OPV AIDS hypothesis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to the oral polio vaccine (OPV) AIDS hypothesis, the AIDS pandemic originated from live polio vaccines prepared in chimpanzee tissue cultures (at least some of which were almost certainly contaminated with chimpanzee SIV^{[citation needed]}) which were administered to up to one million Africans between 1957 and 1960. The specific populations, who may not have been properly informed of the risks before volunteering for the vaccination,^{[citation needed]} were the first in the world to experience HIV-1 infections and AIDS some five to twenty years later.

In particular the experimental oral vaccine, called CHAT, is claimed to have been contaminated with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a group of viruses endemic to African primates and widely accepted as the origin of HIV.^{[citation needed]} Recent evidence shows that CHAT may have been concentrated in African facilities using tissue cultures made from chimpanzee kidneys (more importantly, utilizing chimpanzee serum, containing macrophages, the target of immunodeficiency viruses).^{[citation needed]}

Proponents of the OPV AIDS hypothesis include journalist Edward Hooper as well as scientists Louis Paschal and the late W.D. Hamilton.

The OPV AIDS hypothesis is contradicted by a large mass of scientific evidence, and is considered to be incorrect by the scientific community.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Contents 1 Vaccines 2 The CHAT vaccine 3 Recent discoveries 4 History 5 Criticism 6 SV40 7 Zoonoses 8 References 8.1 Notes 8.2 General references 9 External links

[edit] Vaccines

Vaccines are weakened, attenuated versions of pathogens intended to provoke an immune response but not to cause disease. Many vaccines are grown in tissue cultures to increase the concentration of the pathogen and modify its properties. In the 1950s, when the OPV was created, there were no rules about which species to use. Chimpanzee kidneys, in particular, were marked as good cultures for growing polio viruses. Vaccines may be "live" or "killed". Live vaccines contain living pathogens and are more potent than killed vaccines. They provoke a stronger, lasting immune response and usually only one dose is required. However, they are unstable and may be contaminated with unwanted pathogens. In the 1950s, it was common practice to locally amplify oral vaccines, because the concentration of the vaccine changed unpredictably during transport. Although killed polio vaccines had been used with much success, no country wanted to be the first to test a live polio vaccine (Pascal, 1990).

[edit] The CHAT vaccine

CHAT was an oral, live experimental vaccine created at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia by Hilary Koprowski. Between 1957 and 1960 it was given to roughly a million Africans. In Africa, it was administered in the Belgian territories; now the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. [1]

CHAT was an oral vaccine; it was often squirted from a syringe into the back of the patient's throat. Oral transmission is a proven route for HIV infection. In developing countries, an estimated one-third to one-half of the millions of HIV infected children were infected through breastfeeding.[2][3] A study comparing oral and rectal exposure of adult macaques to cell-free SIV determined that non traumatic oral exposure was 6000-fold more effective in producing a systemic infection than from rectal exposure. [4]Mucosal cells and oral lesions, as well as the tonsils, are possible entry points for HIV. The vaccine was given to many young infants with undeveloped immune systems.

In Africa, it was standard to transport a small amount of the original vaccine and then locally amplify it using local facilities and tissue cultures harvested from native animals. In South Africa, African green monkey tissue was used to amplify the Sabin vaccine. In French West Africa and Equatorial Africa, baboons were used to amplify a vaccine from the Pasteur Institute. And in Poland, the CHAT vaccine was amplified using Asian macaques.[5]

[edit] Recent discoveries

In 2003, Edward Hooper and colleagues travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo and uncovered testimony supporting the OPV hypothesis. In the Congo, the Laboratoire Medical de Stanleyville (LMS) was responsible for testing the CHAT vaccine and performing the initial set of vaccinations. A few miles from LMS was Lindi Camp, a chimpanzee colony at which more than 500 chimps and bonobos, collected from a 300km radius, were sacrificed between 1956 and 1960.

In Kisangani, Hooper talked to former lab technicians that had worked on the vaccination program at LMS. Jacques Kanyama, a virology technician, alleged that batches of CHAT had been prepared locally, a possibility formerly denied by Belgian and American staff who claimed that the lab was too primitive and lacked equipment. According to Kanyama, Paul Osterrieth, in charge of the virology department, had been producing an oral polio vaccine on-site. Philip Elebe, a microbiology technician, claimed that tissue cultures were being produced from Lindi chimpanzees. Osterrieth disputes these claims,^[7][8] saying that no vaccine was prepared locally and that only the CHAT vaccine from America was used. If the accounts are true, they describe a clear mechanism for the introduction of HIV into the human population.

