In February 2006, an important new book about AIDS in Africa appeared. Entitled "The African AIDS Epidemic: A History", and published by James Currey, it is written by John Iliffe, who is Professor of African History at the University of Cambridge.
Continue reading “How Academics Sometimes Assist With the Airbrushing of History”
Review of Dephlogistication …
Lawrence Hammar, Papua New Guinea Medical Journal Volume 47, No 1-2, Mar-Jun 2004, pp. 119-124.
Reprinted by kind permission of Lawrence Hammar and PNGMJ editor, Peter Siba.
Novel Attacks on HIV Move Closer to Reality
Novel Attacks on HIV Move Closer to Reality by Jon Cohen, appearing in Science Vol. 311, 17 February 2006.
Second Letter to Prof. Iliffe
February 26th, 2006
Dear Professor Iliffe,
Thankyou for your note dated February 23rd, and for the generous references to my work on pages 202 and 203 of your book, which I had not previously read.
In response to the detailed points in my letter, you write merely that you “[will] not enter into controversy”. But you have already entered into controversy with your claim that the OPV theory can be “ruled out”, when, as I have pointed out to you, this is not the case. Indeed, in your explanation of that claim in the book, one of the reasons you provide is incorrect, while the other is highly contentious.
I am concerned that you make no response at all to my pointing out this significant error in your otherwise compelling book.
I’m also disappointed that you have not responded to the three brief questions I asked at the end of my letter. Surely it is customary either to respond to the questions of your readers, or at the least to provide an adequate reason for not doing so?
I look forward to a more forthcoming reply.
Yours sincerely,
Edward Hooper
First Letter to Prof. Iliffe
February 21st, 2006
Dear Professor Iliffe,
I recently heard from a Cambridge undergraduate about the impending publication of your new book about the history of AIDS in Africa. I immediately ordered it through Amazon and it arrived a few days ago.
Continue reading “First Letter to Prof. Iliffe”
New Claims from Paul Sharp – But Has the Source of HIV-1 Really Been Located?
Introduction
February 2006. In recent days there has been much press coverage about new claims by American, British and Belgian scientists that they have discovered the geographical source of AIDS. These researchers have apparently detected simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) that are closely related to the AIDS pandemic virus, HIV-1, in the stools of wild chimpanzees living in the very south-eastern corner of Cameroon, in western Africa.
Continue reading “New Claims from Paul Sharp – But Has the Source of HIV-1 Really Been Located?”
Tracing HIV’s Steps
ScienceNOW Daily News
DENVER, COLORADO–Clarifying the origin of AIDS won’t prevent or cure any HIV infections, but the mystery has long gripped the field. Two groups studying wild chimpanzees in Cameroon reported progress on that front here this week at the 13th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.
Continue reading “Tracing HIV’s Steps”
Analysis: Tracking the source of AIDS
United Press International
The work was gross, smelly and messy, but when the scientists were finished their dirty work was rewarded with a gem of research: the origin of the virus that causes AIDS.
Frontmatter from “Narrow Roads of Gene Land”
Frontmatter from “Narrow Roads of Gene Land – The Collected Papers of W. D. Hamilton, Volume 3 – Last Words”, edited by Mark Ridley, ISBN 0-19-856690-5 (OUP, Oxford, 2005).
1959 Manchester Case of Syndrome Resembling AIDS
“1959 Manchester Case of Syndrome Resembling AIDS”, by Edward Hooper and Bill Hamilton, The Lancet, 348, 1363-1365 (1996). This version appears in “Narrow Roads of Gene Land – The Collected Papers of W. D. Hamilton, Volume 3 – Last Words”, edited by Mark Ridley, ISBN 0-19-856690-5 (OUP, Oxford, 2005).