Health Education AIDS Liaison, Toronto
Surviving and Thriving
Gavin Geoffrey Dillard |
"'HIV test' has long been a moniker of confusion. People still die of AIDS who are HIV negative,
while others, like myself, have been positive for more than fifteen years and have the stamina of a tiger. I have known a number of young men who tested positive, were coerced onto anti-viral
medications, got sick from the medicines, and have even died. Who's being served here? Who's
being duped? The HIV test is not only useless theology, it is a virulent trap for what has become
a multi-billion-dollar death machine."
- Gavin Geoffrey Dillard
Author of In the Flesh
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Long-term survivors or "non-progressors"
excerpt from
The Drug-AIDS Hypothesis
By Peter Duesberg and David Rasnick
In view of the appearance of growing numbers of HIV carriers who are healthy
even 15 years after infection, the HIV orthodoxy has created a new category
of HIV carriers, termed long-term survivors or “long-term non-progressors".
The first mainstream paper on long-term survivors described a healthy male
homosexual blood donor and five blood recipients who by 1992 had survived
HIV for 10 to 12 years. The HIV orthodoxy has therefore proposed that
the existence of the non-progressors is due to non-virulent, mutant strains
of HIV and that such viruses would be ideal vaccine strains. However, these
optimistic proposals were not backed up by functional evidence for non-virulent
HIV .
According to the drug hypothesis
the non-progressors should be HIV-positive people who have stopped using
or never used recreational drugs or AZT. Indeed, the HIV-researchers David
Ho et al. inadvertantly provided the key to long-term survival: "none had
received antiretroviral therapy". Likewise, Alvaro Munoz reported that
not one of the long-term survivors of the largest federally funded study
of male homosexuals at risk for AIDS, the MAC study, had used AZT.
Another orthodox HIV study acknowledged “only 38% of the HLP [healthy long-term
HIV-positives] had ever used zidovudine or other nucleoside analogues compared
with 94% progressors”. Clearly the wording “had ever used” implies that
AZT had been discontinued after a short traumatic, but reversible experience.
Independent scientists document that
in addition to abstaining from antiviral drugs long-term survivors are
those who have given up or never taken recreational drugs. Timothy
Hand, from the Ogelthorpe University in Atlanta GA, adds much weight to
this view:
While healthy, ‘non-progressing’
HIV carriers are considered rare (and doomed), they may in fact vastly
outnumber the sick and dying. This is certainly implied by the ubiquitous
estimate of HIV prevalence in America of one million. Long-term AIDS survival
is now a hot topic in the literature, and anecdotal reports as
well as numerous scientific studies suggest that most
long-term survivors have shunned antiviral drugs. This point is often understated
in these studies, and is not made in the titles or abstracts. In David
Baltimore’s editorial on 2 of these studies, avoidance of antivirals was
not mentioned at all. Needless to say, none of these studies was funded
by a pharmaceutical firm.
Interestingly, nearly all of these
studies suggest a protective role of cytotoxic CD8+ T-cells and/or natural
killer cells in healthy survivors. Many focus on the importance of maintaining
cell-mediated immunity, rather than on “killing HIV”. Thus HIV infection
per se seems to entail little danger, unless it is followed by antiviral
therapy..
Similar observations have been made
by the late homosexual AIDS activist Michael Callen:
In researching his 1990 book
Surviving AIDS, Callen interviewed nearly fifty people who had lived
for many years not just after being pronounced HIV-positive, but after
an AIDS diagnosis. He found that only four had ever used AZT; three of
those had since died, and one was dying of AZT-induced lymphoma. But the
overwhelming majority of long-term survivors had somehow managed to resist
the enormous pressure to take AZT.
The pressure did not just come from
doctors, Callen told the Amsterdam meeting, but from a certain segment
of AIDS activism that seemed driven by a ‘drugs-into-bodies’ mentality.
‘I feel many AIDS activist friends who are in the forefront of this frenzy
are very misleading to people with AIDS, who are frightened and desperate.
They only seem to talk about two possible outcomes of taking experimental
drugs: one is that it works and one that it does not work. There is a third,
apparently much more common possibility, which is that you will be worse
off than if you did nothing at all. And nobody likes to talk about that
because it is so unpleasant’. He had seen the devastation wreaked by AZT,
watching with horror as friends with AIDS ‘turn the colour of boiled ham
from AZT poisoning, endure the melting away of their muscles, become transfusion
dependent, and experience drug-induced psychosis’. Yet his perception of
a person diagnosed with AIDS in 1992 was that ‘they would sell their grandmother
into slavery to get a slot in the latest drug-of-the-month clinical trial’.
