Is AIDS a Deliberately Created Biological Agent?

We've been led to believe that AIDS came from African Green Monkeys, but  many very intelligent people, including doctors, lawyers and Nobel Peace Prize winners seem to think that this fatal leap from ape to man theory is pure rubbish, backed up by politically motivated, psuedoscience. Moreover, they can prove Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was created in a lab with documentation. And some, such as Dr. Body 'Ed' Graves, J.D., have experienced, first hand, the ramifications of not only exposing that evidence, but through his personal experience with HIV/AIDS.

In 2004, ecologist Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, claimed that the AIDS virus was a deliberately created biological agent, a genocidal plot against the third world. She won the prize for her work in human rights and reversing deforestation across Africa.

How is this possible when genetic manipulation is, from what we've been told, fairly recent technology? Well, according to Dr. Romesh Senewiratne, if you read the work of Macfarlane Burnet (biological warfare expert) and publications of the Walter and Eliza Hall institute in the 1950s and 60s you will find that techniques for genetic manipulation of viruses through a range of means was underway long before the appearance of HIV. In fact, you can trace the genetic engineering/manipulation back to the early 1900s, beginning with the Rockefeller-funded research of Peyton Rous, who transplanted cancer between species in the early 1900s.

“When "kuru" (a New Guinean term [to represent] infective spongiform encephalitis [now referred to as prion]) ) was first described by Carlton Gadjusek and MacFarlane Burnet as an infective agent "spread by cannibalism" in the 1950s, it was described as a "slow virus". These were later termed "retroviruses". In fact, the infection they called "kuru" is pathologically indistinguishable from a sheep virus known as "scrapie". It so happens that the epidemic broke out very close to an ANZAC Second World War base, and that Macfarlane Burnet (from Melbourne University) and Gadjusek (from NIH) were both biological warfare experts.
[...]
HIV was developed as a retrovirus (previously called a 'slow virus') by scientists in Australia, USA, Japan and France. It was seeded into targeted populations through a number of means - infected batches of vaccines, blood transfusions and other blood products, and possibly specially bred mosquitoes (entomological warfare, at which Australia's CSIRO are world leaders)...
[...]
My research suggests that HIV was manufactured from selective splicing of pathogenic genes into the sheep retrovirus known as "scrapie" using bacteriophage technology (in which the Australian scientist Sir Frank MacFarlane Burnet was a pioneer in the 1940s, 50s and 60s). Infected batches of vaccines (notably hepatitis B vaccines, injected polio and smallpox vaccines) are implicated in the initial epidemics in Africa and the USA and subsequent epidemics in New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.-- Dr. Romesh Senewiratne

One more thing. HIV/AIDS is not a gay disease, which becomes evident once you begin looking at the epidemiological facts. Since this biological agent began ravaging sub-Saharan Africa--which is home to just over 12% of the world’s population but two-thirds of all people infected with HIV, 13 women for every 10 men--in the early 1980s it has NOT been associated with either homosexuality or injecting drug use there.












"Eugenics and Genocide in the Modern World - the Cause of the AIDS Epidemic"

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Mycoplasma, AIDS, Degenerative Diseases: What You Don't Know Can Kill You.

John D. Rockefeller  Sr.'s merger with pharmaceutical and chemical giant, I.G. Farben (Auschwitz was a 100% subsidiary of IG Farben) in 1928 "created the largest and most powerful cartel the world has ever known. Not only has that cartel survived through the years, it has grown and prospered. Today it plays a major role in both the science and politics of cancer therapy."

It's important to know Big Pharma's "crimes against humanity" history, because that history fostered the chemical-based drug treatment basis for our "orthodox" healthcare system today. The industry claims that their aim is finding medical truth, and that may be true; nevertheless, publicizing that truth, once found, if that truth entails inexpensive solutions or remedies, will not happen for obvious reasons. There is nothing Big Pharma likes more than chronic illness, for which they can produce chronic palliative costly treatments that make the patient chronically dependent on them.

Which brings me to the seldom, if ever, publicized human pathogen: mycoplasmas. They are the smallest free-living bacteria that can assume multiple shapes including round, pear shaped and even filamentous forms because they lack a cell wall. This makes it possible for them to pass through  filters used to remove bacteria; and hide inside the cell from our immune system, as well as from common antibiotics, all the while interfering with the cell machinery. Because mycoplasmas have lost most of their genetic material; a strict dependence on the host for nutrients and refuge determines its ability to survive and grow.

