September 12 1997

SUBJECT: CDC says there has never been infectious HIV in Factor VIII

Please direct me to the following publication (ie: internet URL)

FACT SHEET ON HIV TRANSMISSION, published by the CDC, January 1994.

I found this quote in a paper by the Australian scientists Eleopulos et al.:

In January 1994, the CDC (25) communicated the following experimental data and conclusion: "In order to obtain data on the survival of HIV, laboratory studies have required the use of artificially high concentrations of laboratory grown virus...the amount of virus studied is not found in human specimens or anyplace else in nature,...it does not spread or maintain infectiousness outside its host. Although these unnatural concentrations of HIV can be kept alive under precisely controlled and limited laboratory conditions, CDC studies have shown that drying of even these high concentrations of HIV reduces the number of infectious viruses by 90 to 99 percent within several hours. Since the HIV concentrations used in laboratory studies are much higher than those actually found in blood or other body specimens, drying of HIV-infected human blood or other body fluids reduces the theoretical risk of environmental transmission to that which has been observed-essentially zero".

The implications of this statement are profound in the extreme!

Robert Johnston,
HEAL Toronto

SUBJECT: NAC Reference request

Thank you for your letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. One of the functions of the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse (CDC NAC) is to answer the AIDS-related correspondence of several Federal offices. Your letter has been forwarded to our office for reply. We sincerely regret the delay in responding to your request.

The CDC has received many inquiries concerning the survival of HIV in ground water, sewage, body fluids, and corpses of HIV-infected persons. Most of the questions posed assume that HIV can be transmitted in the environment; however, this type of transmission has not been documented. The overwhelming scientific evidence is that HIV is fragile and highly susceptible to physical and chemical agents and therefore does not survive well outside the human body.

An extensive study on the survival of HIV after drying was reported by Resnik and coworkers (Stability and inactivation of HTLV-III/LAV under clinical and laboratory environments. Journal of the American Medical Association 1986;255:1887-91). The purpose of the study was to determine the inactivation rate of HIV under experimental conditions--an objective that required the use of extremely high levels of HIV. The concentrations studied were at least 100,000 times greater than those typically found in the blood of HIV- infected persons. It is not surprising that when such high concentrations of HIV were used, the virus could be detected 1 to 3 days after drying. Upon close examination of these data and from other results that have been obtained by CDC, however, it is clear that drying causes a rapid (within 1 or 2 hours) reduction in virus concentration and renders 90 to 99 percent of the virus inactive.

Other studies have shown that HIV is rapidly inactivated by a range of physical and chemical agents such as low levels of heat, pH extremes, and a variety of chemicals. These observations, coupled with the enormous dilution factors in sewage systems, suggest that on-the-job HIV risk factors for sewage workers are virtually nonexistent. HIV is transmitted by sexual contact with an infected person, perinatally from an infected woman to her fetus or infant, through needle-sharing among intravenous drug users, and rarely, from accidents involving needlestick injuries and other blood exposures of health-care providers. Because there is no epidemiologic or laboratory evidence that HIV can be transmitted by the fecal-oral route or by air, fears associated with HIV transmission by other types of contact with sewage are not warranted.

Although there have been no specific studies of HIV survival in corpses before or after embalming, no instances of HIV transmission have been reported from an exposure incurred in performing mortuary services. The chemical germicides in embalming fluids have been tested and found to completely inactivate HIV. CDC has also published occupational infection control guidelines that apply to mortuary workers, including embalmers.

Physicians, nurses, and other types of health-care workers whose jobs involve contact with blood or body fluids can prevent HIV transmission by the consistent use of gloves and the use of protective clothing and eye goggles or face shields for certain procedures.

Furthermore, HIV is very fragile and does not survive well outside the human body. HIV is inactivated by heat and dies after 30 minutes at 56 C (132.8 F). It is also highly susceptible to physical and chemical agents.

If properly stored, HIV is very stable at low temperatures. It can last 7-10 days at 4 C (39.2 F) and months to years at -70 C (-94 F). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stores purified virus preparations in liquid nitrogen (-200 C or -328 F). In all cases, the stability of HIV depends on the presence of the proper concentration of protein to protect the virus from changes in temperature.

