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By Gina Kolata
Nearly 1,000 health care workers at a New Hampshire hospital
were given a
PCR test in response to a scare started by a coughing staff
member. The
results: 142 people were told they appeared to have the
disease, thousands
were given antibiotics and a vaccine, and hospital beds were
taken out of
commission. Months later, hospital administrators informed
the staff the
whole thing had been a false alarm — no one on staff had the
disease. The
conclusion: “No single test result is absolute and that is
even more
important with a test result based on PCR.”
By Matt Irwin,
MD
“In spite of the widespread use of viral load tests, there
are serious doubts about their accuracy. The most significant is
false positive viral loads in people with no risk factors for HIV
who test HIV negative. In the US, random screening using viral load
would produce 30 to 100 false positives for every 4 true positives…”
By Matt Irwin, MD
“So many different conditions are associated with profoundly
reduced CD4 counts. The fact that HIV-negative people with many
common conditions like mononucleosis, pregnancy, and pneumonia can
have levels below those needed to diagnose AIDS suggests the use
of CD4 counts in persons testing HIV positive should be carefully
reappraised.”
Questioning AIDS with Christine Maggiore
“The doctor says ‘my numbers’ indicate I’m
sick and need to be on drug treatment. He says I will die unless
I start soon, but my health is fine. How can my T cells show one
thing and my health show another?”
By Michael Verney-Elliott
“HIV, if detectable at all, is only ever found in minute trace
quantities, and even then only by stretching laboratory culture
techniques to their limit.”
By Christine Maggiore“The notion that T cell counts
tell all prevails despite the fact that no studies have ever compared
these numbers in HIV positive and HIV negative matched risk groups,
or tracked counts among HIV negatives with illnesses that fit the
AIDS category.”
By Toni Watson
“The doctor said her CD4 count from five years before had
been 26. My friend was extremely upset at hearing this news, despite
the fact that she had remained in good health for the more than
five years since that count was taken. Seven years later, she is
still in good health.”
“Although ecstasy is perceived by users as safe, this drug
does have a dark side. There have been worrying reports of the impact
of ecstasy on the immune systems of mice and people along with other
troubling data.”
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