Mycoplasma is the co-factor that alters the human immune system and opens the door for the autoimmune degenerative diseases such as AIDS, malignant transformation, chromosomal aberrations, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Gulf War Syndrome (military vaccine), Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig\'s Disease (every single patient shows mycoplasmal infection), Alzheimer’s, Crohns Disease, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Lupus, Lyme disease, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, Type One Diabetes, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and cancer.  Yet, these pathogenic organisms show up in vaccines.

“Because certain species of the mycoplasma have an absolute growth requirement for the up-take of pre-formed sterols, including cholesterol they can cause the ‘spontaneous degeneration’ of the cells that they invade. If they do not cause sufficient damage to kill the cell, they at least compromise its capacity to defend itself from other disease agents, such as those which present as Kaposi’s sarcoma, pneumoniae carinii pneumonia, lymphadenopathy, and so on.” Donald W. Scott and William L.C. Scott,

“From its inception, the biowarfare program was characterized by continuing in-depth review and participation by the most eminent scientists, medical consultants, industrial experts and government officials, and it was classified Top Secret. The US Public Health Service also closely followed the progress of biological warfare research and development from the very start of the program, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States were working with the military in weaponising these diseases. These are diseases that have existed for thousands of years, but they have been weaponized—which means they’ve been made more contagious and more effective. And they are spreading.” Donald W. Scott

Currently, Dr. Alan Cantwell is one of the most well-known popular proponents of the link between cancer and bacteria. He has written numerous articles and books on the subject after he isolated and reported cell wall deficient bacteria in breast cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma and Hodgkin’s disease. He states,

”If a disease like cancer is indeed caused by microscopic bacteria, it would indicate physicians have been unable to see what was quite plain for some nineteenth and twentieth century scientists to observe using simple light microscopy."

Eventually, constantly under intense criticism, Cantwell was ostracized by many in the medical profession.

Females are four times more likely to be infected with Mycoplasmas than males. The same ratio of males to females applies to Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and other related auto-immune disorders. Men, pound for pound, have 25% more blood; hence, hemoglobin - the protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body's tissues - than females.

AIDS and Mycoplasma: The Crime Beyond Belief

Donald W. Scott, editor of The Journal of Degenerative Diseases (pictured above) and co-founder of the Common Cause Medical Research Foundation, reveals the true and hidden story of weaponized mycoplasma and the protracted creation of AIDS by governments and private corporations. part 1 of a series drawn from the 90 min. talk given at the 9th annual conference, Sudbury, Ontario (Aug 29-31, 2008).  JODD (Journal of Degenerative Disease); Box 133 Station B; Sudbury Ontario; Canada P3E4N5  $25/year





Links:

Fluid Mosaic Model Membrane

The Linking Pathogen in Neurosystemic Diseases

Mycoplasmas Stealth Pathogens

Campaign for Truth in Medicine

Mycoplasma Protocol

Institute for Molecular Medicine

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AIDS: Biological Ethnic Genocide?

Dr. Boyd Ed Graves, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Ohio Northern University School of Law where he earned his Juris Doctorate, and former Medical Research Director for the International Medical Research Foundation, discovered The United States Special Virus Program (1962-1978), a formerly secret federal virus development initiative to develop a contagious "cancer" that selectively kills based on genetic ethnic markers of the host.

The U.S. Special Virus Program published 15 annual progress reports detailing the progression of manipulating animal viruses to infect human hosts. Each 400-page progress report details the progress of 'special virus' scientists including Dr. Robert Gallo and Dr. Duesberg as they work towards their contracted goal to create the 'special virus'.

According to Dr. Graves, the US government spent $550 million to create the HIV enzyme, in order to  spread it to primarily Africans, but "undesirables" such as African Americans and homosexuals were also targeted . 

Chapter Excerpt from “State Origin: The Evidence of the Laboratory Birth of AIDS” by Boyd E. Graves, J.D.:

"The true history of the origin of AIDS can be traced throughout the 20th Century and back to 1878. On April 29 of that year the United States passed a “FEDERAL QUARANTINE ACT”.

