House of Numbers
-
0:21 - 0:30Globally, UNAIDS has estimated that as many as 42 million people are infected with HIV.
-
0:32 - 0:3710 people reportedly die from AIDS every second.
-
0:48 - 0:51There's nothing like it.
-
0:51 - 0:59There's no disease, no infectious disease that essentially kills everyone who gets it.
-
1:00 - 1:03The fear factor's gone.
-
1:03 - 1:07And yet, getting HIV infection is a problem for any individual.
-
1:07 - 1:11The fear should still remain because it's a virus that kills people.
-
1:11 - 1:18There is this sensitive composing see, that it's better and it isn't better
-
1:18 - 1:22and all these people... These 40 plus million people living with the virus...
-
1:22 - 1:24They would die of AIDS.
-
1:25 - 1:30Over the past three decades humanity is rallied together for the AIDS cause.
-
1:30 - 1:36People from all walks of life have united across all social and economic and boundaries
-
1:36 - 1:41joining hand in hand for one common purpose - to end AIDS.
-
1:42 - 1:47And I want you to say the name of the person you're walking for.
-
1:47 - 1:50I'm walking for Robert Jonson.
-
1:50 - 1:53I'm walking for Rod Hudson.
-
1:53 - 2:00I'm walking for everybody that isn't here to walk for themselves.
-
2:07 - 2:10The statistics are growing.
-
2:10 - 2:12All except for one.
-
2:13 - 2:15That's the amount of people cured and it's still zero.
-
2:15 - 2:20In theory we can cure AIDS, on a piece of paper. Maybe some day it will come. I can't say when.
-
2:20 - 2:26Despite all the major progress we have in chemotherapy of those patients
-
2:26 - 2:28none of these patients got rid of the virus.
-
2:28 - 2:34I don't think the pharmaceutical industry is very interested or invested in a cure.
-
2:34 - 2:39You know. I don't mean to be too cynical but the reality, I think is that, you know
-
2:39 - 2:43the situation they've got now which is lifetime treatment with expensive drugs,
-
2:43 - 2:45that kind of suits them pretty well.
-
2:46 - 2:52A cure is gonna require some very tricky and sophisticated molecular biology.
-
2:52 - 2:54And I franklly, don't see it happening.
-
2:55 - 2:58Never?
-Ever. -
3:03 - 3:06House of Numbers
anatomy of an epidemic -
3:07 - 3:13I was born in 1980. A year before AIDS exploded onto the public consciousness.
-
3:13 - 3:19I grew up beneath that shadow, like a child raised under the threat of the mushroom clowd.
-
3:19 - 3:22You might say I'm a member of the first HIV age generation.
-
3:22 - 3:24I've never known a world without it.
-
3:24 - 3:30This film is an account of my journey to the shifting sands rounding HIV/AIDS.
-
3:30 - 3:34AIDS has been front page news for nearly thirty years.
-
3:34 - 3:38Yet how much do any of us realy know about HIV and AIDS?
-
3:46 - 3:48What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?
-
3:49 - 3:51H... I don't know exactly.
-
3:51 - 3:54HIV is... WOW.
-
3:56 - 3:59HIV is a virus.
-
3:59 - 4:02AIDS is the sickness.
-
4:03 - 4:05So they are totally different.
-
4:06 - 4:09It's the actual disease...
-
4:09 - 4:11I don't know. I don't know the difference.
-
4:12 - 4:15I know that HIV is less deadly.
-
4:16 - 4:22For me there is necessarily any. It's true there is no difference between the two.
-
4:22 - 4:26What would you say is the difference between HIV and AIDS?
-
4:26 - 4:28There is not a big difference is it?
-
4:29 - 4:32HIV is just the starting point.
-
4:33 - 4:34HIV is a virus.
-
4:35 - 4:37The actual virus is AIDS.
-
4:37 - 4:41People around the globe are just as confused as I was.
-
4:41 - 4:45So I sat at the world's leading HIV/AIDS authorities.
-
4:45 - 4:50Among whom were the discoverers of HIV, the key white house adviser of AIDS issues and
-
4:50 - 4:54the executive director of UNAIDS global response to the epidemic.
-
4:54 - 4:57Meeting with these distinguished experts I candidly asked.
-
4:57 - 4:59What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?
-
5:00 - 5:05The difference between HIV and AIDS is a really critical concept and unfortunately
-
5:05 - 5:08gets one that seams to escape a lot of people or they just don't remember it
-
5:08 - 5:10after hearing it.
-
5:10 - 5:15HIV is a virus. AIDS is a syndrome caused by infection with the virus.
-
5:15 - 5:20See you don't get infected with AIDS. You get infected with HIV and that causes AIDS.
-
5:20 - 5:24The biggest problem with the HIV theory of AIDS is HIV.
-
5:24 - 5:29There is a group of AIDS deniers that say that HIV does not exist and it has never
-
5:29 - 5:32been isolated.
-
5:32 - 5:34Which is as bizarre as it gets.
-
5:34 - 5:36We do not say that HIV doesn't exist.
-
5:36 - 5:44What we say is that presently available data does not prove the existence of HIV.
-
5:45 - 5:50The reality is that HIV does exist and does cause AIDS.
-
5:50 - 5:54I mean the evidence is incontrovertible. HIV causes AIDS.
-
5:54 - 5:59Alright that's the theory that's there. Let that theory be there.
-
5:59 - 6:03Well let's have some other conversations, lets hove some other research
-
6:03 - 6:06maybe something else is working here. NO.
-
6:07 - 6:13Why nearly three decades since its discovery is there continue to be debate over HIV?
-
6:13 - 6:15Why is there no cure insight?
-
6:15 - 6:18To answer these questions i needed context.
-
6:18 - 6:24The past is prologue so my journey begins with a step back in time.
-
6:28 - 6:33The national center for disease control is reporting more cases of two rare
-
6:33 - 6:37and deadly diseases found in homosexual men.
-
6:37 - 6:40There is no apparent explanation for the outbreak.
-
6:41 - 6:44Obviously this is an issue of great emotional...
-
6:44 - 6:48How can we stay uninvolved when people are dying every day from a disease
-
6:48 - 6:52that CDC hasn't yet named for crying out loud?
-
6:52 - 6:59If the CDC won't name it, at least demand the press stop calling it GRID.
-
6:59 - 7:06Well, unfortunately I have to take credit for quanting the term - GRID which stood
-
7:06 - 7:08for Gay Related Immune Deficiency.
-
7:09 - 7:11We were seeing a cluster of gay man
-
7:11 - 7:17who were suddenly critically ill of pneumonitis pneumonia which was the indicator disease
-
7:17 - 7:22of something new and reported our findings to the CDC.
-
7:23 - 7:28I was the chief of the STD division at the CDC at that time
-
7:28 - 7:36when the draft report of pneumonitis in gay men came across my desk for review.
-
7:39 - 7:45Surely afterwords cases of a very rare cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma
-
7:45 - 7:48were diagnosed in young gay men.
-
7:49 - 7:56My first reaction was - this is an extraordinary important finding.
-
7:56 - 8:01The CDC was looking for something like that when it came along.
-
8:01 - 8:05They were looking it already. They were hopping there was gonna be a new plague
-
8:05 - 8:09because polio was over. The CDC budged was getting decreased.
-
8:09 - 8:12This is back in like early 80's.
-
8:13 - 8:15There was double digit inflation.
-
8:15 - 8:19And very high unemployment.
-
8:19 - 8:22And a rapid military build-up.
-
8:22 - 8:30And a threat to decrease all domestic programs and this led to reductions in force
-
8:30 - 8:34and public health service, particularity in CDC.
-
8:34 - 8:38The center of disease control (CDC) in Atlanta was under threat for reduction and
-
8:38 - 8:40even theoretically for closure.
-
8:40 - 8:45There were memos around the CDC saying "We need to find a new plague".
-
8:45 - 8:49For them to justify their expenses and their existence and make their careers
-
8:49 - 8:51they have to find infectious diseases.
-
8:51 - 8:53We needed to find something that would scare the American people
-
8:53 - 8:56so they would wan to give us more money.
-
8:56 - 9:01Once people recognized that this was likely caused by virus the media tension went
-
9:01 - 9:07from "no news coverage" to the most covered news story in history.
-
9:08 - 9:12People went from neglecting it to fear and panic.
-
9:12 - 9:14"Maybe I can get it."
-
9:15 - 9:19Al of the sudden AIDS was very fundable project.
-
9:19 - 9:23And I suppose the psychology they worked on was the fact that they told in congress.
-
9:24 - 9:27Essentially this is white straight heterosexual men who are the congressmen.
-
9:27 - 9:33And they feel they can't fuck around or being worried about AIDS and kind of let the dollars out.
-
9:33 - 9:34And it worked.
-
9:35 - 9:40Suddenly there was a lot of money available for anybody who wanted to study HIV.
-
9:40 - 9:43And nobody looked back and said WHY?
-
9:43 - 9:45Do we want to study HIV?
-
9:45 - 9:48Bob Gallo said on television - it causes AIDS.
-
9:49 - 9:53The evidence show that this disease is not nearly confined to the gay community.
-
9:53 - 10:01I motion to call the disease Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome - AIDS.
-
10:02 - 10:10In 1982 Dr. Harry Haverkos was one of the CDC's epidemiologists tasked with defining AIDS.
-
10:10 - 10:16AIDS referees to a syndrome and its definition changes periodically.
-
10:16 - 10:21AIDS is a chronic disease it's based on immunodeficiency.
-
10:21 - 10:24AIDS is not a disease alright? AIDS a whole lot of different things.
-
10:24 - 10:27Depends on what country you are in.
-
10:27 - 10:32When your CD4 count false below a certain arbitrary level by definition you have AIDS.
-
10:32 - 10:37You know if someone's T-count goes down and it goes back up again it's you know
-
10:37 - 10:41politically they might still have AIDS. Medically I don't think they do.
-
10:41 - 10:48If you develop any of a number of opportunistic infections or diseases that
-
10:48 - 10:51puts in the category of AIDS.
