"HIV Does Not Cause AIDS" Says Christine Maggiore

It is assumed that HIV and AIDS entered the US sometime in the 1970s, although they were not given a name until the early 1980s. After a decade of research, enough was known about HIV and AIDS to dispel such myths as "only gay men contract HIV", "AIDS can be spread by merely touching an infected person", or "HIV patients cannot have children". However, just as the medical community rolled out explanations for each myth that developed, some chose to hold to a specific myth that may have caused more harm than good: HIV does not cause AIDS.

The AIDS Dissident Movement Begins

In the late 1980's, a UC Berkeley Virologist named Peter Duesberg questioned the evidence that supported the theory that AIDS developed from an extended infection with HIV. HIV infected patients began to listen to the dissenters from the medical community and formed groups such as HEAL, Alive and Well AIDS Alternatives, ACT UP, and AIDS Reality Check, which supported the notion that HIV did not cause AIDS. Each group encouraged HIV infected patients to refuse antiretroviral drugs that were created to slow down the destruction of T-cells, which is seen as the main cause of the development of AIDS.

The AIDS dissident movement had come alive. Supporters sprung up around the country like wildflowers; all of them heeding the notion that HIV was not a killer, you could have a perfectly normal life, protected sex was not necessary, antiretroviral drugs were not necessary, bearing children and breastfeeding them without regard to passing on the infection was ok, and HIV absolutely did not cause AIDS. Their reasoning behind this notion was most of the newly diagnosed HIV patients felt fine. They were not ill nor were they having any symptoms that would lead them to believe their immune system was slowly being destroyed.