Our reference specialists are available to search the database and provide information over the phone and by mail. If you would like additional information on a particular title or subject area, please call CDC NAC at 1-800-458-5231, and a reference specialist will answer your questions.

Also, please check out the CDC NAC Web Site at the following address: http://www.cdcnac.org/

We hope this information will be helpful to you.

Sincerely,
Information Specialist

Unfortunately you did not direct me to the fact sheet I requested. The substance of your reply would be reassuring to plumbers, sanitation workers, morticians and necrophiliacs, but it does not make clear whether hemophiliacs were ever at risk for HIV infection from Factor VIII blood product.

The small part of your reply that was relevant ran as follows: "An extensive study on the survival of HIV after drying was reported by Resnik and coworkers (Stability and inactivation of HTLV-III/LAV under clinical and laboratory environments. Journal of the American Medical Association 1986;255:1887-91). The purpose of the study was to determine the inactivation rate of HIV under experimental conditions--an objective that required the use of extremely high levels of HIV. The concentrations studied were at least 100,000 times greater than those typically found in the blood of HIV-infected persons. It is not surprising that when such high concentrations of HIV were used, the virus could be detected 1 to 3 days after drying. Upon close examination of these data and from other results that have been obtained by CDC, however, it is clear that drying causes a rapid (within 1 or 2 hours) reduction in virus concentration and renders 90 to 99 percent of the virus inactive."

The last sentence does not make clear whether it refers to laboratory concentrates "at least 100,000 times greater than those typically found in the blood of HIV-infected persons".

By contrast, the quote from the article I asked you to direct me to is more precise:

" ...CDC studies have shown that drying of even these high concentrations of HIV reduces the number of infectious viruses by 90 to 99 percent within several hours. Since the HIV concentrations used in laboratory studies are much higher than those actually found in blood or other body specimens, drying of HIV-infected human blood or other body fluids reduces the theoretical risk of environmental transmission to that which has been observed-essentially zero".

WHERE IS "FACT SHEET ON HIV TRANSMISSION", published by the CDC, January 1994, available??

Sincerely,
Robert Johnston
Health Education AIDS Liaison, Toronto

We have searched CDC NAC Federal Document and Press Releases Database for information on HIV transmission and its survival in the environment. While we were unable to find your exact quote on any CDC documents, we were able to find some of the same information, see the May 1994 document. The results of the search have been attached.

If you have any additional questions, please contact the CDC NAC directly at 1-800-458-5231, and a reference specialist will answer your questions.

Sincerely,
Information Specialist.

Given the perilous future for haemophilia patients enshrined in the CDC's 1993 AIDS definition and cognisant of the fact that factor VIII has long been supplied as a freeze-dried powder which may spend many weeks or months waiting use, it is incomprehensible that the CDC would also, in 1994, communicate the following experimental data an conclusion:

"In order to obtain data on the survival of HIV, laboratory studies have required the use of artificially high concentrations of laboratory grown virus...the amount of virus studied is not found in human specimens or anyplace else in nature,...it does not spread or maintain infectiousness outside its host. Although these unnatural concentrations of HIV can be kept alive under precisely controlled and limited laboratory conditions, CDC studies have shown that drying of even these high concentrations of HIV reduces the number of infectious viruses by 90 to 99 percent within several hours. Since the HIV concentrations used in laboratory studies are much higher than those actually found in blood or other body specimens, drying of HIV-infected human blood or other body fluids reduces the theoretical risk of environmental transmission to that which has been observed-essentially zero".

It is thus inexplicable, given their own data, that the CDC continues to regard patients with haemophilia at risk for HIV infection via contaminated factor VIII concentrates and enigmatic that another explanation for "HIV" and AIDS in haemophiliacs has not been sought.

FACTOR VIII, HIV AND AIDS IN HAEMOPHILIACS: AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP by Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos et al., Genetica 95: 25-50, 1995. http://virusmyth.com/aids/data/ephemophilia.htm

Could someone at the CDC explain this anomaly for me?

Sincerely,
Robert Johnston,
HEAL, Toronto