by Kerry Scott
Wednesday, Apr. 16, 2003 at 1:39 AM
A new African AIDS study seriously challenges the widely accepted hypothesis
that HIV is a sexually transmitted virus. The study, by Dr. David
Gisselquist, et al, appeared in the International Journal of STD & AIDS.
Is HIV a Sexually-Transmitted Virus?
New Studies Raise Questions, Particularly in Africa
by Liam Scheff, The Weekly Dig (Boston)
A new African AIDS study seriously challenges the widely accepted hypothesis
that HIV is a sexually transmitted virus. The study, by Dr. David
Gisselquist, et al, appeared in the International Journal of STD & AIDS, a
peer-reviewed journal published by Britain's Royal Society of Medicine.
According to Gisselquist, "The idea that sex explains 90% of African HIV
just doesn't fit the facts. We need to take a look at the alternate
explanations, in particular, healthcare transmissions, which seem to fit a
lot of facts," he told Reuters. Among the study's revelations: Sexual
practices in areas with the highest rates of infection were no different
than in those with low rates of infection; infants of HIV-negative mothers
tested positive for HIV, as did individuals with no sexual exposure; and
heterosexual couples were no more likely to transmit the virus to each other
than their European and American counterparts. Gisselquist maintains that
contaminated needle injections and other unsafe medical practices could be
the cause.
But Dr. Chris Ouma, head of the charity ActionAid Kenya1s health programs,
disagrees. 'The idea that dirty needles or blood transfusions are the main
route for HIV transmission in Africa today flies in the face of experience
on the ground. In Kenya, medical procedures have largely been made safe but
still HIV infections continue to rise." Surveys of sexual behavior in Africa
show patterns nearly identical to North America and Europe where HIV
infection rates are much lower, but clean water, food and basic medical care
are widely available.
This isn1t the first study to challenge the hypothesis that HIV is sexually
transmitted. The 10-year Padian study (1997) observed sexually active
couples in which one partner was HIV positive. The result: in 10 years, not
one uninfected partner contracted HIV, even though all participants admitted
to having sex without condoms. The study states, 'We followed up 175
HIV-discordant couples over time, for a total of approximately 282
couple-years of follow up. The longest duration of follow-up was 12 visits
(6 years). We observed no seroconversion [infection] after entry into the
study." In the three-year Stewart study (1985) not one male partner of
HIV-positive women contracted HIV. Prostitution is not even listed as an HIV
risk category by the CDC, because of the extremely low incidence of HIV
transmission to clients who have no other risk factors (i.e. drug abuse).
These findings bolster the hypothesis of some AIDS scientists that chronic
malnutrition and other environmental factors, and not a sexually-transmitted
virus, are the causes of weakened immunity in people diagnosed with one of
the nearly 30 AIDS-defining diseases (which vary from country to country).
www.virusmyth.com
Original: New Studies Raise Questions