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Do TUBERCULOSIS-TYPE BACTERIA CAUSE AIDS? TUBERCULOSIS-TY PE CAUSE AIDS? BACTERIA Whether HIV is a virus is still hotly debated, but in order for full-blown AIDS to arise there must be a co-factor present such as tuberculosis-related mycobacteria. re tuberculosis-type bacteria necessary to transform HIV infection into "full-blown" AIDS? Do virus-like and latent forms of bacteria go unrecognised and undetected in AIDS patients? Could HIV ("the virus that causes AIDS", acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) actually be a virus-like form of a tuberculosis (TB) germ? Such questions are blasphemous because most scientists believe the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is "the sole cause of AIDS". However, there is a close link between AIDS and TB, and infections with tuberculous and non-tuberculous mycobacteria are common "opportunistic infections" in AIDS. This communication explores the possibility that these bacteria are necessary to allow HIV infection to progress to full-blown AIDS. HIV, pulmonary TB and "atypical" acid-fast mycobacteria It must be clearly understood that one cannot catch HIV/AIDS by close contact with a patient, although HIV is obviously spread through unprotected sex with an infected person. HIV is not spread in the air. However, the acid- fast mycobacteria that cause human pulmonary TB can spread from person to person via inhalation. Unlike other bacteria, mycobacteria are coloured red or red-purple when stained with a laboratory acid-fast staining procedure. This "acid-fast" stain is used to identify mycobacteria and is a unique characteristic of these microbes. The two common types of acid-fast mycobacteria found in AIDS are Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the germ that causes human TB) and Mycobacterium avium. M. tuberculosis is found only in humans, but other species or types of "non-tuberculous" mycobacteria (like M. avium) can be found throughout nature: in water, soil and animals as well as in man. Please consult Wikipedia for more details about tuberculosis and the various species of acid-fast mycobacteria that can infect persons with AIDS. HIV and TB mycobacteria are a lethal combination. Someone who is HIV positive and infected with TB bacilli is many times more likely to become sick with TB than someone infected with TB bacilli who is HIV negative. Most frightening is the fact that more and more cases of drug-resistant TB are appearing in HIV-infected patients, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization estimates that, every second, someone in the world is newly infected with TB bacteria. One-third of the world's population is infected with TB microbes. Most infected people will not develop pulmonary TB because the immune system "walls off" the TB bacilli and allows them to lie dormant for years. However, when someone's immune system is weakened, the chances of becoming sick with TB are greater. TB mycobacteria are known to be "pleomorphic", in that they can exhibit various growth forms in culture and in tissue. "Pleomorphic" forms of M. tuberculosis and other species of "non-tuberculous" and "atypical mycobacteria. by Alan Cantwell, MD © 2007 Email: alancantwell@sbcglobal.net Web source: http://www. joimr.org/ JOIMR-2007-5-1-Cantwell.pdf Web source: http://www. joimr.org/ JOIMR-2007-5-1-Cantwell.pdf NEXUS ¢ 25 AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2008 www.nexusmagazine.com