-
10:55 - 10:58We don't even know what AIDS is. AIDS is so hard to define.
-
10:58 - 11:02Could change the definition of it every year.
-
11:03 - 11:09The definition of AIDS has broadened over time which revised in 1985.
-
11:09 - 11:12Then again in 1987.
-
11:12 - 11:15The changes in the definition have been political.
-
11:15 - 11:19Every time they change the definition the numbers go up.
-
11:19 - 11:24The definition has changed many times. The biggest change was probably in 1993.
-
11:24 - 11:29Which they, you know, added the CD4 count, the NHIV.
-
11:29 - 11:34You see, you could not even be ill but if you have CD4 count contrastingly below
-
11:34 - 11:36below 200 you have AIDS.
-
11:36 - 11:43A closer look at the CDC's documents reveals that AIDS numbers actually declined in 1993.
-
11:43 - 11:49But a retroactive definition change increase the estimates by more than 100%.
-
11:49 - 11:54The more diseases they could lump into this AIDS symptom...
-
11:54 - 11:56S stands for symptom...
-
11:56 - 12:01The better the chances are they get patients under their umbrella.
-
12:01 - 12:04The more patients they could catch.
-
12:04 - 12:11As time goes along, you know, definitions get used for variety of issues and some of
-
12:11 - 12:18those are not based sorely on scientific decisions but politics
-
12:18 - 12:23and capitalism and reimbursement comes into play.
-
12:23 - 12:28For example person with hepatitis C say here in San Francisco.
-
12:28 - 12:34you got a hepatitis C and only hepatitis C, you're shit out of luck.
-
12:35 - 12:39Having an AIDS diagnosis you know, I get a free apartment. The city of
-
12:39 - 12:41San Diego pays for apartment.
-
12:41 - 12:48I can have the state of California pay for many medications related to HIV.
-
12:48 - 12:51I get social security benefits.
-
12:51 - 12:55I can get discounts on my supplements at the local health food store.
-
12:55 - 12:59I also get food stamps and in home supportive cleaning services.
-
12:59 - 13:07So I was basically a healthy person walking around and yet I had all these wonderful little perks.
-
13:09 - 13:13You get all the benefits. I mean that we fought for and got.
-
13:13 - 13:17But the end result has been a certain imbalance.
-
13:17 - 13:22I mean where you succeeded... I'm glad we did. But it is a little unfair.
-
13:22 - 13:27Politics, insurance, capitalism, benefits. You can be sick or healthy.
-
13:27 - 13:31I never would have thought that AIDS was so convoluted.
-
13:31 - 13:36Wright. What I said. That has changed. How you define that scientifically has changed
-
13:36 - 13:40quite often.
-
13:41 - 13:46Which makes it difficult, you know for the people to understand.
-
13:46 - 13:50It makes it difficult to me to interpret the numbers.
-
13:50 - 13:54Africa is reported to have the highest incidents of AIDS cases on the planet.
-
13:54 - 14:00So I tripped to South Africa to witness first hand the impact of AIDS on that troubled continent.
-
14:00 - 14:06Around 10 million of South Africa's 48 million people have been reported to have AIDS.
-
14:06 - 14:12Is only a 10 minute drive from Cape Town pristine modern airport to the squatter of neighborhood
-
14:12 - 14:15said to ravaged by AIDS.
-
14:23 - 14:29its world AIDS day. The functions, the gatherings, the international theme is stop AIDS,
-
14:29 - 14:32stop HIV and AIDS.
-
14:32 - 14:34Keep the promise.
-
14:35 - 14:37So many years later they keep saying the same things.
-
14:37 - 14:40HIV, HIV, HIV...
-
14:40 - 14:45Each time I hear words like HIV and AIDS I just want to put my had out.
-
14:45 - 14:51I'm just so fatigued about how we've packaged the messaging.
-
14:51 - 14:58Only talk about is AIDS. Its a sex virus. You have to use condoms or you die.
-
14:58 - 15:01So sick of this message.
-
15:02 - 15:09People cant think outside AIDS anymore. It's just a shocking sad reality.
-
15:10 - 15:16The first AIDS meeting on the continent of Africa was in 1985 in Bangui.
-
15:16 - 15:20We were there with a few people had experience on AIDS in Africa.
-
15:20 - 15:26And one of our problems was - how can you diagnose AIDS in Africa in the absence
-
15:26 - 15:30of very sophisticated laboratory support.
-
15:31 - 15:37Even though by 1985 there was a HIV test most of Africa didn't have access to it.
-
15:37 - 15:41One of the thing that we did in that meeting was to sit down and hash out
-
15:41 - 15:46the so called Bangui criteria for the diagnosis of AIDS in Africa.
-
15:46 - 15:51The idea was - what would be a simple way for a clinician to look at a patient and
-
15:51 - 15:56say that this patient likely has AIDS.
-
15:57 - 16:03They see somebody who has a combination of certain signs and symptoms like
-
16:03 - 16:06major weight loss.
-
16:06 - 16:13And if you have a combination of that you can say that this is probably somebody with AIDS.
-
16:13 - 16:18They wanted a clinical case definition whete they could decide that someone had AIDS
-
16:18 - 16:24just by looking at weight loss and persistent fever and so on.
-
16:24 - 16:29They gave something to clinicians in Africa to diagnose AIDS.
-
16:29 - 16:34And that helped in the overall effort to count cases. Because we needed to know
-
16:34 - 16:37what was the impact of the epidemic.
-
16:37 - 16:41They could discover AIDS all over Africa at that point.
-
16:41 - 16:46They could say that we are all at risk. They could say it's spreading around the world.
-
16:46 - 16:50They could say it affects women as much as men, because almost anyone in an African hospital
-
16:50 - 16:53could be diagnosed with AIDS.
-
16:53 - 16:57Without having to do the HIV test at all.
-
16:57 - 17:01Whole nations have been led to believe that in some instances they've got
-
17:01 - 17:06large percentages of their population infected and doomed because of this
-
17:06 - 17:12sexually transmitted virus. Its such a tragedy.
-
17:19 - 17:21What kind of sickness do you see around here?
-
17:23 - 17:24What is AIDS?
-
17:29 - 17:34So you're living in a mud house and there's coming a white man with doctors who you respect
-
17:34 - 17:40and they tell you that there is now among you an invisible disease that gets into you blood
-
17:40 - 17:44and can stay there unseen for years. And when it manifests itself its gonna manifest itself
-
17:44 - 17:47in forms of disease you have always known.
-
17:47 - 17:54Maybe if you look skinny, if you lost weight maybe they will simply say HIV.
-
17:54 - 17:57Or you are coughing a lot maybe they will say you have the disease.
-
17:57 - 18:00This can help to create extraordinary paranoia in people's minds. They would say -
-
18:00 - 18:02"What is going on with us?"
-
18:02 - 18:06My neighbor next door. He's got malaria. Does that mean that he's actually got
-
18:06 - 18:09that dreadful disease the white are talking about?
-
18:22 - 18:28Dr. Christian Fiala argues that many doctors have misused the Bangui definition.
-
18:28 - 18:33In the era before AIDS we had to admit we don't know the diagnosis and we could hypothesize.
-
18:33 - 18:40But nowadays what doctors do is, well if you don't know what it is it must be AIDS.
-
18:40 - 18:45We did have patients with the conditions we now regard as AIDS defining.
-
18:45 - 18:49Even before the advent of of AIDS.
-
18:49 - 18:53People could have TB and not have HIV and fulfill the Bangui criteria.
-
18:53 - 18:59They lose weight they have TB and they could look like they have AIDS when they don't.
-
19:00 - 19:03Is this Bangui definition still being used today?
-
19:03 - 19:09If fairly certain that in many parts of Africa where there is still no, little on no testing
-
19:09 - 19:12available that that definition is still in use.
-
19:12 - 19:17And I wouldn't be surprised that its used in the poor parts of Asia.
-
19:18 - 19:21This word AIDS. I don't know what it is anymore.
-
19:21 - 19:25I don't know what we're talking about anymore when we talk about AIDS.
-
19:25 - 19:31AIDS is one thing is one thing in village and a very different thing in Kampala - Uganda.
-
19:31 - 19:35I visited the word's health organization's website searching for answers
-
19:35 - 19:41and discovered there are currently more than twelve different definitions of AIDS worldwide.
-
19:41 - 19:47So I turned to Dr. James Chin former head of the WHO's global HIV statistics unit
-
19:47 - 19:49for an explanation.
-
19:50 - 19:54Some countries they felt they are little more sophisticated than the others.
-
19:54 - 20:03And you have, you know, along with the epidemic of HIV epidemics of HIV/AIDS experts.
-
20:03 - 20:10And some of them are not necessarily adhere to any international definition.
-
20:10 - 20:13They would make up their own definition.
-
20:13 - 20:17High school biology class taught me that diseases and syndromes can not differ
-
20:17 - 20:20from country to country like languages.
-
20:20 - 20:24It was becoming clear that HIV and AIDS were distinct separate entities
-
20:24 - 20:30and that AIDS was diverting my attention from the real culprit - HIV.
-
20:30 - 20:35Where to next? The place millions have had their lives changed forever.
-
20:36 - 20:39She says: -We have your test result you need to come in and get it.
-
20:39 - 20:41And I was like: -Tell me now Sherill.
-
20:41 - 20:43She was like: -Kim we really need you to come in.
-
20:43 - 20:47And I said: -Then I know it's positive Sherill you were just telling me over the phone.
-
20:47 - 20:51And she said: - Kim don't panic. You can still have a normal life.
-
20:51 - 20:54I can still remember his face. I can remember his eyes.
-
20:54 - 20:58And all he said was: - I'm so sorry.
-
20:58 - 21:04I think you should put your affairs in order. You might have five years.
-
21:06 - 21:10I said: - Sherill. I have to go out now. I have to go tell my dad.
-
21:10 - 21:17He started crying. This is the way it happens in the movies.
-
21:21 - 21:24It's 7:00 am here in Johannesburg South Africa.
-
21:24 - 21:30And I'm a little nervous because I'm about to go in for my first HIV test.
