By Stephen Barrett, M.D.
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/aids.html
                                     Quackwatch Home Page

              AIDS-Related Quackery and Fraud

                   Stephen Barrett, M.D.

  Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a fatal
  disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus
  (HIV). This organism can remain in a person's body for
  years before symptoms appear and the individual is
  considered to have AIDS. The virus disrupts the
  functioning of the body's immune system, rendering the
  infected individual progressively unable to resist
  organisms that would normally be harmless.

  Most people infected with HIV are adults in their
  twenties, thirties, and forties, but the disease can
  occur at any age. The initial stage of the disease is a
  brief illness that typically includes fever, sore
  throat, skin rash, swollen lymph glands, headache, and
  malaise. This phase, termed acute HIV syndrome, usually
  lasts one to two weeks and is followed by a period in
  which the virus keeps multiplying but causes no
  symptoms. The median length of the symptom-free period
  in untreated individuals is about ten years, but the
  disease progresses much faster in some people and may
  remain quiescent indefinitely in a small percentage of
  others. Thus, at any given time, most individuals who
  carry the AIDS virus exhibit no signs of illness.
  However, regardless of the stage of the disease, an
  infected person can transmit the virus to others.

  Once clinical symptoms appear, the course of the
  disease can vary considerably, depending in part on the
  extent of immune damage and the treatment received by
  the patient. Eventually most people with AIDS become
  thin, easily fatigued, and prone to diarrhea, swollen
  lymph glands, and multiple infections. Pneumocystis
  carinii pneumonia, other opportunistic infections, and
  a skin cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma are
  life-threatening complications. In addition, some
  patients suffer from dementia. Opportunistic infections
  are caused by organisms that normally are harmless but
  can thrive when immunity is impaired.

  Finding a cure for AIDS has been very difficult because
  HIV infects several types of cells and inserts a copy
  of itself into their genetic material (DNA). This
  "tricks" the cells into treating the virus's genes as
  their own. The virus is then safe from attack by the
  body's immune system and is reproduced each time the
  host cells reproduce.

  Although no cure for AIDS has been found, significant
  progress has been made. Early treatment of HIV-infected
  individuals can delay the onset of AIDS and increase
  survival time. Progress has also been made in
  preventing or fighting Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
  and several other AIDS-related infections.

   Quackery and Fraud

  The fact that AIDS causes great suffering and is deadly
  has encouraged the marketing of hundreds of unproven
  remedies to AIDS victims. In addition, many companies
  in the "health food" industry have produced vitamin
  concoctions claimed to "strengthen the immune system"
  of healthy persons. John Renner, M.D., president of the
  Consumer Health Information Research Institute, who
  attended meetings of groups promoting unorthodox
  methods, has commented that "many of the expert quacks
  in arthritis, cancer, and heart disease have now
  shifted into AIDS" and that "every quack remedy seems
  to have been converted into an AIDS treatment." The
  "cures" he observed have included processed blue-green
  algae (pond scum), BHT (an antioxidant used as a food
  preservative), pills derived from mice given the AIDS
  virus, herbal capsules, bottles of "T cells," and
  thumping on the thymus gland [1]. Some firms have
  offered to freeze and store bone marrow, claiming that
  it could be used to restore an AIDS victim's marrow
  when AIDS began to deplete the body's supply of bone
  marrow, which manufactures the body's blood cells.
  Autohemotherapy -- a worthless procedure in which a
  sample of the patient's blood is withdrawn, exposed to
  hydrogen perioxide and then replaced -- has also been
  recommended [2].

  Many Mexican cancer clinics offer their unproven
  treatments to AIDS victims, and a black market has
  developed in drugs that have shown promise but lack FDA
  approval because the agency is not convinced they are
  safe and effective. Several drugs available without a
  prescription in Mexico are being smuggled into the
  United States. Drugs are also imported through "buyers'
  clubs," which obtain the drugs from other countries
  where they are legally prescribed or used in clinical
  trials. "Legitimate" buyers' clubs require a
  prescription written by an American physician who
  supervises the patient's care. However, some buyers'
  clubs obtain drugs for people who are not under medical
  care. Some also supply drugs to victims of cancer,
  Alzheimer's disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, and
  other diseases. The FDA appears willing to permit
  buyers' clubs to operate, even though technically
  illegal, provided: (a) patrons are purchasing drugs for
  their own use under medical supervision; (b) the club
  does not commercialize or promote its products; and (c)
  the products do not present "unreasonable" safety risks
  [3,4].