Another feature of the long-term
survivors was that they rejected the predominant scientific view that HIV-positivity
meant inevitable decline of the immune system towards an early death.
In December 1995 The Advocate,
the largest national gay magazine, published the story of Dennis Leoutsakas,
a man who is HIV-positive “for at least 17 years [but] doesn’t have AIDS
- and no one knows why”. According to the article, “most HIV researchers
have insisted that HIV infection will, in almost every case, eventually
lead to AIDS” - a belief underscored by their preferred term for nonprogressors:
slow progressors.
Wearing his HIV blinkers the author
of the article fails to see the formula for Leoutsakas’ “slow progression”:
“ Leoutsakas, 47: A former IV-drug user who last shared a needle in 1978
... first tested positive in 1987. He has a T-cell count ... between 650
and 950. In addition, Leoutsakas has had none of the opportunistic infections
that define AIDS - no pneumonia, no Kaposi’s sarcoma, no fungal infections,
nada. Leoutsakas says doctors have attempted to explain his case by theorizing
that, like the Australians, he is infected with a weakened form of
HIV - but it’s really just speculation.” ... “Leoutsakas has no theory
of his own - and no special formula for his well-being. He’s never taken
AZT or any other antiretroviral drugs.” No more IV-drugs, no antiretroviral
drugs - but “no formula for his well-being”!
And in October 1996 even an orthodox
professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco
taught his medical students the secret of long-term survival with HIV: “I have a large population of people who have chosen not to take any
antivirals since I’ve been following them since the very beginning... They’ve
watched all of their friends go on the antiretroviral bandwagon and die,
so they’ve chose to remain naive to therapy. More and more, however, are
now succumbing to pressure that protease inhibitors are it ... We are in
the middle of the honeymoon period, and whether or not this is going to
be an enduring marriage is unclear to me at this time, so I’m advising
my patients if they still have time, to wait.”
Unknowingly the vast majority of
HIV-positives are long-term survivors! Worldwide, they number 17 million,
including 1 million HIV-positive, healthy Americans and 0.5 million HIV-positive,
healthy Europeans. Most of these must have been HIV-positive for
at least 10 years now because the numbers of the HIV-positive Americans
and Europeans have not changed during the period 1984 to 1988 when the
epidemic of HIV-testing began in the respective countries.
Since no more than 6% of the 17 million
people worldwide with antibodies to HIV have developed AIDS over the last
7 to 10 years, the risk of AIDS to an HIV-carrier is less than 1% per year. However, even this low figure is not corrected for the normal occurence
of the 30 AIDS-defining diseases in HIV-free controls. There is not a single
controlled study in the vast AIDS literature proving that HIV-positive
people who are not drug users have a higher morbidity or mortality than
HIV-free controls.
To save the reputation of the “deadly
virus” in the face of long-term survivors, orthodox HIV researchers have
already posted warnings that “regrettably ... the proportion of individuals
who might demonstrate such a benign course is very small”. Others have
postulated rare HIV attenuating mutations without providing functional
evidence. Gallo et al. went even further by postulating human
mutants, who fall victim of HIV because they lack “major HIV-suppressive
factors”. According to Gallo’s hypothesis most American homosexuals,
hemophiliacs and intravenous drug users are mutants!
Quoted from section:
6.8. Non-correlations
between HIV and AIDS. (with references)
You may also want to consider:
7.8. Hiding evidence that AZT accelerates death, eleven examples.
The Drug-AIDS Hypothesis
By Peter Duesberg(a) and David Rasnick(b)
a) Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, 229 Stanley Hall, UC Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720, phone 510.642.6549, FAX 510.643.6455, email: duesberg@uclink4.berkeley.edu
b) Resident AIDS investigator at UC Berkeley, 229 Stanley Hall, UC Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720, phone (510) 642-6549, fax (415) 826-1241, email: rasnick@mindspring.com
What do healthy long-term HIV+ people*
have in common?
*"long term survivors" or "non progressors"
Compiled by Bill Wells, 1-11-97 (HEAL Portland)
A few common elements run through these reports - some of which are
scientific papers, others anecdotal stories: most long-time survivors have (1)
avoided taking chemotherapy/antiretroviral drugs such as AZT, ddI, ddC,
d4T, 3TC; (2) on learning of their HIV status (HIV-positive), they stopped
all high-risk activities such as drug use and unprotected sex; (3) they began
taking charge of their lives, including their health.