The United States began a significant effort to investigate “causes” of epidemic diseases. In 1887, the effort was enhanced with the mandate of the U.S. “LABORATORY OF HYGIENE”. This lab was run by Dr. Joseph J. Kinyoun, a deep rooted-racist, who served the eugenics movement with dedication.

Two years later, 1889, we were able to identify “mycoplasmas”, a transmissible agent, that is now found at the heart of human diseases, including (AIDS) HIV.

In 1893, we strengthened the Federal Quarantine Act and suddenly there was an explosion of polio.

In 1898, we knew we could use mycoplasma to cause epidemics, because we were able to do so in cattle, and we saw it in tobacco plants.

In 1899, the U.S. Congress began investigating “leprosy in the United States”.

In 1902, We organized a “Station for Experimental Evolution” and we were able to identify diseases of an ethnic nature.

In 1904, we used mycoplasma to cause an epidemic in horses.

In 1910, we used mycoplasma to cause an epidemic in fowl/birds.

In 1917, we formed the “Federation of the American Society for Experimental Biology” (FASEB).

In 1918, the influenza virus killed millions of unsuspecting. It was a flu virus modified with a bird mycoplasma for which human primates had no “acquired immunity”.

In 1921, lead eugenics philosopher, Betrand Russell, publicly supported the “necessity for “organized” plagues” against the Black population.

In 1931, we secretly tested African Americans and we tested AIDS in sheep.

In 1935, we learned we could crystallize the tobacco mycoplasma, and it would remain infectious.

In 1943, we officially began our bio-warfare program. Shortly thereafter, we were finding our way to New Guinea to study mycoplasma in humans.

In 1945, we witnessed the greatest influx of foreign scientists in history into the U.S. biological program. Operation Paperclip will live in infamy as one of the darkest programs of a twisted parallel government fixated on genocide.

In 1946, the United States Navy hired Dr. Earl Traub, a notorious racist biologist.
A May appropriations hearing confirms the existence of a “secret” biological weapon.

In 1948, we know that the United States confirmed the endorsement of “devising a scheme” in which to address the issue of overpopulation in certain racial groups. State Department’s George McKennan’s memo will forever illuminate the eugenics mendacity necessary for genocide of millions of innocent people.

In 1949, Dr. Bjorn Sigurdsson isolates the VISNA virus. Visna is man made and shares some “unique DNA” with HIV. See, Proceedings of the United States, NAS, Vol. 92, pp. 3283 - 7, (April 11, 1995).

In 1951, we now know our government conducted its first virus attack on African Americans. Crates in Pennsylvania were tainted to see how many Negro crate handlers in Virginia would acquire the placebo virus.. They were also experimentally infecting sheep and goats. According to author Eva Snead, they also held their first world conference on an AIDS-like virus.

In 1954, Dr. Bjorn Sigurdsson publishes his first paper on Visna virus and establishes himself as the “Grandfather of the AIDS virus.” He will encounter competition from Dr. Carlton Gajdusek.

In 1955, they were able to artificially assemble the tobacco mosaic virus. Mycoplasmas will forever be at the heart of the U.S. biological warfare program

In 1957, future U.S. president, Rep Gerald Ford and others gave the U.S. Pentagon permission to aggressively deploy offensive biological agents. There are no recorded cases of AIDS prior to the 1957 creation of “Special Operation-X.” (The SOX) program served as the immediate prototype program for the Special Virus program to begin in 1962.

By 1960, Nikita Kruschev had been let in on the biological weapon. His 1960 statement will long reflect the arrogance of the secret blend of communism and democracy. The two countries would go to a November 1972 agreement to cull the Black Population.

In 1961, scientist Haldor Thomar publishes that viruses cause cancer. In 1995, he and Carlton Gajdusek informed the National Academy of Sciences that “the study of visna in sheep would be the best test for candidate anti-HIV drugs.”

In 1962, under the cover of cancer research, the United States charts a path to commit premeditated murder, the “Special Virus” program begins on February 12th. Dr. Len Hayflick sets up a U.S. mycoplasma laboratory at Stanford University. Many believe the “Special Virus” program began in November 1961 with a Phizer contract.

Beginning in 1963 and for every year thereafter, the “Special Virus” program conducted annual progress reviews at Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA. The annual meetings are representative of the aggressive nature in which the United States pursued the development of AIDS.

In 1964, the United States Congress gave full support for the leukemia/lymphoma (AIDS) virus research.