[edit] History

In 1987 Louis Pascal began to suspect that polio vaccines contaminated with SIVs could be responsible for the AIDS epidemic. By reading medical journals from the 1950s and 1960s and comparing with what was known about the first cases of HIV infection, he concluded that Koprowski's CHAT Type 1 vaccine administered in Belgian Congo between 1957 and 1960 was a likely source.[6]

In the same year Blaine Elswood, an AIDS treatment activist who had developed similar ideas, contacted the journalist Tom Curtis about a "bombshell story." Curtis investigated the story and published an article in Rolling Stone 1992.[7]. Hilary Koprowski sued the Rolling Stone and Tom Curtis for defamation. The magazine published a "retraction" which praised Dr. Koprowski and absolved him from any blame for the introduction of AIDS to the human population: "we never wished to suggest that it has been scientifically proven that Koprowski is the father of AIDS."[8] However the "retraction" also reiterated that the OPV theory was "one of several disputed and unproven theories". Rolling Stone had to pay $US 1 in damages and around $US 500,000 for legal fees. The legal action cost Dr Koprowski around $US 300,000.

A few scientists, notably the biologist W.D. Hamilton thought the theory required serious investigation, but they received little support from the scientific community. Hamilton wrote a letter to Science in 1994[9] supporting Pascal and Curtis, but it was rejected by the editors.

Journalist Edward Hooper, who had already begun to investigate the origin of AIDS when the OPV theory was first put forward gradually became convinced of its truth. After nine years of investigations, he detailed the theory and evidence in his 1999 book, The River. In 2004, the Origin of Aids, a TV documentary strongly supportive of the OPV theory, appeared on television stations globally.

[edit] Criticism

For 15 years, the OPV AIDS theory has been criticized by members of the scientific and medical establishment as being unfounded, unlikely or inconsistent with HIV epidemiology. However, although these criticisms are widely publicized, particularly by mainstream science journals, some people remain convinced of the OPV hypothesis and controversy continues. In October 1992, the journal Science ran a story titled "Panel Nixes Congo Vaccine as AIDS source," on the basis of a panel arranged by the Wistar Institute, an organization at the center of this controversy. In September 2000, 6 samples of the CHAT vaccine from the Wistar Institute were independently tested and no trace of HIV, SIV or chimpanzee DNA was found. This led to widespread announcements of the death of the OPV theory, for example Robin Weiss's article in Nature titled 'Polio vaccines exonerated.' But the samples were not from the same batch as was given out in Kinshasa.

However, in April 2004, claims by the OPV AIDS theory that Kisangani chimpanzees were, indirectly, the true source of HIV-1 was finally put to rest by an article which appeared in Nature entitled "Origin of AIDS: contaminated polio vaccine theory refuted." In the article, researchers Michael Worobey and colleagues verified the existence of SIVcpz in Kisangani chimps. However, through phylogenetic analyses of the virus, they found the SIVcpz that infected these chimps were nested within an entirely different clade of SIVcpz than the strain that includes HIV-1. These results show that the Kisangani chimpanzees could not have been the source of HIV-1. Further, the article proclaims the disproval of a central tenet to the OPV AIDS theory [10]. Hooper disputes this proclamation by asserting the OPV theory never completely relied on the now disproven premise. He explains OPV chimpanzees came from other areas as well[11].

Critics claim that the OPV hypothesis, if widely known, would undermine public confidence in mass vaccination programs and, in particular, UN plans to eradicate polio. Some, such as Hilary Koprowski, have claimed that anti-vaccine sentiment in Africa has intensified due to the publicization of the hypothesis. However, Hooper argues that conspiratorial rumours about vaccination have been prevalent for most of the century and do not relate to the OPV hypothesis. Hooper also points out that he does not claim that modern polio vaccines are anything but safe[12].

[edit] SV40

If polio vaccination were responsible for AIDS, it would not be without precedent. SV40, the 40th discovered simian virus, was introduced into the human population in the 1950s by contaminated polio vaccines produced in Asian rhesus monkey kidney cells. It now infects some humans, although it is unclear if it can be passed by human-to-human contact. Research has shown that SV40 induces tumours in hamsters, and has been found present in human brain tumors, mesotheliomas and bone tumors. There is some evidence that SV40 exposure could lead to cancer in humans under natural conditions, but the evidence is far from conclusive.[13][14]

A similar case occurred in 1942, in which 50,000 US servicemen were infected with acute hepatitis B due to contaminated yellow fever vaccine.