-
21:33 - 21:34Have you ever gone in for an HIV test?
-
21:34 - 21:36No.
-
21:39 - 21:41Yes I have actually. Few years ago.
-
21:41 - 21:45Were you nervous?
- I was. Very frightened. -
21:48 - 21:53The nearest testing center wasn't in a hospital. Or in a doctor's office
-
21:53 - 21:56but on the main concourse of a bus and train station.
-
21:56 - 21:58Beneath a few portable tents.
-
21:58 - 22:04HIV testing facilities are everywhere. From a street corner kiosk to the shopping malls.
-
22:04 - 22:09All being tested with a rapid test which looks for antibodies to HIV.
-
22:17 - 22:18Is this you questioner?
-
22:20 - 22:22These tests claim to be HIV tests.
-
22:22 - 22:26When you read from a section that says "limitations of the test".
-
22:26 - 22:33The specificity of the Reveal Rapid HIV antibody test for blood specimens in low-risk
-
22:33 - 22:35populations has not been evaluated.
-
22:35 - 22:41They don't know in their therms even, how well this test is gonna work in people
-
22:41 - 22:45they don't want it to work in. Low-risk.
-
22:45 - 22:47We don't think you are at risk.
-
22:48 - 22:49My sex life?
-
23:10 - 23:15In 1990 we flew to Romania to adopt a baby.
-
23:15 - 23:20We found Lindsy and she was only 2 weeks old.
-
23:20 - 23:25I cant still remember that feeling of holding her for the first time thinking: - My dream
-
23:25 - 23:29is going to come true. I'll have one of those children.
-
23:31 - 23:36Before we left Romania we had to make sure that she didn't have HIV.
-
23:36 - 23:41We had to find a doctor and he did the test and it came back negative.
-
23:41 - 23:47We flew home just after Christmas 1990 and...
-
24:13 - 24:15Can I just ask you cause I'm a little nervous.
-
24:15 - 24:20It seams like if this is positive and this is negative my life hangs in the balance on
-
24:20 - 24:22whatever this one is.
-
24:22 - 24:26So how do we know that this one is accurate when both of these two were inaccurate?
-
24:30 - 24:33So this one is more accurate than these two?
-
24:35 - 24:39So why don't we just use the more accurate one to begin with?
-
24:45 - 24:47I don't know.
-
24:47 - 24:51Rapid test in Germany is not allowed for standard diagnostics.
-
24:51 - 24:56May I ask why? How come you don't use rapid tests for a standard diagnostics?
-
24:56 - 25:02Several professional organizations who decided as expert committee on guidelines
-
25:02 - 25:05how to do things.
-
25:05 - 25:11None of these responsible societies recommended for scientific reasons.
-
25:29 - 25:32How do they decide whether they are positive and negative?
-
25:36 - 25:41It accrued to me that perhaps the HIV epidemic is reported to be so wide spread
-
25:41 - 25:47in South Africa and other poor nations simply because they use these inaccurate tests.
-
25:48 - 25:54It's the same as if you knew what sausages are made of most people would hesitate
-
25:54 - 25:59sort of eat them because they wouldn't like what's in them.
-
25:59 - 26:05And if you know how HIV/AIDS numbers are cooked or made-up you would use them
-
26:05 - 26:08with extreme caution.
-
26:08 - 26:14I decided to investigate HIV testing protocols used throughout the developed world.
-
26:14 - 26:19When we're testing people for HIV the firs thing that we do is a screening test.
-
26:19 - 26:22And it's usually a test called ELISA.
-
26:22 - 26:27But there are also now available rapid assets to be used as screening methods.
-
26:27 - 26:32Yes they are faster. We all know faster and cheaper is more efficient.
-
26:33 - 26:38Each time ELISA is positive did does not mean that the patient is HIV positive. That's the problem.
-
26:39 - 26:43If we're using antibodies as a screening test to tell who is infected or not
-
26:43 - 26:48very occasionally you can get false positives.
-
26:48 - 26:55So screening test by themselves should not be used as definitive measure of infection.
-
26:55 - 27:01That's why use a screening test to pick up all the cases but we use a confirmatory test
-
27:01 - 27:04to eliminate any false positives.
-
27:11 - 27:15It should be emphasized that most of the developing world uses only screening test
-
27:15 - 27:17to confirm an HIV diagnosis.
-
27:17 - 27:20There are no confirmatory tests.
-
27:30 - 27:35Nine days after returning home Steven Chells's pediatrician ran a battery of tests
-
27:35 - 27:38on Lindsy including an HIV test.
-
27:38 - 27:42Even though Lindsy had tested negative for the virus in Romania.
-
27:42 - 27:49Dr. McCew called us and said we are running to some problems with the testing that we did
-
27:49 - 27:52and you need to come right in and see me.
-
27:52 - 27:56I said: - Well what is it? She said: - I'm not gonna tell you over the phone.
-
27:56 - 28:00I said: - I need to know exactly what this is.
-
28:00 - 28:04He said: - We have a bad news that she tests positive.
-
28:04 - 28:09He said: - She'll have a 30% chance of living to the age 2.
-
28:10 - 28:17I was jut at shock. After all this joy and happiness. We finally found our daughter
-
28:17 - 28:21I'm dancing around around Romania and now we come home and it's like
-
28:21 - 28:23somebody could just stab me.
-
28:23 - 28:28And then I had to call my mom. And that was the worse phone call I have ever had to make
-
28:28 - 28:34because I remember saying that: - Poor girl she's just not gonna make it.
-
28:35 - 28:39So that we don't have to go to somebody and
say: - Well you might be infected -
28:39 - 28:42but it might be a false positive.
-
28:42 - 28:46We do a second test. That's a test that's usually called The Western Blot.
-
28:47 - 28:54In 1992 when I was told by my doctor that I was HIV positive that was only a verbal admission to me.
-
28:54 - 28:58She didn't give me the written paper that came form the lab that tested my blood.
-
28:58 - 29:05I found out that it says: "This indicates possible infection by virus".
-
29:05 - 29:10There can be mistakes form the antibody test and there are conditions that can cause
-
29:10 - 29:13the test to be inaccurate.
-
29:13 - 29:16Now that I've got the package insert for that test kit it says
-
29:16 - 29:22"Positive results using any specimen type should be followed with additional testing"
-
29:22 - 29:25But this is the test they use to confirm with.
-
29:25 - 29:29This has margin of error done properly that's extremely low.
-
29:29 - 29:32In other words it's one of medicine's better tests.
-
29:32 - 29:38I don't think The Western Blot is a useful diagnostic test. I don't think it's worth doing.
-
29:38 - 29:43Did they give reason? Anybody can say anything. "I think it's stupid to drive a car".
-
29:43 - 29:45But they gotta give a reason.
-
29:45 - 29:50Due to useful prognostic test once you know that someone is infected then you could
-
29:50 - 29:55follow their antibody responses well with Western Blot.
-
29:55 - 29:58It says absolutely wrong. It has a complete usefulness.
-
29:59 - 30:02You don't need a Western Blot. And it has become a dogma in HIV research.
-
30:02 - 30:08You need one ELISA followed by Western. You don't. You need two different kinds of ELISA's
-
30:08 - 30:11made in two different formats.
-
30:11 - 30:15Would you ever want to confirm somebody is positive using just ELISA's?
-
30:15 - 30:17No. Never.
-
30:17 - 30:20It's not against the rules. It's against recommendations.
-
30:21 - 30:26It's turbulent see of argument about how can we use this test. When can we use this test?
-
30:26 - 30:28Why is this test have no standard?
-
30:30 - 30:35We have a group now of about 40 patients that have no detectable virus in their body
-
30:35 - 30:37but the are not being treated.
-
30:37 - 30:40So the first question is - are they realy infected?
-
30:40 - 30:42So The Western Blot can have falls positives?
-
30:42 - 30:44No The Western Blow was negative too.
-
30:44 - 30:49But they were told they were positive by lab. Yes they miss red The Western Blot.
-
30:49 - 30:54Heavy weight champion Tommy Morison tested positive in 1996.
-
30:54 - 31:0211 years later in 2007 he tested negative multiple times allowing him to return to the ring.
-
31:03 - 31:09There's constant discussion in the community of people who do diagnostic testing
-
31:09 - 31:14and the blood bankers about how to read these tests.
-
31:15 - 31:19When you look ate these Western Blots how do you determine what is a positive?
-
31:20 - 31:24You need certain number of bands being present.
-
31:24 - 31:27It depends a little bit on the producer of the test.
-
31:27 - 31:30It depends on the manufacturer?
-Yes. -
31:30 - 31:33Is there different criteria for what might be a positive?
-Yes. -
31:33 - 31:40There are different criteria form the manufacturer and also there are guidelines
-
31:40 - 31:43from the WHO and UNAIDS.
-
31:43 - 31:48HIV infection is diagnosed with rather now routine laboratory tests
-
31:48 - 31:57for which there are criteria for diagnosis established by the manufacturer...
-
31:59 - 32:01...FDA
-
32:03 - 32:06Claudia showed me the package insert that comes with the Western Blot.
-
32:06 - 32:12It contains eight different sets of criteria for diagnosing HIV infection.
-
32:12 - 32:16Because of the different criteria that apply in different countries
-
32:16 - 32:24you can test HIV positive in one country and be given AIDS diagnosis as a result of that,
-
32:24 - 32:30wheres in another country you wont test HIV positive and you wont be given an AIDS diagnosis.
-
32:30 - 32:35It's ludicrous that you can be positive in one country and not positive in another.
-
32:35 - 32:39Theoretically I could be diagnosed with AIDS in the United States
-
32:39 - 32:44but if I take three steps to my right I wouldn't be diagnosed with AIDS.
-
32:44 - 32:48Or I will lose my AIDS diagnosis when I cross the border.
-
32:49 - 32:55In 1992 I was encouraged by a doctor to take what's called a HIV test
-
32:55 - 32:58as a mater of social responsibility.
-
32:58 - 33:07And I was shocked, and devastated, and horrified when the results came back positive.