In 1967, the National Academy of Sciences launched a full scale assault on Africa. The CIA (Technical Services Division) acknowledged its secret inoculator program.

In 1969, Fort Detrick told world scientists and the Pentagon asked for more money, they knew they could make AIDS. Nixon’s July 18 secret memo to Congress on “Overpopulation” serves as the start of the paper trail of the AIDS Holocaust.

In 1970, President Nixon signed PL91-213 and John D. Rockefeller, III became the “Population Czar.” Nixon’s August 10 National Security Memo leaves no doubt as to the genocidal nature of depopulation.

In 1971, Progress Report #8 is issued. The flowchart (pg. 61) will forever resolve the true laboratory birth origin of AIDS. Eventually the Special Virus program will issue 15 reports and over 20,000 scientific papers. The flowchart links every scientific paper, medical experiment and U.S. contract. The flowchart would remain “missing” until 1999. World scientists were stunned. The flowchart will gain in significance throughout the 21st Century. It is also clear the experiments conducted under Phase IV-A of the flowchart are our best route to better therapy and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. The first sixty pages of progress report #8 of the Special Virus program prove conclusively the specific goal of the program. By June 1977, the Special Virus program had produced 15, 000 gallons of AIDS. The AIDS virus was attached as complement to vaccines sent to Africa and Manhattan. However, because of the thoroughness of authors, like Dr. Robert E. Lee, we also learn the Stanford Mycoplasma Laboratory issues one of the first papers with AIDS in the title. “Viral Infections in Man Associated with Acquired Immunological Deficiency States.” The primary scientist, Dr. Thomas Merigan, was a “consultant” to the Special Virus program.

Progress Report # 8 at 104 - 106 proves Dr. Robert Gallo was secretly working on the development of AIDS with full support of the sector of the U.S. government that seeks to kill its citizens. Dr. Gallo can not explain why he excluded his role as a “project officer” for the Special Virus program from his biographical book. Dr. Gallo’s early work and discoveries will finally be viewed in relation to the flowchart. We now know where every experiment fits into the flowchart. The “research logic” is irrefutable evidence of a federal “Manhattan-style project” to develop a “contagious” cancer that “selectively” kills. Dr. Gallo’s 1971 paper is identical to his 1984 AIDS announcement.

Progress Report #8 at 273 - 286 proves we gave AIDS to monkeys. Since 1962, the United States and Dr. Robert Gallo have been inoculating monkeys and re-releasing them back into the wild. Thus, even government scientists are baffled that both HIV-1 and HIV-II would “suddenly emerge” from two distinct monkey ancestral relatives during the last 100 years. A 1999 Japanese study will ultimately prove the Man to Monkey origin of Monkey AIDS. The monkey experiments summary definitively proves Monkey AIDS is also man-made.

In 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union entered into a biological agreement that would signal the death knell for the Black Population. The 1972 agreement for collaboration and cooperation in the development of offensive biological agents is still U. S. policy.

In 1973, we find that world scientist, Garth Nicolson reports on his project, “Role of the Cell Surface in Escape From Immunological Surveillance.” His report is accompanied by seven published papers. Dr. Nicolson worked in conjunction with the Special Virus program from 1972 until 1978. Dr. Nicolson is considered by some to be Dr. Gallo’s “West Coast” counterpart. It is strongly held that because of Dr. Nicolson, Dr. Robert Gallo and Dr. Luc Montagnier would secretly meet in Southern California to coordinate what they would and would not say about the special virus development program.

In 1974, Furher Henry Kissinger releases his NSSM-200 (U.S. Plan to Address Overpopulation). It is the only issue of discussion at the World Population Conference in Bucharest, Romania. The men in the shadows had won, the whole world agrees to secretly cull Africa’s population. Today it is Africa and other undesirables. Tomorrow it may be you.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford signs National Security Defense Memorandum #314. The United States implements the Kissinger NSSM-200.

In 1976, the United States issues Progress Report #13 of the Special Virus program. The report proves the United States had various international agreements with the Russians, Germans, British, French, Canadians and Japanese. The plot to kill Black people has wide international support. In March, the Special Virus began production of the AIDS virus, by June 1977, the program will have produced 15,000 gallons of AIDS. President Jimmy Carter allows for the continuation of the secret plan to cull the Black Population.

