Caution over HIV “cure” claims

November 13, 2005 by paul
Filed under: Uncategorized

Quite a few people have already posted about the guy who cured himself of HIV, and I think everyone’s of the opinion that the first test (which reportedly showed he was HIV+) must have been a false positive.

From the BBC article:

Doctors say they want to investigate the case of a British man with HIV who apparently became clear of the virus.

Scotsman Andrew Stimpson, 25 was diagnosed HIV-positive in 2002 but was found to be negative in October 2003. Mr Stimpson, from London, said he was “one of the luckiest people alive”.

Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust confirmed the tests were accurate but were unable to confirm Mr Stimpson’s cure because he had declined to undergo further tests.

Of course the hospital are going to say the tests were accurate, otherwise they open themselves up for legal claims as a result of the mental anguish etc. that the erroneous diagnosis has no doubt caused. Fortunately for them (CWHT) there’s no way the original test can be re-run, so there’s no way to show that the test result was wrong.

“There have been anecdotal accounts before from Africa of people shaking off the HIV virus.” – [same BBC article] Yeah, and this story is just going to reinforce some people’s belief that it can be beaten naturally.

If (and it’s a really huge if) he really was HIV+ and now isn’t, then I’m sure some pharmaceutical company will offer him a truckload of cash, because whoever ~~discovers~~ patents a cure will be sitting on a goldmine!