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In one study of Venezuelan malaria patients, the rate of false positives with Western Blot was 25 to 41 per cent. This led the researchers to conclude that "HIV is not causing AIDS, even in the presence of the severe immunoregulatory disturbances charac- teristic of acute malaria." (New England Journal of Medicine (1986), 314:647.) Eleni Eleopoulos and her cohorts argue that there has been no standard established to interpret what the individual strips on the Western Blot test actually mean. In the US, the Transfusion Safety Study Group submitted some 100 patient samples weekly for testing to three highly respected laboratories over three periods of several months. The TSS found extreme variations in band pat- terns of the same samples even at the same labs. The lack of specificity of HIV-testing should be disturbing to all clinicians working with people deemed to be HIV-positive. Individuals belonging to the main AIDS 'risk' groups—gay men, drug users and haemophiliacs—are exposed to many foreign sub- stances such as semen, drugs, blood transfusions and blood com- ponents, hepatitis, Epstein Barr virus and many other factors or diseases known to cause false positives. Other populations—such as Africans and drug users—exposed to a greater than normal amount of disease, also make many more antibodies than the rest of us and therefore are likely to throw up false positives, For instance, Eleopoulos claims there is a strong association between blood transfusions and a positive HIV test. In one study (The Lancet (1986), 1:1090-92), the amount of HIV antibody detected in ELISA tests was greatest immediately after blood transfusion and decreased between transfusions. In another instance (A/JDS (1988), 2:405-6), a volunteer was given six injections of donated H1V-negative blood at four-day intervals. After the first injection his HIV test was negative, but the signal of a positive antibody response increased with each transfusion. Once a patient is shown to be HIV-positive, doctors persuade them of the importance of regularly testing their blood for abnor- malities, particularly for a significant drop in the number of T- helper cells (CD4s), considered an indicator of the presence of major diseases associated with AIDS. CD4 counts are practically meaningless as a measure of disease progression and can show a rise or a fall at any given point in-the day. In many clinics throughout the world, ‘significant’ decline in CD4s is used as a marker for future prophylactic drug treatment. Two hundred T-cells per millilitre of blood is considered the point at which the patient will be told that without drugs like AZT, ddl or Septrin, their chances of acquiring one of the diseases associated with AIDS, such as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), are fairly high. What, then, is AIDS? If HIV isn't the cause of AIDS, what is? In Peter Duesberg's view, "Twenty-five previously known, and in part entirely unre- lated diseases have been redefined as AIDS, provided they occur in the presence of HIV." (Pharmaology and Therapeutics (1992), 55:201-77.) In other words, if you've got tuberculosis without a positive ELISA test, you've got tuberculosis. If tuber- culosis is diagnosed with a positive HIV test, you've got AIDS. The heretical view is that the severe immune-suppression seen in full-blown AIDS is not caused by a germ, but by a variety of separate lifestyle risk factors peculiar to the various high-risk groups which have compromised health prior to the onset of the disease. Their common thread, believes Eleni Eleopoulos, is that they are all oxidising agents—that is, they cause unwant- ed "fires" in cells, as cancer does. These insults to the body only cause immune-suppression after a long window of time, just as Cigarette-smoking takes years to lead to cancer. The prevailing belief is that this immune-suppression is caused by: © among male homosexuals, a high number of sexual partners, receptive anal intercourse and exposure to recreational drugs, especially nitrites. According to Eleni Eleopoulos, abundant studies show that immunosuppression and the develop- ment of Kaposi's sarcoma is related to the number of sexual partners and frequency of receptive anal intercourse; indeed, immune-suppression appears more often in anal sperm recipients (i.e., passive partners) but not in their sperm-donating part- ners, Furthermore, animal studies conclusively demonstrate that sperm is a strong immunosuppressive if it migrates to the general cells of the body. This is more possible with anal sex since, unlike the vagina with its thick lining which makes pene- tration of semen into the bloodstream unlikely, the rectum is separated from the bloodstream and lymphatic system by only a thin cell-wall, which is easily penetrated during anal intercourse (Medical Hypotheses (1988), 25:151-62). © among haemophiliacs, not only by the condition itself, but also impurities in the blood-clotting agent Factor VIII. In one study, more non-HIV haemophiliacs demonstrated AIDS-related diseases than did those who were found to be HIV-posi- tive (Gomperts, E. D., de Biasi, R. and De Vreker, R., The Impact of Clotting Factor Concentrates on the Immune System in Individuals with Hemophilia, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Hyland Division, Glendale, California, 1991). © among intravenous drug users using opiates, the immunosuppressing effects of drugs, which have been known since the 1970s. © among recipients of transfusions, blood products and transfusion itself, which is known to be immunosuppressive, par- ticularly when irradiated blood is used. One study demonstrated that the more blood a patient receives, the lower his num- ber of T-cells (British Journal of Haematology (1985), 59:713). © among babies, supposedly born to HIV mothers, drug addiction or the effects of drug addiction in the mother. Three- quarters of American AIDS babies are born to "crack mothers", says Duesberg. Other AIDS babies are blood transfusion recipients or haemophiliacs. © among Africans, malnutrition and widely practised anal intercourse among heterosexuals. AIDS is a new name for old, indigenous diseases. Also, what we call an “AIDS epidemic" could be the result of wild inaccuracy of the AIDS test in Africa in which thousands of people with multiple antibodies show up as HIV-positive on ELISA tests. Unlike the US and European AIDS cases, African AIDS doesn't occur among homosexuals, drug users or haemophiliacs. © among all AIDS patients, prophylactic drugs like AZT, which cause anaemia and lower blood cell count, causing "AIDS by prescription", Duesberg says. 12 ¢ NEXUS OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1994