In 1977, Dr. Robert Gallo and the top Soviet Scientists meet to discuss the proliferation of the 15,000 gallons of AIDS. They attach AIDS as complement to the Small pox vaccine for Africa, and the “experimental” hepatitis B vaccine for Manhattan. According to authors June Goodfield and Alan Cantwell, it is Batch #751 that was administered in New York to thousands of innocent people. This government will never be able to repay the people for the social rape, humiliation and out right prejudice people with HIV/AIDS face on a daily basis. The men in the shadows of the AIDS curtain accurately calculated that you would not care if only Blacks and gays are dying. In fact you don’t care that nearly a half million Gulf War veterans are encumbered with something contagious. Soon there will be no more Black people and a confused military, older White people will start suddenly dying and you still won’t get it. Be here now for us, give us a chance to be there for you.

Suddenly, just as President Nixon had predicted, there was explosive death. On November 4, 1999, the U.S. White House announced,.... “Within a period as short as five years, all new infections of HIV in the United States will be African American....” At some point our experts must be allowed to begin the interface process of allowing the history of this virus program to count. It is ludicrous and preposterous to fail to review the U.S. virus program in which to elucidate the etiology of AIDS.

More of the history of the secret virus program can be found in the archives of Dr. John B. Moloney. A review of the files under Dr. Moloney’s name would further pinpoint additional dates and records consistent with one of the greatest hunts, capture and proliferation of disease in the history of the human race. We have found the missing link. It is the guts of the research logic of a federal program that seeks to kill. We have found a curtain of AIDS. We can identify some of the people who work in the shadows of the curtain. Dr. Robert Gallo and Dr. Garth Nicolson must lead us in review. In light of the attack mechanisms available in which to inhibit AIDS, it is time that not another person be stricken with this relic, synthetic mycoplasma chimera.

Help those of us who are still here to realize full and contributory lives. We are all one people.

On September 28, 1998 I filed suit against the United States for the “creation”, “production” and “proliferation” of AIDS. On November 7, 2000, the appeals court agreed with the lower court and held AIDS bioengineering as “frivolous.” The world continues to wait for the court to rule on the resubmitted issues. The court can not continue to simply brush aside our experts and the government’s flowchart.

I have been asked to give my perspective with regard to the federal program MK-NAOMI . MK-NAOMI is the code for the development of AIDS. The “MK” portion stands for the two co-authors of the AIDS virus, Robert Manaker and Paul Kotin. The “NAOMI” portion stands for “Negroes are Only Momentary Individuals.” The U.S. government continues to orchestrate silence from the very top echelons of the Congress and military. At present there is no accountability. The good people will ultimately create a tsunami of public outrage. We can not allow the state an autocratic right to govern outside of the Constitution. Our society is structured to hide crimes committed by the state, while punishing citizens for minor indiscretions. Their strategy focuses on the general confusion they can create via manipulation of the media. They are very good at what they do. We must become more focused in our continued presentation of the flowchart. The flowchart is the absolute missing link in proving the existence of a coordinated research program to develop a cancer virus that depletes the immune system. New diseases do not create old illnesses.

This compilation of court documents and correspondence is the true effort of one man’s achievement in solving the mystery of the origin of AIDS. We have found the origin of AIDS, it is us."

AIDS cure: Patent #5676977

"The 1971 flowchart makes it perfectly clear, the design, intent and purpose of the U.S. Special Virus program. As Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS says, 'The HIV/AIDS virus is the result of many steps in the laboratory, it was no accident.' The 1971 flowchart provides absolute evidence of the United States' intent to kill its own citizens and others... We are greater than any federal virus program. We are the human race!"--Dr. Boyd E. Graves Sept. 28, 2002

"The depopulation programs of the United States are hideous. Indeed, if we are overpopulated in any parts of the world, how dare our governments secretly make something [AIDS], that smile in your face, while they watch you die."—Dr. Boyd Ed Graves

The 1971 AIDS flowchart (below) coordinates over 20,000 scientific papers and fifteen years of progress reports of a secret federal virus development program.

Click here to enlarge

Links:

Mycoplasma, AIDS, Degererative Diseases: What you don't know can kill you.

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Cool Interactive Health Map and Mapping Disease Hotspots

Health Map: Global disease alert map is really cool! It can be used like Google Map, and you can choose the map, satellite or hybrid view. To get to a part of the world, use one of the links at the top of the map to zoom in by content and/or region.