(1) Cao, Yunzhen, et al, “Virologic and immunologic characterization of
long-term survivors of HIV-type 1 infection.” in New England Journal of
Medicine. January 26, 1995, 332: 201-208.
The study is based on 10 HIV+ people in New York City, all of whom
had been living with HIV infection for 12-15 years when the study was
done: 7 gay men; 2 IV drug users; 1 woman infected heterosexually. Their
characteristics were: (1) no AIDS symptoms; (2) normal and stable CD4
cells; (3) no prolonged use of antiviral agents; (4) infection of 12 years or
more.
Two important points emerge: (1) they did not use antiviral
drugs; (2) they stopped all high-risk activity after they tested HIV-
positive.
(2) Simmons, Todd, “Living on the edge,” in The Advocate, Dec. 5,
1995.
Story about Dennis Leoutsakas, 47, a former IV drug user, who has
been HIV-positive since 1978 he thinks, when he last shared a needle. He is
still living disease-free as of 1995. He has never taken AZT or any
other antiretroviral drugs. He believes taking charge of his life was
the single most important thing he has done to promote his ongoing health.
The article also includes a brief description of 8 HIV+ Australians who have
been healthy and HIV-positive for at least 15 years.
(3) Altman, Lawrence, “Long-term survivors may hold key clues to puzzle of
AIDS,” in New York Times, Science Section, January 24, 1995.
Profiles a long-time survivor, Newton Butler, from San Francisco, who
has been HIV+ for at least 10 years, maybe 15 years. He is a picture of
health. Works full-time, hikes, exercises, and has never taken anti-
HIV medication. “Soon after learning he was infected, Mr. Butler
realized that his best chance of survival was by taking charge of his own
health. ‘You have to depend on yourself and not on an abstract overseer
such as the Government, and you have to establish your own self-
management regimen,’ he said. Mr. Butler attributes his favorable situation
to a combination of a ‘certain feistiness,’ a good genetic makeup. . . and
exercise, a good diet, taking as few medications as possible, limiting alcohol
intake to an occasional glass of wine, and never having smoked. He said he
has practiced safe sex since 1981. . . .”
(4) Munoz, A. “Disease progression of 15% of HIV-infected men will be
long-time survivors.” In AIDS Weekly, (News Report), May 15 &
29: 5-6; 3-4.
Reports that not one of the long-term survivors at risk for
AIDS, the MACSA study, had used AZT.
(5) Root-Bernstein, Robert. “Five myths about AIDS that have misdirected
research and treatment.” In Genetica (1995) 95: 111-132.
The study documents that long-term survivors discussed here all
avoided antiviral drugs and had given up or never had taken
recreational drugs.
(6) Wells, J. “We have to question the so-called facts,” in Capital
Gay, August 20, 1993, 14-15.
A description of long-term survivors.
(7.) Pantaleo, G. et al. “Studies in subjects with long-term nonprogressive
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection.”
In New England Journal of Medicine, 332:209 (1995)
Fifteen long-term non-progressors studied: usually living longer than
10 yrs.; no decline in CD4s; had not taken any antiretroviral
drugs.
(8.) Hogervorst, E. et al. “Predictors for non- and slow progression in HIV
type-1 infection: low viral RNA copy numbers in serum and maintenance of
high HIV-1 p24-specific antibody levels.” (Amsterdam)
In Journal of Infectious Diseases, 171:811 (1995)
Subjects: homosexual men in Amsterdam. Three groups, all HIV+
for p24 antibodies: either (1) not, or (2)slowly or (3) rapidly progressing to
AIDS.
(1) long-term asymptomatic: at least 7 years asymptomatic; T cells at 400 or
above; (2) slowly progressing, same as #1 but decline of T-cells after 4
years.
“None of the LTAs [long-term asymptomatics] or slow
progressors received any antiviral drugs during the study [ 7
years].”
(9) Harrer, Thomas et al. “Strong cytotoxic T-cell and weak neutralizing
antibody responses in a subset of persons with stable nonprogressing HIV
type-1 infection.”
In AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, 12: 585
(1996)
Ten HIV+ people; 11-15 years infected; non-progressors; maintained
stable T-cell counts above 500. “These long-term nonprogressors are a
heterogeneous group with respect to viral load and HIV-1 responses.”
