Sarah Dougan, Victoria L Gilbart, Katy Sinka, Barry G Evans
Dougan S, Gilbart V L, Sinka K, Evans B G.
HIV infections acquired through heterosexual intercourse in the United Kingdom: findings from national surveillance
BMJ 2005; 330 :1303
doi:10.1136/bmj.38393.572188.EB
Dougan et al confirm there is no endemic Heterosexual 'HIV' epidemic in the UK
Segundo R. Leon stated regarding the Dougan et al. paper: 'HIV
infections acquired through heterosexual intercourse in the United
Kingdom: findings from national surveillance' (BMJ, 11 March 2005):
"When the AIDS epidemic started all the world focus their eyes in the
homosexual and gay population as the reason to become infected by the HIV.
Now things are changing, heterosexual relationships are increasing the
number of people infected with HIV…So, the HIV epidemic is increasing not
only in the undeveloped world as in the developed world, the main effort
should be focus in the prevention, using condom, promoting abstinence or
through promoting fidelity."
This is a typical example of misreading the evidence and actually
contradicts Dougan et al's findings: which are that there is no endemic
heterosexual 'HIV' epidemic in the UK: the vast majority of heterosexual
'HIV' cases are imported from abroad. The UK's alleged and assumed
'endemic HIV epidemic' is "overall" imported from abroad, as Dougan et al.
clearly state:
"The trends underlying the rapid and substantial increases in HIV
diagnoses among heterosexual people in the United Kingdom are complex and
sometime misunderstood. Although the number of people becoming infected
with HIV through heterosexual intercourse in the United Kingdom is rising
steadily, most of the overall rise in HIV diagnoses among heterosexuals is
among people who originate from and were infected abroad, mainly in
Africa."
On critical examination of 'HIV infections acquired through
heterosexual intercourse in the United Kingdom: findings from national
surveillance'
by Dougan et al. (BMJ, 11 March 2005) you will see – yet again – that the
vast majority of supposed heterosexual cases of 'HIV' in the UK originate
mainly from Africa, where conditions such as TB and malaria are well
documented in give an 'HIV' positive test result. The anomaly and paradox
that Dougan et al. cannot seem to confront is that why should 'HIV' be so
much more infectious in Africa than in the UK? We know it cannot be about
condom use sine we have huge rises in STD rates in the UK.
Dougan et al's findings merely confirm my long-standing argument that
'HIV' simply cannot possibly "acquired through heterosexual intercourse"
(as the title of Dougan et al's suggests). If 'HIV' really were an STD it
would have 'infected' thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people
by now – also: if we also take into account that we have recently seen a
huge rise in teenage STD rates in the UK. Recent UK 'HIV' figures (Data
Source: SOPHID:2003) point to some unexplained anomalies concerning the
disproportionate spread of 'HIV'. If 'HIV' is an STD why is it still
restricted rigorously to the original 'high-risk' groups like homosexuals?
The vast majority of homosexual 'HIV' cases in the UK are white
(13,440 out of a total of 15,454); whereas the vast majority of
heterosexual 'HIV' cases in the UK are black (11,068 out of a total of
15,998). The media have recently presented the misleading claim that the
UK is in the grip of an heterosexual 'HIV' epidemic but what they did not
mention is that over 75% of the heterosexual 'HIV' cases were imported
from abroad particularly from sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, India,
Asia, etc. Why is there such a difference in the distribution of
'HIV/AIDS' in the developed West (including Australia) and the developing
world (Africa, India, Asia, etc)? It has nothing to do with so-called
'education' (the 'safe-sex' mantra and “using condoms’ as Segundo R. Leon
suggests).
Whilst there is obviously no endemic heterosexual 'HIV' epidemic in
the UK, inadvertently, what Dougan et al. seem to be suggesting is that
'HIV' is merely a marker for 'risk-behaviour' still rigorously confined to
the original 'high-risk' groups: promiscuous homosexuals in the West and
people from Africa and the developing world.
Thus regarding the supposed 'sexual transmission' of 'HIV', I suggest
Segundo R. Leon and Dougan et al. read Nancy Padian, et. al.,
'Heterosexual Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in
Northern California: Results from a Ten-Year Study,' American Journal of
Epidemiology, Vol. 146, #4 (August 15, 1997), pp. 350- 57. This paper
makes it abundantly clear that 'HIV' is extremely unlikely to be
transmitted horizontally (sexually) in the USA - so why should the UK and
Africa be any different?
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests