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).