most people don't
understand what is happening,
(B) Because many who do recognize the unfolding tragedy have been
threatened
and are afraid to speak out, and,
(C) Because both public health officers and physicians have been
effectively
blocked from introducing the public health measures needed to stop
further
spread of this modern-day plague. (12)
(A) Randy Shilts, author of
"And The Band Played On" recognized this fact when he wrote:
"The bitter truth was that AIDS did not just happen to America
- It was allowed to happen by an array of institutions, all of which
failed
to perform their appropriate tasks to safeguard the public health ...
There was no excuse, in this country and in this time, for the spread
of a deadly new epidemic." (13)
Why is this happening? Tragically, most Americans do not understand the
magnitude of the epidemic because our print and TV media have been
selective
in reporting matters dealing with the epidemic. I know that from
first-hand
experience because I and many of my cohorts have been thwarted in our
efforts to disseminate the truth about the magnitude of the epidemic.
I have recorded that story in my book "AIDS: The Unnecessary
Epidemic",
published in 1991 by Covenant House. An interesting study in thought
control
in America today is to try to acquire my book via regular distribution
channels.
In recent years several other books have been published which have, in
my opinion, presented misleading information about the epidemic.
Tragically,
that misinformation has discouraged introduction of the public health
measures needed to save human lives. In 1990 Regnery Gateway published
Michael Fumento's "The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS". In that
book,
Fumento assured his readers that there was no possibility of
heterosexual
spread of AIDS here in the United States. Noting that the epidemic had
not exploded within the white, heterosexual community as feared,
Fumento
crafted a convincing tale belittling those of us who wanted to
introduce
public health measures to block further spread of the disease. In his
book, Fumento accused me of "iceberg-theory terrorism"
because
during the early stages of the epidemic I expressed fear that HIV
disease
would spread into the general heterosexual population. (14) As time has
gone by I have publicly modified my view, but to the best of my
knowledge
Michael Fumento has never recanted his message that no public health
measures
were needed. During the early stages of the epidemic, we were both
wrong.
I erred on the side of caution; Michael Fumento erred on the side that
insists that preventive health measures were not needed to stop the
epidemic.
The tragedy unfolding in both
Asia and Africa today reflects the apathy engendered by the
misinformation
disseminated during the early 1990s. I sincerely believe that the lives
of hundreds of thousands of homosexuals, IV drug users, black
heterosexuals
and black children could have been saved had public health measures
been
introduced at that time. Had measures been introduced in Asia and
Africa,
hundreds of millions of lives could have been saved. That, however, was
not to be. (15). In 1994 Inside Story Publications released "Why
We Will Never Win the War on AIDS" written by Brian Ellison and
Dr.
Peter Duesberg. Dr. Duesberg insists that there is no AIDS epidemic,
and
that most of those who are assumed to have died from AIDS have actually
succumbed to the complications of drug usage, sexual stimulants, and
AZT.
(16) An updated version of Dr. Duesberg's book was republished by
Regnery
Publishing Inc. in 1996 under the title "Inventing the AIDS
Virus".
Both books contended that:
[1]
"in most individuals suffering from AIDS, no virus particles
can be found anywhere in the body" (17)
[2]
"retroviruses do not kill cells" (18)
[3] There are no scientific studies to document any relationship
between
HIV infection and immunodeficiency (19)
[4] Kimberly Bergalis was perfectly healthy before she was given AZT
(20)
[5] HIV-infected hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients do not die
from
immunodeficiency but rather from their hemophilia and other diseases.
(21)
A number of other questionable arguments were presented in a clever and
convincing manner in Dr. Duesberg's book, and they swayed many people.
After all, why would Dr. Duesberg, a world-famous retrovirologist, make
such statements if they weren't true? Let me respond:
[1] Clinicians presently chart the course of HIV disease by measuring
the numbers of viral particles present in peripheral blood.
[2] Because the HIV retrovirus routinely kills normal T cells in the
laboratory,
special resistant lines of T cells must be used to culture the
retrovirus:
This information was confirmed by telephone conversation with Dr.
Donald
Francis in August 1996, and with the chief of the CDC virology lab in
Atlanta, Georgia, in February 1996.
[3] There have been a number of published studies documenting the
relationship
between HIV infection and terminal-stage immuno- suppression: (22,23)
[4] Kimberly Bergalis was severely immuno- compromised, contracted
pneumocystis
carinii pneumonia and had a CD4 count as low as 41 before she was
started
on AZT. This information was obtained from Kimberly's college medical
records which were graciously provided to me by her father, George.
[5] Both Ellison and Dr. Duesberg ignore the fact that hemophiliacs and
transfusion recipients who have died have virtually all manifested the
classic, clinical picture of terminal- stage immunodeficiency. (24)
A detailed analysis of Dr.Duesberg's
arguments and his agenda is beyond the scope of this article. That
subject
is covered in my HIV-Watch newsletter, and in my monograph, "The
Population Control Agenda". Unfortunately, Dr. Duesberg's books
have
convinced many otherwise sincere people that there is no reason to
institute
standard public health measures to control further spread of the
epidemic.
(25)
(B) Why have people been afraid to speak out? I personally know of
physicians,
medical personnel and politicians who have had their professions ruined
simply because they dared to comment publicly on the mishandling of the
epidemic. On one occasion two public health officers approached me
stating:
"We want you to know that we support you and what you're doing,
but
we can't come out publicly because we've been threatened." That
pattern
of intimidation has been commonplace since the inception of the
epidemic.
The story of the threats and intimidation utilized to silence concerned
professionals is also covered in "AIDS:The Unnecessary
Epidemic".
