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| Farber | Duesberg maintains that it has never been demonstrated that HIV satisfies all of Koch's postulates. His exhaustive analysis of the peer-reviewed scientific literature has revealed more than 4,000 documented AIDS cases in which there is no trace of HIV or HIV antibodies. This number is significant, because there are strong institutional forces deterring such descriptions and because the vast majority of AIDS cases are never described in formal scientific papers. |
| Gallo | Farber cites Duesberg that there are 4,000 AIDS cases in which HIV was absent. This is false. The actual situation in the US is described accurately as follows “A survey of 230,179 AIDS patients in the United States revealed only 299 HIV-seronegative individuals. An evaluation of 172 of these 299 patients found 131 actually to be seropositive; an additional 34 died before their serostatus could be confirmed (Smith et al. N Engl J Med 1993;328:373).”67 Of note is that, in extremely rare cases, HIV-infected people die of AIDS so quickly that they do not develop antibodies to the virus, but nevertheless their virus can be isolated. 68 If Duesberg has made this astonishing finding, he should be able to publish it in a credible peer-reviewed scientific journal. Of course this has not been done. As explained previously and in more detail later, numerous studies from around the world, including Africa, the epicentre of the epidemic, demonstrate that mortality and morbidity is much higher in people with HIV. |
| RA | Peer review often acts to stifle innovation by allowing the anonymous reviewers to prevent publication or funding of research that challenges the dominant viewpoint. This occurs because the reviewers are most likely to be part of that system, and their funding and prestige are threatened by scientists with very different views. The journal Science quoted the comments of several scientists to a 1991 National Academy of Sciences panel on peer review [1]:
There is an extensive literature on the flaws of the peer reviewed system. Some journals, such as Medical Hypotheses have deliberately decided to be none-peer reviewed to provide an outlet for much of the science that is suppressed by peer reviewed journals. The other side of the coin, that corrupt research is easily published in peer-reviewed journals is discussed at rethinkaids.info/GalloRebuttal/Farber-Gallo-20.html. Duesberg discovered the many cases of AIDS-like symptoms in HIV-negative people from the peer reviewed literature. The CDC even defined a new disease with a forgettable acronym, IDCL (Idiopathic CD4+ T-Cell Lymphocytopenia): “The syndrome of idiopathic CD4+ T lymphocytopenia is defined by the Centers for Disease Control (1992) as cases which demonstrate depressed numbers (<300/cubic millimeter) and proportions (<20% of total T cells) on at least two consecutive occasions, with no laboratory evidence of HIV-1 or HIV-2 infection, and the absence of any defined primary or secondary immunodeficiency disease or therapy associated with depressed levels of CD4+ T lymphocytes…The patients have presented with a history of severe or recurrent infections with intracellular pathogens or virus-associated malignancies which, even before the description of AIDS, were recognised as being highly suggestive of underlying deficiency of cell-mediated immunity. Indeed, it was this constellation of clinical features…that clearly identified the new clinical entity of AIDS” [2] The 1987 AIDS definition [3], which was incorporated into the currently used 1993 definition [4], has a section on diagnosis entitled “Without Laboratory Evidence Regarding HIV Infection” which applies “If laboratory tests for HIV were not performed or gave inconclusive results and the patient had not other cause of immunodeficiency listed in Section 1.A below, then any disease listed in Section I.B indicates AIDS if it was diagnosed by a definitive method”. The CDC admits in this document that HIV testing was relatively rare, stating that “Approximately one third of AIDS patients in the United States have been from New York City and San Francisco, where, since 1985, < 7% have been reported with HIV-antibody test results, compared with > 60% in other areas.” As HIV testing has become more widespread the number of new HIV-free AIDS cases has presumably declined, as a known negative test will often result in the illness being classified as something other than AIDS. Furthermore, people with low CD4 cell counts without a positive HIV test and without illness will not be classified as having any disease, yet since 1993 these people with a positive HIV test would have been classified as “AIDS” and in 1997 represented almost two-thirds of all new AIDS cases [5] (this statistic has not been reported by CDC since then). |
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