  Some entrepreneurs have attempted to exploit public
  fear of acquiring AIDS. Covers for public toilets and
  telephone receivers have been marketed with claims that
  they will prevent transmission of the AIDS virus. Such
  products are worthless because AIDS is not transmitted
  in this manner. Nor can it be transmitted by means of a
  mosquito bite. Rubber dental dams to prevent direct
  contact during oral-genital sex have been marketed
  despite the minuscule likelihood of HIV transmission by
  this route.

  A few people have marketed shares of companies falsely
  claimed to have developed an effective method of
  diagnosing or treating HIV infections. Several
  individuals and groups have claimed that the U.S. Army,
  the Central Intelligence Agency, the World Health
  Organization, and Russian agents have conspired in
  various ways to eliminate blacks or gays by introducing
  HIV into vaccines for smallpox, polio, and/or hepatitis
  [5]. A few skeptics have even claimed that HIV is not
  the cause of AIDS [6], even though the evidence that it
  does is overwhelming [7].

  Several studies have shown that a significant
  percentage of people with AIDS use unproven treatment:
    * A study of patients hospitalized in Illinois found
      that 18 out of 50 with AIDS and two of 30 patients
      with cancer had used "alternative" treatments.
      Acupuncture was used by 15 of the AIDS patients,
      mental imagery by 12 of them, massage therapy by
      11, megavitamins by 10, acupressure by 8,
      unapproved medications by 7, and a high-cereal diet
      by 1 patient [8].
    * A study of 79 patients attending the St. Louis AIDS
      Clinical Trials Unit found that 44 (56%) had tried
      an "alternative" remedy. The most commonly used
      were vitamins (46% of patients), herbal therapy
      (16%), imagery or meditation (14%), and nonapproved
      drugs (14%). Most patients using these methods
      thought they had improved their general well-being
      but readily admitted that the benefit was largely
      psychologic. The average yearly cost was $356, but
      14 of the patients spent between $500 and $2,700,
      and two patients spent more than $9,000 each [9].
    * Interviews with 114 patients attending the AIDS
      Clinic of the University of California San
      Francisco Medical Center indicated that 25 (22%)
      had taken one or more herbal products during the 3
      months before the survey. The study's authors
      expressed concern that herbal extracts can produce
      diarrhea, liver toxicity, and other symptoms common
      in AIDS itself [10].
    * Dutch sociologists who interviewed people who used
      alternative treatments reported that 46% assumed
      that the treatment was effective, 66% thought it
      would strengthen their resistance, and 34% said
      they felt better because they had the feeling of
      being actively involved in their treatment [11].

  Many health-food retailers claim to carry products that
  can help HIV-infected patients by boosting their immune
  system. This claim is false. In 1989, volunteers of the
  Consumer Health Education Council telephoned 41
  Houston-area health-food stores and asked to speak with
  the person who provided nutritional advice. The callers
  explained that they had a brother with AIDS who was
  seeking an effective alternative treatment for HIV. The
  callers also explained that the brother's wife was
  still having sex with her husband and was seeking
  products that would reduce her risk of being infected,
  or make it impossible. All 41 retailers offered
  products they said could benefit the brother's immune
  system, improve the woman's immunity, and protect her
  against harm from HIV. The recommended products
  included vitamins (41 stores), vitamin C (38 stores),
  "immune boosters" (38 stores), coenzyme Q10 (26
  stores), germanium (26 stores), lecithin (19 stores),
  ornithine and/or arginine (9 stores), gamma-linolenic
  acid (7 stores), "raw glandulars" (7 stores), hydrogen
  peroxide (5 stores), homeopathic cell salts (5 stores),
  Bach flower remedies (4 stores), blue-green algae (4
  stores), cysteine (3 stores), and herbal baths (2
  stores). Thirty retailers said they carried products
  that would cure AIDS. Not one recommended abstinence or
  use of a condom [12]. More recently, researchers at the
  University of Alabama (Birmingham) asked employees of
  20 local health-food stores in Birminglam what they
  recommend for people with AIDS. Again, a wide variety
  of herbs and other products were recommended [13].

