The idea that a young, gay Canadian airline steward named Gaetan Dugas first introduced the AIDS virus into the homosexual population of Manhattan was first advanced by the late San Francisco writer Randy Shilts and given further credence by coverage on the CBS television news program, 60 Minutes.
In his book! AIDS and the Doctors of Death, Hollywood dermatologist and cancer researcher Dr. Alan Cantwell stated that a large number of homosexual men in New York, City had the disease before Dugas was ever diagnosed.
"As evidence for this, we know that Cladd Stevens and her group from the New York City Blood Center have traced the first and earliest known 'positive' AIDS virus antibody test back to young Manhattan gays who were injected with the hepatitis experimental vaccine at the Blood Center beginning in November 1978,-' Cantwell writes in his book. ''
"Re-examined blood specimens taken during 1978-1979 show 'positive' AIDS virus antibodies in 6.6% of those men injected with the experimental hepatitis vaccine (Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume255, pp.2167-2172,1986). In 1980, the year Dugas was 'diagnosed with AIDS, twenty percent of the Manhattan men in the experimental hepatitis vaccine study were 'positive' for AIDS virus antibodies! There is no conceivable way Dugas could ever have infected such a large number of New York City gays, as early as 1978-1979
The AIDS virus cannot be borne by insects
Equine infectious anemia, an AlDS-like virus affecting horses, is borne by blood sucking insects, according to Dr. Robert Strecker. "The burden of proof is on those who say that the AIDS virus is not mosquito transmitted," Strecker said. Further, even if it could be conclusively proven that known strains of the virus are not borne by insects, there is no way to guarantee that the virus, with its tendency to rapidly mutate, will not someday change into an insect-borne form.
Condoms effectively prevent the spread of the disease .
Dr. William O'Connor, a California physician and surgeon, cites a study involving 9 female sexual partners of 93 men infected with HIV, as reported in the August 14 1987 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The article states "Condom use was not significantly associated with protection from infection."
- Dr. Strecker thinks he may have the answer. The latex material of which condoms are made has naturally occurring microscopic holes which measure roughly 1.5 microns in diameter, according to Strecker. These holes are from one to 10 times larger than the virus, hardly impeding the possibility of infection. The permeability of latex may play an important role in the case of Kimberly Bergalis, who became infected with AIDS in 1987 by her dentist in a fashion completely unforeseen by the "experts".
In an article written by John Crewdson of The Chicago Tribune and carried in The Seattle Times of July 27, 1990, it was reported that while the dentist did have AIDS, the dentist and woman had not had sex and there was no known exchange of bodily fluids. Further, the woman had had sex with two men prior to her infection, but neither of them were AIDS carriers. The woman was not a health care worker and had not been exposed to anyone else's blood, infected or otherwise.
The article stated, "The cases reported without fanfare yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control here (in Atlanta, Georgia), also raises new questions about the ways the AIDS virus can be transmitted - and about the very nature of the virus itself. The article further stated that ". . . the CDC kept it (the case) under a tight lid of secrecy for more than a year while double-checking every possibility."
"How did the virus pass? That's really what we don't know," Dr. Harold Jaffe, head of the CDC s AIDS research program, was quoted as saying. "This case isn't as solid as we would like, but I don't think we had any choice about publishing it."
The American Dental Association, according to the article, apparently disagreed.
The article ended with this paragraph: "The American Dental Association issued a statement calling the CDC report 'inconclusive' and said its release 'did not serve the best interests of the public and (dental) profession.'"
The nation's blood supplies are safe
In an Associated Press story carried on the front page of The Seattle Times on May 16, 1990, it was reported that tests used to screen AIDS-infected blood fail to catch a significant number of positive samples.
Under the headline "AIDS virus test proves inaccurate, the article stated: "Scientists at Emory University in Atlanta tested the blood of 165 people who tested negative for the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and found that 30 actually were infected with the virus."
The scientists reportedly used a new type of test on blood samples that had been already pronounced disease-free following routine laboratory tests. The number of samples re-tested and found to be positive comes close to 20 percent of the total
The following day's edition of The Seattle Times ran a story declaring the blood supply safe. based on a comment made by Dr. Merlyn Sayers, medical director of the Puget Sound Blood Center. Dr. Sayers was quoted as saying that people "at risk" for contracting the disease do not donate blood.
The distinction between "risk groups" and the general population blurs when one notes an observation attributed to Dr. Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus.
"Ninety percent of the people infected (with AIDS) don t even know it," Dr. Gallo has been quoted as saying.
The AIDS virus has been around for several decades, if not hundreds of years
Dr. Jakob Segal, professor and former Director of the Institute of Biology at Berlin University, Germany, stated there is no evidence to support the existence of the-AIDS virus before 1979. Tests that suggest otherwise are the result of "false positives", Dr. Segal stated, alluding to another shortcoming in a blood-testing system that already imperils America's health.
In a 57-page report released in 1986 and titled, "AIDS: Its Nature and Origin," Dr. Segal mentioned a study of American blood samples conducted in 1984. One batch of samples was collected in 1954; the other batch even earlier.
Dr. Segal wrote in his report: "Ninety-four percent of the sera of 1954 displayed a positive reaction against LAV/HTLV-111, and even in the older sera the apparent prevalence of antibodies against LAV/HTLV-ill reached 53%. As we cannot suppose that 30 years ago the AIDS virus had spread to nearly the whole population of the USA only to decrease suddenly to the present prevalence of 0.25%, we must conclude that we are dealing with 'false positive' reactions due to a loss of specificity during the long storage . .
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