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viruses need to be grown in living cells. In 1984, HIV was _Is AIDS Really Caused by a Virus? (2003), he searches the finally isolated in cell culture with great difficulty and medical literature and concludes that M. tuberculosis, with questionable techniques in Robert Gallo's lab. perhaps in concert with other species of acid-fast bacteria Pulitzer Prize-winning writer John Crewdson presents a (such as M. avium), is the likely cause of AIDS and the highly detailed and unflattering account of the discovery immune system abnormalities that accompany it. He of HIV in Science Fictions: A Scientific Mystery, A suggests HIV "is simply one of the L-forms [i.e., Massive Cover-Up, and the Dark Legacy of Robert Gallo mycoplasma-like forms] of...atypical mycobacteria". (2002). He notes that Gallo's lab cultured HIV by mixing The back cover of Broxmeyer's book proclaims: "Once the blood of an AIDS patient along with the blood of 10 upon a time a small group of politically powerful scientists other AIDS patients. This mix was seeded into a tissue rammed a flawed theory on the origin and cause of AIDS cell culture comprised of a down America's and then the “white blood cell line" derived world's throat. Yet we are still from a patient with cancer of the led to believe that we are blood. Enough HIV was finally H fortunate that retroviruses, only cultured from this witch's brew She E concerned that discovered in the 1970s, were to allow the manufacture of the undetected mycoplasma uncovered just in time to label HIV blood test developed by Gallo. Not surprisingly, some them in a killer AIDS epidemic. could be present in the Although it is currently difficult researchers and AIDS dissidents cancerous cell line used to find anyone who openly question the "purity" of the HIV questions HIV as the cause of lab culture as well as the to grow HIV... AIDS, a fast-growing number accuracy of the blood test in proving infection with HIV. Broxmeyer believes that the Microbiologist Phyllis Evelyn prospects for a cure or an AIDS Pease, in AIDS, Cancer and Arthritis: A New Perspective vaccine depend on the recognition of TB bacteria as the (2005), claims that the pooling of virus from multiple —_ underlying cause. patients to grow HIV "could almost guarantee the isolation of mycoplasmas". She is concerned that undetected | Why are bacteria in AIDS important? mycoplasma could be present in the cancerous cell line The AIDS epidemic is a disaster for the human race. used to grow HIV, noting that mycoplasmas "can still | Twenty-five million people have already died, including persist in a covert but viable form and thus are able to half a million Americans. Forty million are currently cause further errors in areas of serology, biochemistry and —_ infected with HIV. There is no recognised cure for AIDS, express their doubts privately." molecular biology". and the current treatment is so expensive that few people Traditionally, ' "viruses" have been physically separated _ in the world can afford it without subsidies. from bacteria in the laboratory by the use of filters. With AIDS is a billion-dollar industry and billions of dollars proper- sized filters the smaller-sized — viruses slip through the filter, leaving the larger bacteria behind. But, in reality, the dividing line between bacteria and viruses is not so simple. Pease writes that "it is now widely recognised that smaller elements of bacteria including mycoplasmas are not excluded by filtration". She explains that "in the past such filterable forms have been identified as viruses until they have been recognised as bacteria, that is, mycoplasmas, by virtue of their ability to grow in [a] cell-free medium". In short, she suggests that some retroviruses like HIV might be "sub- cellular forms of bacteria". Lawrence Broxmeyer is a physician who believes that TB-like bacteria Figure 4. Three "typical" red-stained, acid-fast rod forms of Mycobacterium cause AIDS. In AIDS: What the avium in an AIDS-related cancerous skin tumour ("immunoblastic sarcoma"). Discoverers of HIV Never Admitted — Acid-fast stain, 1000x, in oil. undetected mycoplasma could be present in the Why are bacteria in AIDS important? The AIDS epidemic is a disaster for the human race. Twenty-five million people have already died, including half a million Americans. Forty million are currently infected with HIV. There is no recognised cure for AIDS, and the current treatment is so expensive that few people in the world can afford it without subsidies. AIDS is a billion-dollar industry and billions of dollars Figure 4. Three "typical" red-stained, acid-fast rod forms of Mycobacterium avium in an AIDS-related cancerous skin tumour ("immunoblastic sarcoma"). Acid-fast stain, 1000x, in oil. NEXUS ¢ 29 She is concerned that cancerous cell line used to grow HIV... AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2008 www.nexusmagazine.com