There are four separate menus that provide options for customization.


Below the map, you’ll see a slider that lets you display alerts by date range. You’ll also see a bar labeled “Heat Index,” that includes the spectrum from yellow to red.

* Marker color represents a composite score based on the recency of alerts, the number of disease outbreaks, and the number of sources providing information at a particular location. Our algorithm applies an exponential weighting, yielding increased heat (redness) for more recent outbreak news.

* The source of the alert is represented by an icon next to the alert headline.

* The square-shaped marker icon indicates a country-level marker, while state, province and local markers are round . We currently have administrative divisions and some major cities for USA, UK, Canada, China, India, Australia, Mexico and Russia, with more coming soon.







Use check boxes to select news feeds and different diseases. The third menu provides links that allow you to display alerts by country. The menu at the bottom offers links to the full text of the most recent alerts, displayed in a separate, smaller window.

HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.

Below is a world map highlighting hot spots for diseases passed from animals to humans.


Researchers say that areas in which humans and animals come in very close contact are a key grounds for emerging diseases. Above,
Outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola, SARS, HIV and avian influenza are on the rise around the world, researchers report in the journal Nature.

The team found that the developing world was a key ground for emerging diseases, especially in areas in which humans and animals are in very close contact.

"These maps show that the key threat to public health is where human population growth and wildlife diversity clash," says Peter Daszak, one of the authors of the report.

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Ignorance is Bliss Unless you Happen to be its Victim.

According to a UN AIDS report, HIV diagnoses have been rising by around 30% each year since 1997. Many times, ignorance is causing the increase in HIV diagnoses in many remote parts of the world. The results can be horrific.

Some people with HIV/Aids in Papua New Guinea are being buried alive by their relatives, a health worker says.

"I saw three people with my own eyes. When they got very sick and people could not look after them, they buried them," she told reporters.

She described how one person called out "mama, mama" as the soil was being shoveled over their head.

Villagers told her that such action was common, she said"

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Male Circumcision Reduces HIV Risk

More than 90 percent of HIV infections in adults result from heterosexual intercourse.

A University of Illinois at Chicago study has been stopped early due to preliminary results indicating that medical circumcision of men reduces their risk of acquiring HIV during heterosexual intercourse by 53 percent.

The study's independent Data Safety and Monitoring Board met Dec. 12 to review the interim data. Based on the board's review, the National Institutes of Health halted the trial and recommended that all men enrolled in the study who remain uncircumcised be offered circumcision.

"Circumcision is now a proven, effective prevention strategy to reduce HIV infections in men," said Robert Bailey, professor of epidemiology in the UIC School of Public Health and principal investigator of the study.

The clinical trial, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Canadian Institute of Health Research, enrolled 2,784 HIV negative, uncircumcised men between 18 and 24 years old in Kisumu, Kenya.

Half the men were randomly assigned to circumcision, half remained uncircumcised. All men enrolled in the study received free HIV testing and counseling, medical care, tests and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, condoms and behavioral risk counseling for 24 months.

Study results show that 22 of the 1,393 circumcised men in the study contracted HIV, compared to 47 of the 1,391 uncircumcised men. In other words, circumcised men had 53 percent fewer HIV infections than uncircumcised men.

Until now, public health organizations have not supported circumcision as a method of HIV prevention due to a lack of randomized controlled trials.

"With these findings, the evidence is now available for donor and normative agencies, like WHO and UNAIDS, to actively promote circumcision in a safe context and along with other HIV prevention strategies," Bailey said.

"Circumcision cannot be a stand-alone intervention. It has to be integrated with all the other things that we do to prevent new HIV infections, such as treating sexual transmitted diseases and providing condoms and behavioral counseling," Bailey said. "We can't expect to just cut off a foreskin and have the guy go on his merry way without additional tools to fight against getting infected."

Opponents of circumcision have speculated that circumcised men may feel they are not at risk of contracting HIV and may be more likely to engage in risky behavior. The Kenya study suggests that circumcision did not increase risky behavior among circumcised or uncircumcised men, according to Bailey.

"Both uncircumcised and circumcised men are reducing their sexual risk behavior," he said, "which indicates that our counseling is doing some good."