“Selected solely on the basis of CD4 counts and duration of infection.
All showed the same risk factor (sexual exposure), and all had... virus...,
and none had been treated with antiretroviral agents.”
(10.) Buchbinder, Susan et al. “Long-term HIV-1 infection without
immunologic progression.”
In AIDS, 8:1123 (1994)
588 men; 42 were 10-15 year non-progressors. “Only 38% of
the HLP [Healthy long-term positives] had ever used zidovudine [AZT]
or other nucleoside analogues, compared with 94% of the
progressors.”
(11.) Garbuglia, Anna R. et al. (Rome, Italy) “In Vitro activation of HIV
RNA expression in peripheral blood lymphocytes. . . .”
In AIDS, 10:17 (1996)
Eleven HIV+ long-term non-progressors: all stable for at least 7
years; CD4 cells >500; no AIDS symptoms; and no antiretroviral
therapy.
(12.) Hoover, Donald R. et al. (Johns Hopkins) “Long-term survival
without clinical AIDS after CD4+ cell counts fall below 200.”
In AIDS, 9:145 (1995)
Of the 446 men in the MACS study with 200 T-cells, 26% (118) were
free of AIDS illnesses three years later.
“. . . 45% of the group who were AIDS-free > three years
after CD4+ cells fell below 200 had not used these [antiretroviral
therapy] treatments.”
Conclusions: “Significant numbers of individuals remain free of
illnesses and AIDS symptoms > three years after CD4+ cell counts drop
below 200. This occurs even in the absence of treatment.”
“. . . recent date suggest the CD8+ cell subsets play an important role
in controlling HIV-1 infection.”
“This study documents that substantial numbers of (even
untreated) [meaning no antiviral drugs] HIV-1 infected patients
remained free of AIDS illnesses for long time periods after becoming
CD4+ immunosuppressed.”
(13.) Montefiori, David C. et al (Duke Univ. Med Center, Durham,
NC)
“Neutralizing and infection-enhancing antibody responses to HIV
type-1 in long-term nonprogressors.”
In Journal of Infectious Diseases , 173:60 (1996)
Subjects: 24 long-term nonprogressors [LTNP]
all have HIV infection for at least 7 years; CD4 cells at 600; no symptoms
related to HIV-1 infection; and with the exception of 2 patients, none of
them had ever received antiretroviral therapy.
(14.) Dr. Donald I Abrams, Prof. of Medicine at San Francisco General
Hospital, an active participant in AIDS research/treatment from the early
80’s.
In an informal meeting with medical students on Oct. 7, 1996, Dr.
Abrams made the following statements:
“In contrast with many of my colleagues at SFGH in the AIDS
program, I am not necessarily a cheerleader for anti-retroviral
therapy. I have been one of the people who’s questioned, from the
beginning, whether or not we’re really making an impact with HIV drugs
and, if we are making an impact, if it’s going in the right direction.”
“I have a large population of people who have chosen not to
take any antiretrovirals since I’ve been following them -- since the very
beginning. . . They’ve watched all of their friends go on the antiviral
bandwagon and die, so they’ve chose to remain naive [to
therapy]. More and more, however, are now succumbing to pressure that
protease inhibitors are “it”. . . We are in the middle of the honeymoon
period, and whether or not this is going to be an enduring marriage is
unclear to me at this time, so, I’m advising my patients if they still
have time, to wait.”
(Article by Mark Tanaka, “Abrams Cautious On Use of New AIDS
Drugs”
in “Synapse” Univ. of California, San Francisco.)
Life After HIV
The stories on this page are excerpted from the fourth
edition of "What If Everything You Thought You Knew
About AIDS Was Wrong?" They are part of a
collection of accounts from healthy, HIV positive men,
women and children whose lives defy all that we have
been taught to believe about AIDS.
Positive
Toronto Life, June, 1999
An HIV diagnosis used to be viewed as a death sentence. Today, the growing number of longterm survivors calls into question some basic
assumptions about the disease. What these "thrivers" seem to have in common is strenght of character and an optimistic outlook.
By Sky Gilbert
Judge for yourself. After reading the arguments above, take a look at the mainstream view of this issue:
Long-term Nonprogressors
By Dennis Blakeslee, PhD
TORONTO
tel/fax:(416) 406-HEAL
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