   Regulatory Actions

  In 1996, the Massachusetts Attorney General obtained a
  restraining order against Marjorie Phillips of
  Brockton, Massachusetts, after charging that she had
  engaged in consumer fraud on the Internet. Her "New
  Discoveries" Web page advertised information on the
  cause and cure of HIV infection. One version of the ad
  proclaimed that customers could be "HIV Negative in Six
  Weeks!" Phillips further advertised that HIV infection
  was caused by a flatworm that could be eliminated by
  using herbs or administering a SyncroZap, a 9-volt
  battery-powered device that would eliminate the
  flatworms in seven minutes [14].

  Several companies have marketed bogus home-use test
  products. In 1989, the FTC secured a consent agreement
  in which three people agreed to stop marketing their
  "Medico" test kit and to pay $62,000 in consumer
  redress [15]. In 1997, the FDA warned pharmacists and
  consumers about "Lei-Home Access HIV Test," which was
  being illegally marketed by Lei-Home Access Care, a
  division of Jin-Greene Biotechnology, Inc. in
  Sunnyvale, California [16].

  In 1999, the FTC announced that it had tested several
  kits advertised on the Internet and found that they
  didn't work. In every case, the kits showed a negative
  result when used on a known HIV-positive sample - that
  is, when they should have shown a positive result.
  These kits can give people who might be infected the
  false impression that they are not [17]. In February
  1999, a federal judge sentenced Larry Greene, 51, of
  Los Banos, California, to 63 months in prison for
  marketing unapproved kits and furnishing bogus test
  results to several purchasers [18,19]. The FDA has
  issued a public warning about one of these products,
  the EZ MedTest distributed by Cyberlinx Marketing,
  Inc., of Las Vegas, Nevada [20].

  Although ads for home-use kits may say they are for
  sale outside the U.S. only, consumers in the U.S. have
  been able to purchase them. Some ads state or imply
  that the kits have been approved by the World Health
  Organization (WHO) or a similarly well-known health
  organization, or that the home-use test kits have FDA
  approval. WHO does not approve or license HIV test
  kits. However, it has not approved any HIV test kit
  where the test in done by the user. The FDA has
  approved the Home Access Express HIV-1 Test System, in
  which the user collects the sample at home but sends it
  to a laboratory for analysis.

  In July 1999, Allen J. Hoffman, Odus M. Hennessee, and
  Donald L. MacNay, M.D., were indicted on criminal
  charges of conspiring to commit violations of federal
  drug laws in connection with the promotion, sale, and
  distribution of "T-UP," an aloe vera concentrate they
  claimed was effective against cancer, AIDS, herpes and
  other auto-immune disorders [21]. According to the
  indictment:
    * T-UP was promoted by mass mailings of promotional
      materials, including an audio-tape entitled "There
      is Hope: You Do Not Have To Die!," and a brochure
      entitled "Boost Your Immune System."
    * T-UP was also promoted on interstate radio
      broadcasts, by videotapes, by word-of-mouth, by
      telephone, and on the Internet.
    * Intravenous administration of the T-UP cost the
      patients or their family members approximately
      $12,000 for a two-week course of treatment.
    * Hoffman and T-Up, Inc. sold 2 oz. bottles of "T-UP
      Aloe Juice" to cancer patients and other customers
      for approximately $75.00 a bottle.

  MacNay, who had practiced orthopedic surgery in
  Manassas, Virginia, had his license revoked in February
  1998 by the Virginia Board of Medicine, which cited
  fraud, unprofessional conduct, and gross malpractice.
  Four patients he had treated in 1997 had died shortly
  after receiving his aloe therapy. In 2000, after
  pleading no content to mail fraud and conspiracy to
  produce an unapproved drug [22], he was sentenced to
  two years in prison. In November 2001, Hoffman was
  sentenced to 46 months in federal prison and one year
  of supervised probation and ordered to pay $222,506 in
  restitution [23].

  In December 2001, Steven Tondre, of Rancho Palos
  Verdes, California, was sentenced on four misdemeanor
  charges of selling a misbranded product to which he had
  pled guilty in federal court. He was placed five years'
  probation, fined $4,000, ordered to pay more than
  $12,000 in restitution, and given 10 days to take down
  his Web site. The charges arose from his marketing of
  "EXP," a colloidal silver solition that he sold for $50
  per quart. The Web site claimed that "EXP" would
  prevent and cure AIDS by "hyperoxygenating the blood"
  and that "whenever EXP comes into contact with single
  cell pathogens or any microbial bacteria or viruses,
  EXP immediately incapacitates and destroys them before
  they have a chance to multiply or mutate."