The study also evaluated the safety of circumcision in a community health clinic with specially trained practitioners. There were no severe or lasting complications from circumcision. However, 1.7 percent of surgeries resulted in mild complications, such as bleeding or infection.

Bailey said that promoting circumcision in Africa must be done in conjunction with proper technical training and medical tools, equipment and supplies necessary to perform large numbers of circumcisions safely.

"Already, there are large numbers of boys and young men who are seeking circumcision in areas of Africa where men are not traditionally circumcised," he said. "The danger is that unqualified practitioners will fill a niche by providing circumcision, but with much higher complication rates."

An estimated 30 million people in Africa are infected with HIV/AIDS and more than 90 percent of HIV infections in adults result from heterosexual intercourse. In Kisumu, the third-largest city in Kenya, an estimated 26 percent of uncircumcised men are HIV infected by age 25.

"This study will likely not have a large impact on the incidence of HIV/AIDS in the United States or Europe where heterosexual transmission of HIV is low compared with areas like sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia," Bailey said. "However, there are other proven health benefits of circumcision, including better hygiene, fewer urinary tract infections, and less risk of cervical cancer in the partners of circumcised men."

The armamentarium of HIV prevention strategies is very small, according to Bailey. The only other strategy proven effective is the use of antiretroviral drugs to reduce transmission from mother to child.

If a significant proportion of men in a population get circumcised, it will have an enormous impact on preventing HIV infection in men, as well as reducing infections in women, Bailey said.

Co-investigators of the study include Stephen Moses and Ian Maclean at the University of Manitoba, Jekoniah Ndinya-Achola at the University of Nairobi, Corette Parker at Research Triangle International, Kawango Agot at UNIM Project, John Krieger at University of Washington, and Richard Campbell at UIC.

During the past two decades, more than 40 observational epidemiological studies and one previous clinical trial have reported an association between male circumcision and a reduced risk of HIV infection.

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A "Molecular Condom" against HIV

Vaginal gel liquefies to release an antiviral drug in response to semen

As part of a worldwide project to dramatically curtail the spread of AIDS, researchers have developed a vaginal gel designed to liquefy and release an antiviral drug when exposed to semen. Creators of the "molecular condom," still in very early testing, say the temperature- and pH-sensitive polymer could prove a more efficient way to deliver an anti-HIV drug than normal gels and creams.

"What we hope is that by attacking the virus in semen, we can inactivate it before it has any chance of permeating the tissue," says bioengineer Patrick Kiser of the University of Utah.

Kiser and his colleagues developed a polymer mixture that is liquid at room temperature, but thickens into a gellike coating at body temperature and a pH of 4 to 5, which occurs in the vagina. The researchers designed the gel to liquefy again at neutral PH, because semen neutralizes vaginal PH. Kiser says it can then mix with semen and deliver a desired antiviral payload, perhaps a small molecule or a polymer microbicide (microbe-killing compound).

The molecular condom is part of a global effort to come up with microbicides suspended in creams, gels or other materials to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus and other sexually transmitted diseases. Clinical trials are ongoing for at least a dozen different vaginal microbicides, according to the Alliance for Microbicide Development.

The trick, Kiser says, is to introduce such compounds as rapidly and as effectively as possible. "It could really only take minutes for the virus to come into contact with immune system cells," he explains, "so you don't really have a lot of time."

The molecular condom appears to be a relatively nontoxic way of quickly delivering an antiviral drug, according to a study by Kiser and his co-workers published online December 11 by the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The researchers report that it destroyed fewer mouse skin cells in the lab dish than two other products applied vaginally, including the routinely used spermicide nonoxynol-9.

The polymer also released 49 percent of a small dye molecule, which is chemically similar to some microbicides, within five minutes of exposure to a fluid that simulates semen, they found. Kiser warned, however, that researchers still must determine whether the gel causes any potentially dangerous side effects such as inflammation, which would attract immune cells that could serve as added targets for HIV infection.

The gel's staying power is yet to be determined, but Kiser says that based on its viscosity, it may remain in the vagina for up to a day. Retention time is key, he notes: "If a woman has to apply a microbicide right before sex, that's quite inconvenient."

"It's an exciting new way to think about things," says Polly Harrison, director of the Alliance for Microbicide Development. "We want to make these products as user-friendly as possible," and a gel that women could apply well in advance of sex "could be a real advantage."

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