(26)
(C) For centuries epidemics have been stopped by identifying the
infected,
and preventing them from transmitting their illness to others. In the
case of HIV disease it would have been relatively simple to have
blocked
further spread of the epidemic in the mid-1980s when the HIV blood test
became available. That, however, was not to be. Even before the blood
test was released in May of 1985 there were forces organizing to block
the introduction of standard public health measures to control further
spread of the epidemic. Virtually all necessary public health measures
have been precluded because of those efforts. (27,28)
The precedent for public health management of a sexually transmitted
disease
epidemic was established by Surgeon General Thomas Parren during the
syphylis
epidemic of the 1930s. Had physicians been allowed to introduce the
public
health measures needed in the mid-1980s we could have stopped further
spread of the plague. What should have been done?
[1] Physicians should have been instructed to carry out routine,
non-mandatory,
confidential HIV testing on all office and hospital patients.
[2] Mandatory reportability of the names of the infected to public
health
officials should have been instituted to facilitate contact tracing,
compilation
of accurate statistics, and identification of those who were
intentionally
spreading their illness.
[3] Mandatory premarital, prenatal, and neonatal HIV testing should
have
been introduced to save the lives of sexual partners, unborn and
newborn
children.
[4] Infected prostitutes should have been identified and removed from
our streets.
[5] Houses of prostitution, gay sex clubs and bathhouses should have
been
closed.
[6] Nationwide treatment programs for drug addicts should have been
introduced.
[7] Education should have stressed chastity and morality rather than
instructing
our youth how to put on condoms and lecturing them on aberrant sexual
activity.
Tragically, almost all efforts
by concerned public health officers and physicians to address the HIV
epidemic have been thwarted. I know from personal experience because
for
over a decade I led the battle within the House of Delegates of the
California
Medical Association to introduce the public health measures needed to
stop the epidemic. Year after year the physicians voted to introduce
effective
public health measures, and year after year those within the hierarchy
and the bureaucracy of organized medicine worked to block
implementation
of those policies. That tragic story is also chronicled in my book
"AIDS:
The Unnecessary Epidemic".
Men and women of conscience are not relieved of their moral
responsibility
to speak out concerning the manner in which this epidemic has been
handled
simply because it has failed to involve the white heterosexual
population
of America. In my opinion, almost everyone who acquires this disease
today
does so because of our nation's failure to implement the public health
measures necessary to block further spread of the illness. I sincerely
believe that men do become accomplices to those tragedies which they
fail
to oppose. Failure to speak out in times of moral crises makes cowards
of men, and these days we live in are surely times of great moral
crisis.
(1) Radio Interview. John Harris.
9/13/95. Radio Liberty, P.O. Box 13, Santa Cruz, CA 95063. Copies
available.
(2) Radio Interview. Peter Hammond of Front Lines Ministry: 9/20/96.
Radio
Liberty. Copies available.
(3) Sullivan Brian R. Special Operations and LIC in the 21st Century:
The Joint Strategic Perspective: Special Warfare. The John F. Kennedy
Special Warfare Center and School May 1996; 9(2):4. Contact
Superintendent
of Documents, US Publishing Office, Washington D.C. 20402
(4) Life Expectancy Shortened in Uganda. Xinhua News Agency 8/18/96.
(See
also CDC AIDS Daily Summary 8/19/96).
(5) Burns JF. Denial and Taboo Blind India to the Horror of the AIDS
Scourge.
New York Times 9/22/96: 1. (See also CDC Daily Summary 9/23/96: 2.)
(6) Blattner W. More than 100 Million Worldwide Predicted to be
HIV-Positive
by Year 2000. Reuters News Service 6/17/96. (See also CDC AIDS Daily
Summary
6/19/96: 2.)
(7) Soto KE et al. HIV-1 Langerhans' Cell Tropism Associated with
Heterosexual
Transmission of HIV. Science 3/1/96; 271: 1291
(8) Kolata Gina. New AIDS Study Reveals Startling Immunity Data. New
York
Times 9/27/96: A13:
(9) Dean Michael. Genetic Restrictions of HIV-1 Infection and
Progression
of AIDS. Science 9/27/96; 273: 1856.
(10) The Changing Face of AIDS. New York Times 11/04/96: A26
(11) Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Health: Division of
STD/AIDS
Surveillance Quarterly; 4(2,3):1. Available from P.O. Box 2448,Room
112,
Richmond, VA 23218
(12) Monteith SK. AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic. Covenant House 1991.
(See also HIV-Watch; I-V.) P.O. Box 1835, Soquel, CA 95073.
(13) Shilts Randy. And the Band Played On. St. Martin's Press 1987:
xxii.
(14) Fumento Michael. The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS. Regnery Gateway
1990:
303.
(15) Ibid: 178-184
(16) Ellison Brian., Duesberg Peter H. Why We Will Never Win the War on
AIDS. Inside Story Communications. El Cerrito CA 1994 : v-viii.
(17) Duesberg Peter H. Inventing the AIDS Virus. Regnery Publishing Inc
1996: 175
(18) Ibid: 158
(19) Why We Will Never Win The War On AIDS. op cited: 250
(20) Inventing the AIDS Virus: op cited: 348-252
(21) Ibid: 4, 183-185, 286-288
(22) Asher MS. et al. Does Drug Use Cause AIDS. Nature 3/11/93; 362:103
(23) Schecter Martin T. et al. HIV-1 and the Aetiology of AIDS. Lancet
3/13/93; 341: 658-659
(24) Minimal Data Set for Risk Reduction,National Totals 1/1/93 -
12/31/93.
125 Hemophilia Treatment Centers Reporting to the CDC.
(25) Why We Will Never Win the War On AIDS; op cited: 122
(26) AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic; op cited.
(27) And the Band Played On; op cited: 539-560.
(28) AIDS:The Unnecessary Epidemic: op cited: 136, 161-66, 193, 342-43.