[edit] Zoonoses

A zoonosis is a disease capable of passing between animals and humans. Like other AIDS origin hypotheses, the OPV hypothesis depends on zoonotic transfer to explain the spread of SIV into the human population and its evolution into HIV. Examples of zoonotic transfer include Ebola virus, Marburg virus and SV40 (see above). Arguments against xenotransplantation, the transfer of animal tissue into humans, are supported by the OPV hypothesis, if proven. Such medical experimentation could lead to future epidemics of unknown animal viruses and prions.

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] General references

• Omar Bagasra (1999). "HIV and Molecular Immunity: Prospects for the AIDS Vaccine" Natick, MA: Biotechniques Books.
• Julian Cribb (1996). The White Death. Angus and Robertson ISBN 0 207 19041 0
• Tom Curtis (1992). "The Origin of AIDS: A startling new theory attempts to answer the question 'Was it an Act of God, or an Act of Man?" Rolling Stone, Issue 626, 19 March 1992, pp. 54-59, 61, 106, 108.
• Raanan Gillon (1992). "A startling 19,000-word thesis on the origin of AIDS: should the JME have published it?", Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 18, pp. 3-4

[15]

• Gerasmos Lecatsas & Jennifer Alexander (1989). "Safe Testing of Poliovirus Vaccine and the Origin of HIV Infection in Man," South African Medical Journal, Vol 76, No. 8,Oct 21, p. 451
• Gerasmos Lecatsas (1991). "Origin of AIDS," Nature, Vol 351, No. 6323, May 16, p. 179.
• Brian Martin (1996). "Sticking a needle into science: the case of polio vaccines and the origin of AIDS", Social Studies of Science, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 245-276

[16]

• Louis Pascal (1991). What Happens When Science Goes Bad: The Corruption of Science and the Origin of AIDS: A Study in Spontaneous Generation, Science and Technology Analysis Working Paper #9, University of Wollongong. [17]
• Edward Hooper (1999). The River : A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS. Boston: Little, Brown, Harmondsworth: The Penguin Press.
• Edward Hooper (2003). "Aids and the Polio Vaccine," London Review of Books, Vol 25, No. 7. [18]
• Edward Hooper (2004). "Untruths, misrepresentations and spin:

the dubious methods and tactics used by Stanley Plotkin's group in the "Origins of AIDS" debate." [19]

• Edward Hooper (2004). "The New Round of Legal Threats by Doctors Kowprowski and Plotkin" "[20]
• Brian Martin (1994). "Polio vaccines and the origin of AIDS: the career of a threatening idea", Townsend Letter for Doctors, #126 pp. 97-100.
• Regis A. Vilchez & Janet S. Butel (2004). "Emergent human pathogen simian virus 40 and its role in cancer," Clinical Microbiology Reviews Vol 17, No. 3, July, pp 495-508.

[edit] External links

• Oral Polio Vaccine and HIV/AIDS: Questions and Answers, from the United States Centers for Disease Control
• Polio vaccines and the origin of AIDS: some key writings claiming a link
• AIDSOrigins (maintained by Edward Hooper)

v • d • e HIV/AIDS related topics
HIV	HIV • AIDS • HIV structure and genome • HIV test • CDC Classification System for HIV Infection • HIV disease progression rates • HIV vaccine • WHO Disease Staging System for HIV Infection and Disease • AIDS dementia complex • Antiretroviral drug
History	AIDS origin • AIDS pandemic • AIDS Museum • Timeline of AIDS • Oral polio vaccine AIDS hypothesis • Reappraisal of HIV–AIDS Hypothesis • Duesberg hypothesis
Culture	International AIDS Conference • International AIDS Society • World AIDS Day • Treatment Action Campaign • UNAIDS • PEPFAR • NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt • HIV and AIDS misconceptions • List of HIV-positive people • With AIDS Self-Empowerment Movement • HIV–positive fictional characters
AIDS pandemic in	Sub-Saharan Africa (South Africa) • Asia (China • India • Myanmar • Pakistan • Taiwan • Japan) • Latin America (Brazil) • Caribbean • Eastern Europe and Central Asia • Western Europe • United States • List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate