Aids HIV FAQ

Nitrites and AIDS Kaposi's sarcoma, pneumocystis carini pneumonia (PCP).etc.

Question:

Say anything to sell his book. J

Response:

Martin) writes to Martinez the Duesberg parrot: >One example from your latest goof: "HIV DNA has not been found in T

Lymphocytes" with the obvious deduction that therefore AIDS is not caused by a virus and therefore, according to your rather circutious thinking, AIDS cannot be transmitted!!<    The major goof here is that of course HIV DNA (proviral DNA, since of course HIV is an RNA virus) HAS been found in lymphocytes!  See, for instance: Schnittman et al.: "The reservoir for HIV-1 in human peripheral blood is a T-cell that maintains expression of CD4," Science 245:305, 1989.   Or (for 3 other independent studies showing exactly the same thing): J Virol 64:864, 1990. J Clin Invest 87:27, 1991. J Virol 65:2019, 1991.                                          Steve Harris, M.D.                                          (Setting the Record Straight)

Response:

[a piece critical of Mike Martinez]         However, there is strong evidence that poppers (i.e., the volatile nitrites: amyl nitrite, butyl nitrite, isobutyl nitrite, etc.) play a role in causing one kind of Kaposi’s sarcoma.         I have written a long report on a meeting sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which discussed the connection between the nitrites and KS.  I’ll send it via e-mail to anyone who is interested.         Separately I’ll post a bibliography on the toxicities of poppers. John Lauritsen, author:         Poison By Prescription: The AZT Story         The AIDS War

Response:

Mr. Martinez, apparently you have a problem with finding and/or understanding valid scientific data, so you rely on pseudoscientific reports and highly speculative,if not sensationalized, National Enquirer level sources.  I’m sorry Mike, but just because someone sends you something that is typed, faxed, bears someone’s name with some sort of initial after it, doesn’t mean that the content in that paper is worth the time it takes you to submit it to the news group.  You should carefully evaluate your sources and spend some time reading the reports of reputable scientists who back up their opinions with actual clinical data based on standard, time honored scientific methodology.  One example from your latest goof: "HIV DNA has not been found in T Lymphocytes" with the obvious deduction that therefore AIDS is not caused by a virus and therefore, according to your rather circutious thinking, AIDS cannot be transmitted!!  Let me ask you two questions, Mike: Does  the HIV consist of DNA or RNA?  Next, have the nucleic acids of the measles, mumps, herpes, and cold viruses been located in the cells they affect?  You probably do not know the answers to either of these questions since, if you did, you would not be spouting off your opinion that AIDS is not contagious!  So either spend some time at the medical library or some other good resource center, or tell everyone that your opinions are based on, at best, highly speculative and  non-scientific information.  Oh, and you could also tell them that in your opinion, the moon is made of cheese or that the earth is flat or that the cow jumped over the moon, etc.  At least these fairy tales aren’t likely to hurt anyone who happens to read about them.  Scientifically yours, docdonn

Response:

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