Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Education And Debate

The politics of AIDS in South Africa: beyond the controversies

BMJ 2003; 326 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7387.495 (Published 01 March 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;326:495

Rapid Response:

Is Non-HIV AIDS Now One Percent of AIDS Cases?

I've been intrigued by Non-HIV AIDS ever since the first cases were
announced at the AIDS conference in Amsterdam in 1992. The CDC quickly
tried to say that the Non-HIV AIDS cases were not another transmissible
epidemic caused by something other than HIV. Why? Because these cases
supposedly didn't seem to exhibit "risk factors" for their illness. If the
folks at Autoimmune Technologies in New Orleans are correct, that is not
exactly the case. They seem to think that there is another separate AIDS
epidemic caused by an agent other than HIV. And it may represent one
percent of AIDS cases. And it may also involve the famous "risk groups."

Here's what they say on their site:

"Idiopathic CD4+ T-lymphocytopenia, or ICL, is an immunodeficiency
syndrome in which human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, cannot be
detected. Because HIV is the causative agent of acquired immune deficiency
syndrome (AIDS), ICL can be referred to as Non-HIV AIDS. As in AIDS
patients, Non-HIV AIDS patients exhibit reduced numbers of CD4+ T-
lymphocytes, and many Non-HIV AIDS patients have developed the
opportunistic infections or otherwise rare cancers associated with AIDS.

Non-HIV AIDS patients may comprise perhaps one percent of all AIDS
patients. While the majority of Non-HIV AIDS patients do not belong to any
of the risk groups such as blood transfusion recipients, male homosexuals,
and intravenous drug abusers in which AIDS was first identified, some Non-
HIV AIDS patients do belong to these groups. This suggests that Non-HIV
AIDS may also be transmissible."

-- http://www.autoimmune.com/Non-HIVAIDSGen.html

If you go to that site, you'll read about the non-HIV agent they
think is the cause of "transmissible" Non-HIV AIDS. Since the blood supply
is not being tested for Non-HIV AIDS and since people are not being tested
for Non-HIV AIDS, we could be at the beginning of another AIDS epidemic.
For all we know, 2004 could be 1981 in the "transmissible" Non-HIV AIDS
epidemic.

One wonders if someone can have both HIV AIDS and non-HIV AIDS. What
happens when someone with HIV AIDS sleeps with someone with Non-HIV AIDS?

If one percent of AIDS cases are non-HIV AIDS, doesn't that raise
serious questions about HIV itself? Couldn't there be some third factor
that both HIV AIDS and Non-HIV AIDS have in common? (How about a virus
like HHV-6 which seems to be far more destructive than HIV?)

By the way, the original ICL (Non-HIV AIDS) cases seem to have been
mostly people who had been diagnosed with "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." Do
the Non-HIV AIDS cases therefore help support the claim that AIDS and CFS
are part of the same epidemic?

The bottom line here is that there may be an epidemic of Non-HIV AIDS
that has been swept under the rug by the HIV establishment. "One percent
of all AIDS patients" is not a small number. People have yet to be told
that they should be aware of their Non-HIV AIDS status.

Actually, what the public should do is ask if Non-HIV AIDS is proof
that all those in charge of the AIDS research effort should be wearing
colorful clown costumes. And seriously considering retirement.

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

23 July 2004
Charles Ortleb
Writer and Filmmaker
Rubicon Media