-
33:07 - 33:12It was one of those moments that everyone fears their whole life.
-
33:13 - 33:18A week later I took the same test to an AIDS specialist.
-
33:18 - 33:23He looks and says: - This isn't a positive test. I don't know what this test means.
-
33:24 - 33:27Since a falls positive looks like a true positive, how can you ever distinguish
-
33:27 - 33:30whether it's truly a positive or a negative?
-
33:31 - 33:36Well that's a great question. It's gonna be very hard to determine a false positive.
-
33:36 - 33:44So I take the test again and this time my results come marked from the lab - indeterminate.
-
33:44 - 33:49I'm faced with the decision - you want to wait 6 weeks to test again or do it right away?
-
33:49 - 33:51I opted for right away.
-
33:51 - 33:54My results from that time come back positive.
-
33:55 - 33:57Took it again. Came negative.
-
33:58 - 34:00i took it again. Positive.
-
34:02 - 34:09What happens if you're positive on one criteria but negative on another manufacturer's criteria?
-
34:09 - 34:13How do you decide who's infected and who's not?
-
34:14 - 34:20You will use the most sensitive criteria.
-
34:21 - 34:26In late December of 2007 I red about a new legislation passed in New Jersey calling for
-
34:26 - 34:30a mandatory testing of pregnant women or newborn infants,
-
34:30 - 34:33should the mother's status be unknown.
-
34:33 - 34:37HIV mandatory testing to me is a no brainier.
-
34:38 - 34:43I'm very much opposed to the concept of mandatory testing of any population
-
34:43 - 34:49because the tests are scientifically shown to be unreliable and inaccurate.
-
34:49 - 34:58You have no reason to fear this bill. And my hope is eventually this would become a federal law
-
34:58 - 35:03so that every woman in this country could be tested.
-
35:04 - 35:08But HIV testing isn't a absolutely precise science.
-
35:08 - 35:12When I confronted my doctor about that she said:
- We're way pass Western Blot now. -
35:12 - 35:14We have the viral load test.
-
35:14 - 35:18But when you get the package insert for the viral load test it says:
-
35:18 - 35:22"If you test positive you are considered confirmed infected with HIV"
-
35:22 - 35:28But at the bottom of the page in fine print it states a person should have additional testing.
-
35:29 - 35:36It does not allow you to tell a single person on this planet that they are HIV positive.
-
35:36 - 35:39And it's a scandal that these tests continue to be used.
-
35:39 - 35:42So again I'm asking. Where is the test?
-
35:42 - 35:48Where is the test that can confirm a diagnosis of HIV infection? And I can't find one.
-
35:49 - 35:53I have the package insert from the manufacturer which they supply me with.
-
35:53 - 35:57And under "Limitation of the test" it states that risk factors should be used
-
35:57 - 35:59in conjunction with the test.
-
35:59 - 36:03Has the person had sex? Have they used drugs or had a blood transfusion?
-
36:03 - 36:08And then - in conjunction with the test. Not the test alone but with the test.
-
36:08 - 36:11Then you decide whether the person is positive or negative.
-
36:12 - 36:15Did the answers to these questions help aid in the diagnosis?
-
36:17 - 36:18Realy?
-
36:21 - 36:25Now if I tell you that the test you took was lousy it didn't mean a thing.
-
36:25 - 36:28Is that make any difference for everybody to hear?
-
36:28 - 36:31It makes a difference for me.
-Yeah I know. -
36:31 - 36:37How can we say that HIV is the cause of AIDS when we don't know, based on current test
-
36:37 - 36:43whether or not anybody diagnosed positive, actually has HIV?
-
36:46 - 36:50President Thabo Mbeki will officially open the AIDS conference tonight.
-
36:50 - 36:55Delegates here are hoping he would finally separate himself form the AIDS denials.
-
36:56 - 37:01We remain convinced of the need for as better to understand what reconstitutes
-
37:01 - 37:08a comprehensive response in a context such as ours which is characterized by high levels
-
37:08 - 37:11of poverty and disease.
-
37:11 - 37:17As I listened and held the whole story told about our own country it seamed to me that
-
37:17 - 37:21could not blame everything on a single virus.
-
37:21 - 37:26I thought this man must be an idiot. Everyone in Africa is dying of AIDS. I know this because
-
37:26 - 37:29I read the New York Times. It's beyond doubt.
-
37:29 - 37:32Rian Milan was hired by Rolling Stone to investigate and debunk
-
37:32 - 37:35president Mbeki's misguided ideas.
-
37:35 - 37:38Where to begin? The numbers.
-
37:38 - 37:42My very first action. I hoped in Johannesburg's yellow pages I thought I could illustrate this.
-
37:42 - 37:47But the scene beginning in a coffin factory in Johannesburg where workers are working
-
37:47 - 37:52over time. Mountains of people are dying of this condition.
-
37:52 - 37:56And I discovered that limits to void UNAIDS isn't the plague.
-
37:56 - 38:00It is that half of the coffin factories in Johannesburg of going bankrupt.
-
38:01 - 38:06In South Africa alone it's about a thousand people dying everyday from AIDS.
-
38:06 - 38:15If you are advocacy agency and you perceive low numbers to be bad your buyers maybe
-
38:15 - 38:21to accept higher numbers even if they are not scientifically sound.
-
38:21 - 38:27I know what Jim Chin quite well and I was a chairman of the steering committee
-
38:27 - 38:33on epidemiology of the global program on AIDS in WHO when Jim Chin was in charge
-
38:33 - 38:37of the epidemiology estimates. And we could never get information how the WHO
-
38:37 - 38:43estimates were made. So we were very critical in these days because we found
-
38:43 - 38:47that it was not based on enough evidence.
-
38:47 - 38:52It's possible that he didn't read the materials we sent him or even understand them
-
38:52 - 39:00but we did sent information to anybody who wanted to know about the estimates.
-
39:00 - 39:03Because they were pretty transparent.
-
39:03 - 39:08In an attempt to get to the bottom of this statistics debate I've come to Geneva Switzerland
-
39:08 - 39:12to look at the world health organization's official numbers.
-
39:12 - 39:18And what we found? There are no numbers. Only assumptions and estimates.
-
39:18 - 39:24How are the money debited out to states for AIDS prevention or AIDS treatment?
-
39:24 - 39:28How is government money sent out to different states and communities?
-
39:28 - 39:32The more AIDS you have, the more money you get.
-Exactly -
39:32 - 39:35The AIDS broadness has a vast interest in maximizing and squeezing the data to get
-
39:35 - 39:40the worst possible scenario because the worst the situation is, the more compelling
-
39:40 - 39:43the fund raising claims are.
-
39:43 - 39:49When UNAIDS was created about 250 million dollars were spent on AIDS in poor countries.
-
39:49 - 39:5310 years later it's 10 billion dollars!
-
39:53 - 39:56That's an unprecedented increase. Still not enough.
-
39:56 - 40:01When that was created the first thing Peter Piot said...
-
40:01 - 40:06Said it was that UNAIDS is an advocacy agency pure and simple.
-
40:06 - 40:10And this was my first objective when I came into this job.
-
40:10 - 40:13That was - put it on the political agenda.
-
40:13 - 40:20He divested himself of all of the program aspects and scientific aspects of AIDS.
-
40:21 - 40:24This is not an scientific issue. This is a matter of politics.
-
40:25 - 40:29Except one unit he kept so that the numbers unit.
-
40:29 - 40:37We are really doing a major disservice to say - it is not as bad as it looks like.
-
40:37 - 40:41Because actually it is much worse.
-
40:41 - 40:46One month after my interview Dr. Piak the Indian government slashed their estimates
-
40:46 - 40:48by nearly 60%.
-
40:48 - 40:53Shortly thereafter UNAIDS acknowledged they were over estimating global HIV statistics
-
40:53 - 40:56for more than a decade.
-
40:56 - 41:03They painted themselves into a corner and now their house of numbers is falling apart.
-
41:05 - 41:10America is leading the fight against disease and I call on you to double our initial commitment
-
41:10 - 41:18to fighting HIV/AIDS by approving an additional 30 billion dollars over the next five years.
-
41:22 - 41:26Noble corruption, misuse of statistics in order to convince people that there is
-
41:26 - 41:29on hell of a problem out there guys and we're gotta go do something bout it.
-
41:42 - 41:50In April of 2008 congress approved a 50 billion dollar expenditure for AIDS treatment and prevention.
-
41:50 - 41:57Vast majority of the world's population is not at any measurable risk of HIV infection.
-
41:57 - 41:59No measurable risk?
-
41:59 - 42:02Growing up in the age of AIDS I was taught there are three certainties in life.
-
42:02 - 42:09Death, taxes and contracting HIV from unprotected sex.
-
42:09 - 42:12If you don't use a condom there's a lot of chances that you can actually get
-
42:12 - 42:16the killer disease that is AIDS.
-
42:18 - 42:24I did a study of heterosexual transmission of HIV in California and we recruited individuals
-
42:24 - 42:29who were infected with HIV. Then we recruited their sexual partners and we looked
-
42:29 - 42:33at whether transmission in fact had occurred.
-
42:33 - 42:40Padian runs a study. It's a ten years study with the world's most virulent terrifying sexually...
-
42:40 - 42:45I mean this thing jumps... Excuse me, of a penis to in the vaginas miles away.
-
42:46 - 42:50How many of the do you think after ten years with the world's most terrifying virulent
-
42:50 - 42:53sexually transmuted disease came up positive?
-
42:54 - 42:55Nobody!
-
42:55 - 42:58Nobody who was negative came up positive.
-
42:58 - 43:00Zero!
-
43:01 - 43:06I think HIV is more difficult to transmit than other sexually... Then a lot, probably most
-
43:06 - 43:09other sexually transmitted diseases.
-
43:09 - 43:12I mean that's pretty widely known.
-
43:12 - 43:15If I would have unprotected sex with somebody who is HIV positive
-
43:15 - 43:18how many acts would I have to engage with him before I got the virus?
-
43:19 - 43:20Just one.
-
43:20 - 43:21I think one would be enough.
-
43:21 - 43:22First act.
-
43:23 - 43:25One is enough.
-
43:25 - 43:29Remarkably HIV is a difficult infection to transmit.
-
43:29 - 43:35This contradicts everything I was ever taught about the sexual transmission of HIV.
-
43:35 - 43:40AIDS is the best example of what's really scary and alarming and dangerous about
-
43:40 - 43:45our culture right now. Which is that it's a culture of PR.
-
43:45 - 43:49It's a public relations phenomenon.
-
43:49 - 43:55The truth doesn't matter. What matters is the image.
-
43:58 - 44:04If we were talking about reality. The reality is the AIDS is over.
-
44:13 - 44:19Somebody decided in the early 80's that there is this infection called HIV.
-
44:19 - 44:24And upon deciding that I don't think it was debated enough.
-
44:26 - 44:31In 1983 Dr. Luc Montagnier and his team of researchers identified what they thought
-
44:31 - 44:34might be the cause of AIDS.
-
44:49 - 44:56Not an actual work with rapidly reinforced additional virology studies in Bob Galo's lab
-
44:56 - 44:58in Washington.
-
44:59 - 45:04Galo got pushed by the Reagan's administration that wanted to do something on AIDS finally.
-
45:04 - 45:08They would literally told us to just to close lab down.
-
45:08 - 45:13We don't care about this bunch of gays. Who gives a shit. And that was really the whole story.
-
45:13 - 45:20So the whole thing that they rested their political response was - well we discovered the virus.
-
45:21 - 45:23Good afternoon ladies and gentleman.
-
45:23 - 45:26The probable cause of AIDS has been found.
-
45:26 - 45:31Credit must go to our eminent doctor Robert Gallo who directed the research
-
45:31 - 45:35that produced this discovery.
-
45:35 - 45:36What was new that day.
-
45:36 - 45:40It's for the first time we were saying - that's cause. I'm sure.
-
45:41 - 45:46Was a silly press conference. There was not an evidence that the HIV was the cause of AIDS
-
45:46 - 45:49or wasn't called HIV.
-
45:49 - 45:54There was certainly evidence that he didn't discover it. It was discovered in France.
-
45:55 - 46:02The conference was held before any of Robert Gallo's papers were published.
-
46:02 - 46:07Therefore before any other scientists had a chance to review them and look at the evidence
-
46:07 - 46:10and see if got it right or wrong.
-
46:10 - 46:17Gallo's philosophy was to have people to whom he would give the virus in his own control
-
46:17 - 46:21so that any information that came out of that would come through him.
-
46:21 - 46:25So that he got all the information and he would often put his name on the publication.
-
46:25 - 46:32But should you have any broader view other his personal glory and your personal glory...
-
46:32 - 46:35This was not a scientific pursuit in any way.
-
46:35 - 46:40The US department of health and human services decided from now on we are only
-
46:40 - 46:46going to fund aid research that assumes that Robert Gallo's virus is the cause.
-
46:47 - 46:51I didn't think HIV in 1984 was the cause of AIDS.
-
46:51 - 46:56I did the study comparing gay men with Kaposis's and gay men with Pneumocystis.
-
46:56 - 46:59I assumed there must be something else.
-
46:59 - 47:03If you go read my paper form 1985 that Curran and Jaffe would not sign on to.
-
47:03 - 47:08I actually laid out the co-factor hypothesis in that paper.
-
47:17 - 47:23Well co-factors just says that the cause of the disease is by more than one factor.
-
47:23 - 47:30Just simply being a picked with HIV is not gonna do it. You need certain co-factors.
-
47:31 - 47:34Co-factors are not necessary...
-
47:34 - 47:38Dr. Fauci would said: - HIV causes AIDS without the need of anything else.
-
47:38 - 47:39That's kind of ridiculous.
-
47:39 - 47:44The data that indicate that any different type of infection like Mycoplasma
-
47:44 - 47:50or something like that is a necessary co-factor.
I believe those theories have been debunked. -
47:51 - 47:57What does he mean that there are no co-factors?
-
47:57 - 48:01Where is he coming from? There's co-factors for everything.
-
48:01 - 48:08Co-factor plays something specific. And it really gets us of into tracks.
-
48:08 - 48:14Gallo isn't gonna change his mind. He's probably 70 years plus now.
-
48:14 - 48:20He's gonna remember things... Well we all remember things that are good for us.
-
48:20 - 48:24And we forget the bad things.
-
48:25 - 48:30The co-factors are important to really understand how people get ill.
-
48:30 - 48:32Why they get ill?
-
48:32 - 48:38What is asked of an AIDS journalist is to deny an existing reality which is
-
48:38 - 48:45a strong growing body of descent on a scientific question.
-
48:47 - 48:55In August of '92 my daddy has just red his latest national review and there was an article there
-
48:55 - 48:59about Peter Duesberg a cell biologist.
-
48:59 - 49:03He said he didn't think HIV caused AIDS.
-
49:04 - 49:11To deny this well identified, well characterized virus is linked with AIDS is
-
49:11 - 49:13to my mind just potty.
-
49:14 - 49:20He said: -We can't replicate this in my office. I can't get this virus to do anything.
-
49:20 - 49:23We thought. Oh my gosh my dad is really daydreaming.
-
49:23 - 49:26He's trying to wish this all away, because he knows how upset we are.
-
49:26 - 49:31Just wish it all away and everybody will be gone happy.
-
49:33 - 49:38If Fauci would say there's a billion dollars for alternative theories of AIDS
-
49:38 - 49:41you wouldn't believe what's gonna happen.
-
49:41 - 49:47A lot of HIV researches over night would start co-factors.
-
49:47 - 49:50The first year they would call them co-factors of HIV.
-
49:50 - 49:56And the next year the co- would be topped and HIV would be topped an year later.
-
49:57 - 50:04Peter's highly intelligent he did excellent work. I mean no wonder he got full professorship in Berkley
-
50:04 - 50:09and was nominated for the American academy of sciences but I told you quite frankly
-
50:09 - 50:13that he's killing people with his theories and I still stick to that.
-
50:14 - 50:20The attack him. They attack his ideas and they present some bogus way
-
50:20 - 50:25of refuting what his science has said which is not a really refutable.
-
50:25 - 50:27Peter Duesberg?
-
50:28 - 50:31They are all prostitutes. Most of them. My colleagues.
-
50:31 - 50:36To some degree myself. You have to be a prostitute to get money for your research.
-
50:36 - 50:40You a trained to be a little bit of a prostitute.
-
50:41 - 50:44But some go all the way.
-
50:45 - 50:50In light of all that scientific uncertainty I asked Dr. Fauci for evidence linking HIV
-
50:50 - 50:53to immunodeficiency disease.
-
50:54 - 51:01When you put the combined findings of the initial characterization as a distinct retrovirus
-
51:01 - 51:07isolated by Montagnier and his group together with Gallo linking the virus to being the cause
-
51:07 - 51:12of AIDS and you put those thing together. And that's how we have confirmation
-
51:12 - 51:16of the causative agent of AIDS in the name of HIV.
-
51:17 - 51:23Still unclear about the evidence for HIV's existence I decided the best way to verify it would be
-
51:23 - 51:25to actually see it.
-
51:25 - 51:29I asked Dr. Hans Gelderblom, a world renowned electron microscopist if he thought
-
51:29 - 51:34there was any reason to question Dr. Montagnier's published images.
-
51:34 - 51:39I've see these publications. Stamp sized images.
-
51:39 - 51:41It's a nuisance.
-
51:41 - 51:45It's a nuisance. You do not really see much.
-
51:45 - 51:49When we saw that photo we said - suggestive but not convincing.
-
51:50 - 51:54Dr. Gallo one year later published photographs he claimed to be of HIV.
-
51:54 - 51:56Were his any better?
-
51:57 - 52:04There pictures were not so impressive. They were not much better than Montagnier's images.
-
52:04 - 52:08it's one thing to look like and another thing is to be a virus.
-
52:09 - 52:13In 2002 I stumbled across an article by Valendar Turner
-
52:13 - 52:18and Andrew McIntyre of the Perth group in Australia and he questioned whether
-
52:18 - 52:21there has even been found a virus.
-
52:21 - 52:26I became consumed with researching this. I could read from morning till night.
-
52:26 - 52:30Every day and every link to another link. And I wold email to those people and say
-
52:30 - 52:36where is the test? I want to know. Am I dying? Am I contagious?
-
52:36 - 52:40And they weren't even very kind. They were just like - read articles again.
-
52:40 - 52:43How many times we have to tell you? There is no test.
-
52:44 - 52:51It is crucial to understand that an AIDS diagnosis is for ever. It can not be reversed or alleviated.
-
52:51 - 52:56The stigma attached to people knowing that you have it and you're living with it worse
-
52:56 - 52:59that actually living with it.
-
52:59 - 53:02I can't think of anybody who's ever been evicted from their apartment because
-
53:02 - 53:06they had breast cancer or because they had cerebral palsy.
-
53:07 - 53:11i did a campaign to address stigma. The message is that if anyone's infected
-
53:11 - 53:15that we are all infected.
-
53:15 - 53:18Some have it medically some have it socially, some have it culturally.
-
53:18 - 53:23And in the end of the day if it exists anywhere it exist everywhere.
-
53:23 - 53:27We don't all have AIDS. And when you start bullshittng it it's a problem.
-
53:27 - 53:30You know. We don't ALL have AIDS.
-
53:30 - 53:35We all have to be sympathetic to AIDS and yes there's all kinds of people who get HIV infection
-
53:35 - 53:44but we don't need to make, on my view, non truths. Or just have a slogan or a symbol
-
53:44 - 53:46"We all have AIDS". No, we don't all have AIDS.
-
53:47 - 53:50Well my message is you do have it whether you wanna accept is or not.
-
53:50 - 53:58Are you medically susceptible? Maybe not. But are you socially vulnerable? Yes.
-
53:59 - 54:08In June of 2007 the BBC featured a new story which began - "HIV infection theory challenged"
-
54:10 - 54:19Living cells are complicated. And how they work inside the body is even more complicated.
