From: Pat Fallon (pfallon@postoffice.ptd.net)
Date: Mon Mar 10 1997 - 12:53:02 MST
> Davin C. Enigl wrote:
> Gallo _never_ claimed HTLV-I caused AIDS, not 1983 and not 1984.
Since Science mags online site doesn't have the full text of issues from
1983, I had to go to my local universities micro-film stash. I found 2 articles
by Gallo from the same issue in 1983 [Gallo, R.C., P.S. Sarin, E.P.
Gelmann, M. Robert-Guroff, and E. Richardson. Isolation of human
T-cell leukemia virus in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Science 220 (1983): 865-867; and another article immediately adjacent to
that one called "Proviral DNA of a retrovirus, Human T-cell Leukemia
Virus, in 2 patients with AIDS"]. Here is Gallo's [et al.'s] own words:
"We have been testing the hypothesis that AIDS is caused by a human
retrovirus.."
"that the viral genome of HTLV was found to be integrated into peripheral
blood lymphocyte DNA in 2 of 33 AIDS patients tested thus far may
reflect an etiologic association..."
"Since HTLV is endemic in southern Japan, the apparent lack of epidemic
AIDS in this region may argue against a causative role for HTLV in AIDS.
However...people in southern Japan may have a greater resistance to
the T-cell suppressive effect of the virus."
"Since HTLV is a T-cell tropic virus it can be linked hypothetically to other
human T-cell disorders."
"Since HTLV can also infect marmoset and other primate T-cells, should
this virus be established as the causative agent of AIDS, it may also be
possible to develop an animal model of the disease."
"Our results, if they do reflect an etiologic role for HTLV in AIDS, suggest
a possible mechanism of disease induction."
I submit a fair reading of the evidence from the horses own mouth suggest
that Gallo was arguing that HTLV-I causes AIDS in 1983. Others concur.
"In 1982, Robert Gallo from the National Cancer Institute in the USA, put
forward the hypothesis that the cause of AIDS is a retrovirus. One year
later, Myron Essex and his colleagues found that AIDS patients had
antibodies to the Human T-cell Leukemia virus Type-1 (HTLV-I), a virus
discovered by Gallo a few years earlier. At the same time, Gallo and his
colleagues reported the isolation of HTLV-I from AIDS patients and
advocated a role for this retrovirus in the pathogenesis of AIDS."
[Papadopulos-Eleopulos, E., V.F. Turner, J.M. Papadimitriou, Has Gallo
proven the role of HIV in AIDS? Emergency Medicine 1993; 5:5-147.]
Regards,
Pat Fallon
pfallon@bigfoot.com
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