by SUSAN BRINK
August 17, 2014
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| Peter Duesberg |
Electromagnetism can detect AIDS. The "Complete
Cure Device" can wipe out the virus.
The Egyptian military made those claims earlier this
year, but now they have backtracked after the announcement was widely denounced
by scientists, including Egypt's own science adviser.
Nonetheless, people are still eager to believe the
unbelievable. Egypt's announcement prompted 70,000 people to send emails asking
to try the new treatment.
The Complete Cure Device is just one more false
promise in the ongoing fight against AIDS. It is a reminder, too, that for 15
years, beginning in the early 1980s, AIDS was a slaughter, shrouded in mystery,
of people in the prime of their lives.
Then came a breakthrough in 1996: A combination of
drugs could control the virus, allowing infected people to live long and
productive lives. Today, antiretroviral treatment for HIV and AIDS is widely
available. An outright cure still eludes scientists, but the once deadly
disease has become manageable.
So any claim for an unproven cure, offering hope that
could deter patients from effective treatment, is cruel. But myths, false
claims and outright fraud have persisted in the AIDS epidemic.
The bogus theories of Peter Duesberg, a professor of
biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, were responsible for a
global setback to HIV treatment. Duesberg argued that combinations of drug use
and promiscuous behavior caused the virus, and passed his advice on to South
African health officials in 2000.