-
54:19 - 54:26So there is still a lot of debate of how exactly HIV causes AIDS.
-
54:27 - 54:32In March of 2008 The Washington Post went onto state that multiple surprises have reminded
-
54:32 - 54:38researchers how much they still don't know about HIV's biology.
-
54:39 - 54:46HIV's got to get inside the circulation of the body. And it does that in a ways that are
-
54:46 - 54:49not completely understood.
-
54:49 - 54:57The prime target for HIV is a T-cell population called CD4 helper T-cells.
-
54:58 - 55:05The way that the virus gets into the target cell it fuses its membrane to the membrane of the cell.
-
55:05 - 55:11I don't understand the fusion process. I don't think anybody completely understands it.
-
55:11 - 55:18We have a relatively poor understanding of how viral proteins interact with the proteins in the cell.
-
55:20 - 55:24How come our antibodies aren't able to keep HIV in check?
-
55:24 - 55:27That's an excellent question that's one of the greatest stumbling blocks.
-
55:27 - 55:31They can't prove that HIV is the cause of AIDS.
-
55:31 - 55:36OK? The can not prove that HIV is the cause of the collapse of the immune system
-
55:36 - 55:39no matter how many scientific journals say there is.
-
55:39 - 55:42When you go to the basic research it doesn't prove it.
-
55:43 - 55:52We are almost convinced that there is also factors that are involved in the lost of CD4 cells
-
55:52 - 55:56and we don't know yet all the mechanisms.
-
55:57 - 56:04How HIV depletes the T-cells so an individual advances to AIDS is probably
-
56:04 - 56:10due to multi factoral elements.
-
56:11 - 56:16One is it will kill the cell eventually that it infects.
-
56:17 - 56:23HIV does not necessarily kill the cells that it infects.
-
56:24 - 56:29Some T-cells are directly killed by HIV and other T-cells keep the virus in check .
-
56:29 - 56:36It's a silent state within the cell. And i think in many cases these cells can return
-
56:36 - 56:38to a normal function.
-
56:38 - 56:43Can that cell return to a normal state? I don't think so.
-
56:45 - 56:50When I was told I was HIV positive I accepted that on a very deep level.
-
56:50 - 56:55But only by having a courage to open minds...
-
56:57 - 57:06...and open hearts to answer these questions. Are we ever going to know how to help people?
-
57:06 - 57:11How to do what we need to do to help people?
-
57:12 - 57:17In late 2007 Science Daily reported that three prominent research teams had published
-
57:17 - 57:22papers in the journal of immunology challenging the theory that sudden lost of T-cells
-
57:22 - 57:25triggers disease and AIDS.
-
57:25 - 57:31The details of HIV pathogenesis, how HIV kills people are still being worked out.
-
57:31 - 57:37If the sudden loss of T-cells in HIV positive individuals can't explain why people get deceased
-
57:37 - 57:41then there must be co-factors to cause people to get sick and dying.
-
57:41 - 57:45Or factors that have absolutely nothing to do with HIV.
-
57:45 - 57:50While researching HIV hot spots I began to realize there is a direct co-relation
-
57:50 - 57:55in this places with another condition that leads to immunodeficiency and death.
-
57:56 - 58:00I think it is important to keep in mind, especially for us in the west
-
58:00 - 58:07that poverty is not a romantic issue. It is a deadly issue.
-
58:07 - 58:12Poverty leads to diseases and premature deaths. PERIOD.
-
58:14 - 58:19When you look at the symptoms that they talk about, you know, for people that are HIV positive
-
58:19 - 58:23you find that some of them, they are more related to malnutrition.
-
58:34 - 58:37People are hungry. They are undeveloped. There are no hospitals. There's no propper
-
58:37 - 58:39medical care.
-
58:39 - 58:46You take away poverty and you give the people the ability to fight infections.
-
58:46 - 58:49These are toilets?
-Yeah -
59:25 - 59:30Why have we done nothing for African people? Just like giving clean water so they don't die
-
59:30 - 59:33in infancy of diarrhea or diseases or stuff like this?
-
59:33 - 59:36All we care about is HIV and AIDS. Well...
-
59:36 - 59:41Question - well there's money in it. There has to be, you know, other dynamic workings
-
59:41 - 59:47to lead public interest to the African situation and ignore clean water.
-
59:47 - 59:51Sanitation, malaria. I mean - thing that kill people.
-
59:51 - 59:53This is a beginning of a war.
-
59:53 - 59:59It is a war to reclaim our health.
-
60:00 - 60:06In 2008 USA Today published a new story that stated "If we look at the data objectively
-
60:06 - 60:09we are spending too much on AIDS..."
-
60:09 - 60:15About 10 billion dollars a year are spent on AIDS when 2 billion people live with no sanitation.
-
60:15 - 60:181 billion lack access to clean water
-
60:18 - 60:22and malnutrition kills someone every 10 seconds.
-
60:22 - 60:26These factors enable diseases to thrive and severely weaken the immune system of those
-
60:26 - 60:30living in such squatter.
-
60:30 - 60:35If we are to take all that money and put it towards developing poor countries
-
60:35 - 60:37God would be so proud of us indeed.
-
60:37 - 60:42Because we would have taken away the major challenge that's facing human kind.
-
60:42 - 60:48And that is people dying in silence. Slow painful deaths from being scared of something
-
60:48 - 60:53that was just packaged as AIDS.
-
60:55 - 61:00Could it be that the real epidemic is extreme poverty and not HIV?
-
61:00 - 61:05On the other hand. HIV allegedly occurs in the United States as well.
-
61:05 - 61:10So I looked for alternative causes of immunodeficiency in this wealthiest of nations.
-
61:11 - 61:16There are other ways you reproduce condition that looks like AIDS but they too will be
-
61:16 - 61:23some source that causes a severe defect in the immune response.
-
61:24 - 61:3190 million Americans now ate taking illegit toxemina but we don't talk about this.
-
61:31 - 61:33This is politically incorrect.
-
61:34 - 61:40There have been a number of theories as to what the origin of HIV/AIDS is. One of them
-
61:40 - 61:47was a theory that certainly turned out to be completely incorrect. That it's a lifestyle phenomenon.
-
61:49 - 61:57The large epidemic of STD's in general in late 70's and particularly in gay men in San Francisco,
-
61:57 - 62:03New York, Los Angeles were meccas of the new lifestyle which came from the liberation
-
62:03 - 62:05in the post stone wall era.
-
62:07 - 62:11The more partners you could have the more you were striking a blow for gay live.
-
62:11 - 62:16I remember talking to one of the people who was in forefront of that lifestyle.
-
62:16 - 62:21Very much felt like - if you did have another Syphilis or Gonorrhea or whatever it might be
-
62:21 - 62:28that it was like a notch. Another victory notched up for his right to exist as a gay man.
-
62:28 - 62:31I went on a vacation to Los Angeles.
-
62:31 - 62:37And it wasn't that wild but in one night I went to a bath house I came home with, get this...
-
62:37 - 62:44At the same time Syphilis, Gonorrhea and two forms of parasites.
-
62:45 - 62:49I have no views about that you know in a judgmental kind of sense but certainly
-
62:49 - 62:54from a public health point of view that's kind of a prescription for disaster.
-
62:54 - 62:58Because AIDS firs occurred in these men who were not healthy. For reasons
-
62:58 - 63:01were obvious to everyone.
-
63:02 - 63:08You're talking thousands of partners. Sometimes hundreds, you know per month.
-
63:08 - 63:15Lots of antibiotic use. Lots of drugs use and...
-
63:15 - 63:18You know the result - people were getting pretty sick.
-
63:19 - 63:26There is a drug called amyl nitrite. It was developed in 1850's-1860's
-
63:26 - 63:31Came in ampules and it became know as poppers cause you pop them when you open
-
63:31 - 63:34these ampules to sniff them.
-
63:35 - 63:41The firs AIDS cases for example that Mike Godly reported were all five gay men.
-
63:41 - 63:43They were young. They all used poppers.
-
63:44 - 63:49Poppers. Somebody walks around hoffing all night. I mean. It says flammable,
-
63:49 - 63:52fatal if swallowed on the side of the bottle.
-
63:52 - 63:57They're walking around haffing it all night long. Why? Gives you a great rush.
-
63:58 - 64:05Poppers was a sex drug. They were in every gay bath house, every bar, every porno book store
-
64:05 - 64:07across the nation.
-
64:07 - 64:10Poppers were visible on the dance floor at the discos.
-
64:10 - 64:14At the end of the evening the bartender would announce last call for alcohol,
-
64:14 - 64:16last call for poppers.
-
64:17 - 64:20It was like a mad wonderful kind of a dance that was being done. But if you think that
-
64:20 - 64:24can happen for ever you are wrong.
-
64:24 - 64:32Whether or not HIV exists? Whether it's a role in a weakened immune system?
-
64:32 - 64:37It's almost irrelevant when compare it to what was going on at that time.
-
64:37 - 64:42The lifestyle explanation proved politically unacceptable.
-
64:42 - 64:47But the virus explanation proved very, very acceptable to many different parties.
-
64:48 - 64:56Pneumocystis pneumonia and Cystosarcoma were the hallmark diseases for AIDS in the early years.
-
64:56 - 65:03To go back and deconstruct and say - what exactly did caused Pneumocystis pneumonia?
-
65:04 - 65:09I remember the first patient that I ever saw. My resident brought me to see a young gay man
-
65:09 - 65:17with Pneumocystis pneumonia. I knew a little about the use of poppers or amyl nitrite inhalants.
-
65:17 - 65:20And I started asking a patient if he used them and it turned out to be was
-
65:20 - 65:25a very heavy user of amyl nitrites. And much to the surprise of my students I said:
-
65:25 - 65:30I think that the man probably has destroyed his pulmonary immune system
-
65:30 - 65:32by inhaling this toxin.
-
65:33 - 65:36What exactly cause Kaposi's sarcoma? We know that now.
-
65:36 - 65:39It was amyl nitrite.
-
65:40 - 65:47We saw KS decline. Interesting the parallel to the decline in popper use.
-
65:47 - 65:54We now know that Kaposi's sarcoma is caused by a second virus - Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8).
-
65:54 - 65:59To rescue comes another virus. As always when you need... When you're in trouble
-
65:59 - 66:01you find another virus.
-
66:01 - 66:07If one wants to look at really what causes this we've got to look beyond just HIV
-
66:07 - 66:09and just beyond HHV8.
-
66:10 - 66:16Calling it a disease and you give it that name - AIDS. Everything is included under that name.
-
66:16 - 66:19You don't have to decide. I mean you just said: - You know these people have
-
66:19 - 66:23a lot of diseases, all kinds of diseases you wouldn't have the same impact.
-
66:23 - 66:28It was much better to say: - There is infectious organism on the lose in America
-
66:28 - 66:32and it could get you.
-
66:36 - 66:40I interviewed the world's leading HIV experts and discovered that the two benchmark
-
66:40 - 66:44diseases of AIDS have alternate explanations.
-
66:44 - 66:49Once again I turned to Dr. Golderblom seeking proof of HIV's existence in the
-
66:49 - 66:52most resent images available.
-
66:52 - 67:01Here you do not see anything about the details but I would say it's probably a virus.
-
67:01 - 67:03These are HIV here?
-Yes. -
67:04 - 67:06Are these HIV too?
-Yes, yes. -
67:06 - 67:09Everything?
-Probably. -
67:10 - 67:14What can I tell you? It exists.
-
67:17 - 67:21Gallo would say he had all that viruses and it was all a lie.
-
67:21 - 67:28I think HIV totally has turned out not to be the cause of AIDS. HIV has turned out no to be.
-
67:28 - 67:34Galderblom's images said to come from isolated HIV cultures provided no proof
-
67:34 - 67:38for HIV's existence. So I asked Nobel laureate Dr. David Baltimore
-
67:38 - 67:43and Dr. Robin Weiss how they would isolate and photograph this illusive virus.
-
67:44 - 67:52Well Dr. Gallo do that. I mean he actually isolated it so... Why should I do all of this?
-
67:52 - 67:56This is all textbook stuff you are asking me.
-
67:57 - 68:01I'm not quite sure what's behind your question about isolation.
-
68:01 - 68:07I don't want to be your textbook. You know? I got other thing to do.
-
68:08 - 68:12They are embarrassed. The scientists are being embarrassed about this.
-
68:12 - 68:14They know that it's flawed.
-
68:15 - 68:21In 1987 the CDC made two mind boggling changes in the definition of AIDS which are in effect today.
-
68:21 - 68:26You can be diagnosed with AIDS without ever having a HIV test.
-
68:26 - 68:32In 1987 I had galleria on my arm and it was KS - Kaposi's sarcoma.
-
68:32 - 68:36The doctor diagnosed you with AIDS without a HIV test? -Yes.
-
68:36 - 68:41You can be diagnosed with AIDS if you have tested negative for HIV.
-
68:41 - 68:47Albert McKeen found 16 patients with Kaposi's sarcoma among gay men
-
68:47 - 68:49in New York city in the 80's.
-
68:49 - 68:53They did not have a HIV infection.
-
68:53 - 68:56Yet they had AIDS by our definition, right?
-
68:57 - 69:03In WHO publication Dr. Chin writes - "it should be emphasized that surveillance definitions
-
69:03 - 69:09for AIDS were not intended to be reliable indicators for HIV infection".
-
69:09 - 69:16If you have thousands of documented cases of AIDS without HIV, haw can HIV cause AIDS?
-
69:17 - 69:19Why do you believe that HIV does cause AIDS?
-
69:19 - 69:21Cause that's the information I've been given.
-
69:21 - 69:23Because we've never been told anything different.
-
69:26 - 69:28Because that's what the scientific community has told us.
-
69:29 - 69:37Scientists are suppose to observe, experiment and reason for what they observe.
-
69:37 - 69:43They are not suppose to grab hold of an idea and cling to it and adjust everything else
-
69:43 - 69:47in their perceptions to fit that idea.
-
69:47 - 69:52I think a HIV positive test means that you life is for ever changed.
-
69:52 - 69:58You have a whole new battery of things to consider for yourself. What does it mean to me?
-
69:59 - 70:04It's very hard to find anyone who support you when you say
-
70:04 - 70:08- I don't think I'm gonna die of HIV or AIDS.
-
70:08 - 70:14There's the typical model of HIV equals AIDS equals death.
-
70:14 - 70:16How invested am I gonna be in that model?
-
70:17 - 70:22Everyone who's infected with HIV would like to deny it. It's a bad prognosis.
-
70:22 - 70:25It means you've got to take drugs for the rest of your life etc.
-
70:25 - 70:31So there's people who want to say - I'm one of the people who tested positive
-
70:31 - 70:33but I'm not gonna get the disease.
-
70:34 - 70:38Do I start treatment? Treatment meaning the antiviral drugs? If ever?
-
70:42 - 70:49We started taking Lindsy to a doctor at the children's medical clinic.
-
70:49 - 70:56She gave us a prescription for a retro-viral syrup which is AZT.
-
70:56 - 71:02It was so important for us to get something to help our baby that we sat on the floor
-
71:02 - 71:05at the pharmacy and gave here the first dose.
-
71:06 - 71:11Shortly after Lindsy began AZT treatments side effects began to emerge.
-
71:11 - 71:15Her eating habits changed quite a bit. She didn't eat well.
-
71:15 - 71:20She was hard to handle at the table. And then the leg cramp started.
-
71:20 - 71:24Once that's started it got progressively worse.
-
71:24 - 71:28She was just screaming. This screaming in the middle of the night.
-
71:28 - 71:34It was like... Must have been like sharp pain.
-
71:34 - 71:37Makes you feel sick to your stomach.
-
71:45 - 71:51When we switched over to the university the the dosage of AZT went up and that's
-
71:51 - 71:55when she started flatting out.
-
71:55 - 72:00The doctors were trying to put a positive spin on how well she was progressing.
-
72:00 - 72:05It was mainly on the T-cells that weren't always a positive positive situation.
-
72:05 - 72:09Yeah the T-cells count would go down and then the doctors would say - well we better
-
72:09 - 72:12raise that AZT dosage.
-
72:12 - 72:15Get that T-cell count back up.
-
72:15 - 72:19We were going - I think it's kind of making her sick cause she doesn't want to eat.
-
72:19 - 72:24She's having a leg cramps. And they\d say what is the HIV - that's what it does.
-
72:24 - 72:26It's all a part of the package.
-
72:26 - 72:31The treatment causes very similar conditions we would expect form an AIDS patient.
-
72:31 - 72:36That's why nobody noticed that there was something wrong with the treatment.
-
72:36 - 72:42I remember after 1992 after I first tested positive I became involved in an organization
-
72:42 - 72:44called "Women at risk".
-
72:44 - 72:50There were eleven of us at the time on the board and involved in the group.
-
72:50 - 72:55All of us except three were on medications.
-
72:55 - 73:01In an year and a half that I was involved with "Women at risk" every single woman
-
73:01 - 73:08in that organization on the drugs died. Every single one. Except the three of us
-
73:08 - 73:11who weren't taking them.
-
73:16 - 73:20We weren't just given handful of ATZ. We demanded it.
-
73:25 - 73:33We considered the FDA not giving us these things as being anti-gay. Instead of being responsible.
-
73:33 - 73:38And so we went lobbying and we pushed for all these things. And we didn't think
-
73:38 - 73:41clearly about what it was we were asking for. It's the same like - Be careful what you've
-
73:41 - 73:43asked for it might come to pass.
-
73:44 - 73:48That\s the very reason why everybody believes HIV is a deadly virus.
-
73:48 - 73:52Because the HIV positive patients at that time got a deadly treatment.
-
73:53 - 73:58Despite the billions spent on the drugs tens of thousands of people today will die.
-
73:58 - 74:03And now a growing number of studies are questioning the drugs usefulness.
-
74:07 - 74:15We just decided between ourselves and... In November to write to Peter Duesberg
-
74:15 - 74:20And say - Sorry to bother you. Are you for real? And if Lindsy was your daughter
-
74:20 - 74:22what would you do?
-
74:22 - 74:27On November 11-th we got a big package and he said - You gotta take your daughter of AZT
-
74:27 - 74:31immediately of she will die from it like kimberly Bergalis.
-
74:32 - 74:36That is AIDS by prescription. You get immunodeficiency and you die from the toxin.
-
74:36 - 74:39That is AIDS by prescription.
-
74:39 - 74:47When AZT became widely available in 1985-1986 I cautioned my patients not to jump
-
74:47 - 74:50on the band wagon and start being treated.
-
74:50 - 74:56I didn't want to see my community poisoned by an infective therapy.
-
74:57 - 75:03I think in retrospect the dose they started with AZT was a dangerous and poorly tolerated dose.
-
75:03 - 75:10Nobody wants to realize what was the real effect of this over treatment.
-
75:10 - 75:15That means that we killed a whole generation of AIDS patients.
-
75:23 - 75:27In '96 David Ho announced highly active anty retro viral therapy.
-
75:28 - 75:32Also known as the cocktail because the treatment combined a newly developed
-
75:32 - 75:38protease inhibitors with older HIV drugs such the chemotherapy drug - AZT.
-
75:38 - 75:46That was a revolution. What was 100% fatal illness now could be treated.
-
75:46 - 75:53The AIDS medication today is not that toxic then it was in the early days.
-
75:53 - 76:00And it's important drug regime that means it kills almost everything.
-
76:01 - 76:06I play around with treatment interruption because I think the drugs are toxic.
-
76:06 - 76:13And If I do the drugs continuously without interruption I think they'd have a cumulative damage.
-
76:14 - 76:21In the years that we've being the cocktail we found that there are lots of side effects.
-
76:22 - 76:26In South Africa I spoke to couple of pharmacists specialized in a HIV treatment.
-
76:26 - 76:29How often do you see side effects in patients?