   For additional Information

    * National AIDS Health Fraud Reporting Hotline (888)
      332-1820 offers recorded information in English and
      Spanish 24 hours a day. Counselors who can discuss
      AIDS fraud issues will be available Monday through
      Friday from 6 PM through 9 PM, Eastern Standard
      Time, with Spanish-speaking counselors available on
      Monday evenings. The project is sponsored by the
      FDA and managed by the Florida HIV/AIDS Hotline.
    * Texas AIDS Health Fraud Information Network
      maintains an excellent page with links to new
      developments. The agency can be reached at
      (800)758-5152 or (214) 655-5309.

   References

   1. Segal M. Defrauding the desperate. FDA Consumer
      21(8):17-19, 1987.
   2. Green S. Oxygenation therapy: Unproven treatments
      for cancer and AIDS. Scientific Review of
      Alternative Medicine, SpRing/Summer 1998.
   3. Braun, JF and others. A guide to underground AIDS
      therapies. Patient Care 27(12):5370, 1993.
   4. Wycoff RF. Testimony before the Subcommittee on
      Crime and Criminal Justice, Committee on the
      Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, May 27,
      1993.
   5. Sampson WI. AIDS fraud, finances, and fringes. New
      York State Medical Journal of Medicine 99:9295,
      1993.
   6. Harris SB. The AIDS heresies: A case study in
      skepticism taken too far. Skeptic 3(3):4279, 1995.
   7. The evidence that HIV causes AIDS. National
      Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Fact
      Sheet, October 10, 2000.
   8. Hand R. Alternative therapies used by patients with
      AIDS. New England Journal of Medicine 320:672673,
      1989.
   9. Rowlands C, Powderly WG. The use of alternative
      therapies by HIV-positive patients attending the
      St. Louis AIDS Clinical Trials Unit. Missouri
      Medicine 88:807-810, 1991.
  10. Kassler WJ and others. The use of medicinal herbs
      by human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients.
      Archives of Internal Medicine 151:2281-2288, 1991.
  11. Wolffers I, de Moree S. Alternative treatment as
      contribution to care of pwHIV/AIDS. International
      Conference on AIDS 10(2):66 (abstract no. 540B),
      1994.
  12. Martin N. AIDS fraud rampant in Houston. Nutrition
      Forum 7:16, 1990.
  13. Phillips LG, Nichols, MH, King WD. Herbs and HIV:
      the health food industry's answer. Southern Medical
      Journal 88:911-913, 1995.
  14. Massachusetts Attorney General news release, April
      3, 1996.
  15. FTC cites false claims for purported "in-home" aids
      diagnostic test; court-filed judgments settle
      charges. FTC news release, Oct 3, 1989.
  16. FDA. FDA warns consumers about two unapproved
      home-use test kits. News release, Sept 26, 1997.
  17. Federal Trade Commission. Home Use Tests for HIV
      Can Be Inaccurate, FTC Warns. FTC Consumer Alert,
      June 1999.
  18. U.S. Department of Justice. Businessman sentenced
      to over five years: Selling bogus HIV-testing kits.
      News release, Feb 17, 1999.
  19. Kurzweil P. Internet sales of bogus HIV test kits
      result in first-of-kind wire fraud conviction. FDA
      Consumer 33(4):34-35, 1999.
  20. Michaels DM. Warning: HIV Rapid Home-Use test kits
      distributed by Cyberlinx Marketing, Inc. cannot be
      trusted. Do not use them! July 6, 1999.
  21. U.S. Department of Justice. Indictments in "T-Up"
      Case. News release, July 7, 1999.
  22. James M. Doctor pleads guilty in scheme to market
      unapproved drug. Baltimore Sun, March 30, 2000.
  23. Willis L. Man gets term of 46 months in aloe vera
      case: Concoction distributed as a treatment for
      cancer. Baltimore Sun, Dec 1, 2001

                   Quackwatch Home Page

      This article was updated on December 13, 2001.
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/aids.html
By Stephen Barrett, M.D.