How A Virus That Never Was

Deceived the World

When AIDS was first reported, two principal schools of thought developed about its origins. One, which gained the strongest currency, held that AIDS was caused by a deadly microbe - the Human Immunodeficiency Virus - and that, because of a long time-lag between infection and disease, millions of people around the world could be facing death. The other theory maintained that an accumulation of infections and other assaults on the body led to the breakdown of immune responses as seen in AIDS. For over ten years, Hodgkinson argues, the former theory has been slavishly adhered to, not because it is correct but because the virus theory offers something concrete to fight against, from which people can gain scientific renown, pharmaceutical profit and, most tenaciously of all, hope. Debunking the myth, Hodgkinson presents a detailed analysis of the inadequacies of the "HIV test", disclosing evidence that, from its inception, scientists have recognized that the test was flawed - the "virus" the test is supposed to detect has proved impossible to isolate in a routine way. He demonstrates that genuine hope lies in shedding the illusions and distortions that have grown up around a failed hypothesis.

In this inclusive appraisal of the "AIDS industry" Hodgkinson not only unravels the conflicting scientific theories, he also draws on the stories of the dissidents and heroes who have tried to swim against the tide of opinion on HIV and AIDS: Michael Callen and Jody Wells, who lived long and productive years after their AIDS diagnoses (precisely because, they believed, they resisted the medical treatments endorsed by the virus theory); medics and scientists such as Joe Sonnabend and Professor Duesberg who were frozen out by their professions for keeping non-HIV approaches alive.

The resulting picture is a sometimes frightening indictment of medical stubbornness and a fascinating argument for a radical rethink of science's observational methods, checks and assumptions. The changes arising from such a new stance could bring enormous benefit not only to AIDS patients but to the whole of medicine and indeed to the role of science in society.

Regrettably, it is now out of print, but may be found at some public libraries.