-
76:29 - 76:33All the time?
- Yes, almost all the time. -
76:33 - 76:38We saw the lipodystrophy, the buffalo humps at the back of the neck and the lipoatrophy
-
76:38 - 76:44which is the loss of fat in the face and the arms giving people a very blunt look.
-
76:44 - 76:49The risk of heart attack seams to be increased in people on these drugs.
-
76:50 - 76:55With what we have no the side effects eventually are gonna out way the benefits.
-
76:55 - 77:05So the patients really do better for the short therm but in the long therm they die also.
-
77:07 - 77:13In 1994 Audrey Serrano tested HIV positive. While initially healthy she was prescribed
-
77:13 - 77:18AIDS drugs which nearly killed her and left her scarved for life.
-
77:18 - 77:23In December 2007 after multiple negative tests she was awarded 2.5 million dollars
-
77:23 - 77:26in damages.
-
77:26 - 77:29Some people are very fortunate. They don't have these side effects.
-
77:29 - 77:34But many people do. So prolonged treatment is impossible.
-
77:34 - 77:40I know people were like horses, have no impact with some drugs, no side effects.
-
77:40 - 77:43And somebody else falls apart.
-
77:57 - 78:04Has a patient ever die form side effects?
-Yeah. Sometimes. -
78:05 - 78:07Sometimes it happens.
-
78:08 - 78:11AIDS drugs are all classified as black box drugs.
-
78:11 - 78:18A black box drug is the most severe waring that RFDA would put on a product.
-
78:18 - 78:22It means you can die taking this because other people have died taking this.
-
78:24 - 78:30My sister Joyce was my best friend. She's a great mom
-
78:30 - 78:34and just a very lively person.
-
78:35 - 78:39In 2003 Joyce found out she was pregnant with with her second child.
-
78:39 - 78:44She was offered a HIV test as a standard prenatal care by her obstetrician.
-
78:45 - 78:48She called me at work and she said - I have something to tell you.
-
78:48 - 78:50And I said - What is it?
-
78:50 - 78:53She said I'm HIV positive.
-
78:54 - 78:57I took a big breath and said - Well it's not the end of the world.
-
78:57 - 79:02And she said - I met this doctor today and he's a specialist and said that
-
79:02 - 79:07there is some medicines I can take that will keep my baby from being HIV positive.
-
79:08 - 79:09NEVIRAPINE.
-
79:09 - 79:16Warning - severe life threatening skin reactions, including fatal cases...
-
79:16 - 79:23One morning she was covered in these wilts and these rash. It was all over her face
-
79:23 - 79:28all over her chest, all over arms and hands.
-
79:28 - 79:35When they are talking about a rash that can kill you they are talking about a drug that targets
-
79:35 - 79:43the actively replicating cells in your dermis in your mucous layers in your intestinal...
-
79:43 - 79:48And stops the from working. And what happens - goodbye skin.
-
79:49 - 79:55I would never take them. I look it. I don't have problem with other people taking them
-
79:55 - 80:00but I as Criselda Kananda looking at the side effects that they come with, looking
-
80:00 - 80:06at the toxins they present in my body... Not now. Not ever.
-
80:07 - 80:14I have patients tested in 1985. They know all advises to take treatments but they declined
-
80:14 - 80:18the treatment for different reasons.
-
80:19 - 80:23Because they don't want to take toxic works, because they are feeling well at that time.
-
80:23 - 80:25And how are they doing today?
-
80:25 - 80:27They are still living.
-Healthy? -
80:27 - 80:28Yes.
-
80:29 - 80:35Once we came to the conclusion that it was the drug that was causing the problem
-
80:35 - 80:41regardless of what HIV was going to do, she was gonna come off the drug no mater what.
-
80:42 - 80:45If taking her off the drugs meant that she could sleep for the night and be happy
-
80:45 - 80:51for 6 months that would be worth it, rather than live in agony for 2 years of 12 months.
-
80:52 - 80:57You hear a lot of doctors, you hear a lot of educators, you hear a lot of people talk about.
-
80:57 - 81:04It is probably the drugs that are gonna kill us before the disease does.
-
81:09 - 81:16What are the drugs doing to the bodies they are putting the bodies into coffins.
-
81:16 - 81:22Before my sister started taking the drugs she was healthy. After she started the drugs
-
81:22 - 81:28she developed an allergic reaction which made her look like a patient with full blown AIDS.
-
81:28 - 81:36She was admitted to the hospital. She continue to spiral down. And within 37 days
-
81:36 - 81:41from her first day of taking the medicine she was gone.
-
81:43 - 81:48When news of Joyce's death reached the NIH emails were exchanged between the director
-
81:48 - 81:52of AIDS division and the ethics and safety officer.
-
81:52 - 81:57Ed: there was fulminant liver failure resulting in a death on this trial last week...
-
81:57 - 82:01Ouch! Not much we can do about dumd docs.
-
82:03 - 82:09They are cynical enough to introduce drugs that they know will have toxic effects
-
82:09 - 82:17and will carry certain mortality and they know that the life of the drug before this mortality becomes
-
82:17 - 82:20too obvious to ignore in say two or three years.
-
82:20 - 82:23And they work out what the sales are gonna be in those two or three years.
-
82:23 - 82:26And then they know they gonna have to reduce the dose.
-
82:27 - 82:34Joyce has two sons. Jamal would be... He's in the senior high school this year.
-
82:34 - 82:37Sterling would be 4 years old.
-
82:42 - 82:49If someone's gonna be giving me a diagnosis of certain death in 5 to 7 years I want scientific proof.
-
82:49 - 82:52This isn't a religion.
-
82:52 - 82:58My interest in questioning and breaking and exploring this "HIV cause AIDS"
-
82:58 - 83:06is an instinct to liberate the people from a death sentence that isn't theirs to carry.
-
83:06 - 83:09After we took Lindsy off AZT her weight did go up.
-
83:09 - 83:12Within a couple of days the leg cramps went away.
-
83:12 - 83:17And here physical body seamed to be doing pretty well but when she was disturbed
-
83:17 - 83:20she was agitated very easily.
-
83:22 - 83:27Her lifespan changed all the time. After she got to be two years old, the she'd only live
-
83:27 - 83:30to be five.
-
83:31 - 83:35Which got to be all in order and they said she might live to be seven
-
83:36 - 83:39Yeah but definitely wouldn't live in double digits.
-
83:39 - 83:43That just was our live then.
-
83:44 - 83:52Although Lindsy was on AZT for 24 months she made a full recovery form the pretentious side effects.
-
83:52 - 83:56Lindsy would be 19 in October of 2009.
-
83:56 - 84:04Because it's being surrounded from day one with so much emotion, so much fear,
-
84:04 - 84:14so much psychology, so much drama very few people are capable of looking at AIDS logically.
-
84:25 - 84:29If you have a good immune system then your body can actually get rid of HIV?
-
84:33 - 84:37If you take a poor African who has been infected and you build up their immune system
-
84:37 - 84:41is it possible for them to also naturally get rid of it?
-
84:45 - 84:51It's very easy to get people to think the right thing if you get to write it on a tablet to first time.
-
84:51 - 84:56But once that was on the tablet and you got to erase it and put something else it's very hard
-
84:56 - 84:59to get people thing differently.
-
84:59 - 85:04The victims of HIV and the dedicated professionals combating it deserve our sympathy,
-
85:04 - 85:07compassion and respect.
-
85:07 - 85:12However at journeys I find myself perplexed bewildered times with an overall fealing
-
85:12 - 85:14of dismay and sadness.
-
85:14 - 85:19I found a research community in disarray over the most fundamental understanding of HIV,
-
85:19 - 85:24although while presenting a monolithic public pasture of authority and certainty.
-
85:24 - 85:30Bluntly stated we have tested prove nothing. Remedies that kill and statistics manipulated
-
85:30 - 85:32to the point of absurdity.
-
85:32 - 85:3890% of global HIV corresponds to area of great poverty and squatter.
-
85:38 - 85:44Ironically while we may have been persuading a phantom killer, a shape shifting assassin,
-
85:44 - 85:51perhaps the real enemy has been hiding in plain view, clear as day and it's old as time.
- Title:
- House of Numbers
- Description:
-
What is HIV? What is AIDS? What is being done to cure it? These questions sent Canadian filmmaker Brent Leung on a worldwide journey, from the highest echelons of the medical research establishment to the slums of South Africa, where death and disease are the order of the day. In this up-to-the-minute documentary, he observes that although AIDS has been front-page news for over 29 years, it is barely understood. Despite the great effort, time, and money spent, no cure is in sight.
Born in 1980 (on the cusp of the epidemic), Leung reveals a research establishment in disarray, and health policy gone tragically off course. Gaining access to a remarkable array of the most prominent and influential figures in the field -- among them the co-discoverers of HIV, presidential advisors, Nobel laureates, and the Executive Director of UNAIDS, as well as survivors and activists -- his restrained approach yields surprising revelations and stunning contradictions.
The HIV/AIDS story is being rewritten, and this is the first film to present the uncensored POVs of virtually all the major players -- in their own settings, in their own words. It rocks the foundation upon which all conventional wisdom regarding HIV/AIDS is based. If, as South African health advocate Pephsile Maseko remarks, "this is the beginning of a war...a war to reclaim our health," then House of Numbers could well be the opening salvo in the battle to bring sanity and clarity to an epidemic clearly gone away.
More info at: http://www.houseofnumbers.com
More info at: http://www.paradox4u.com - Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 01:28:58
Ventsislav Simonov edited English subtitles for House of Numbers | ||
Ventsislav Simonov edited English subtitles for House of Numbers | ||
Ventsislav Simonov edited English subtitles for House of Numbers | ||
Ventsislav Simonov edited English subtitles for House of Numbers | ||
Ventsislav Simonov edited English subtitles for House of Numbers | ||
Ventsislav Simonov edited English subtitles for House of Numbers | ||
Ventsislav Simonov edited English subtitles for House of Numbers | ||
Ventsislav Simonov edited English subtitles for House of Numbers |