No Matter How You Twist Mr Gisselquist, He Does Not Support Alternative AIDS Theories.

7 May 2003

Tony Floyd,
Medical Student
Newcastle University, Newcastle Australia 2308

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Re: No Matter How You Twist Mr Gisselquist, He Does Not Support Alternative AIDS Theories.

Responding to some of the comments above:

>Again, Tony misleads with his statement regarding heterosexual transmission of HIV

au contraire.

In fact you have mislead (again) regarding heterosexual transmission of HIV:

>"Whether it is approximately 30%, approximately 90%, or approximately something in between, this would (as supported by de Vincenzi) still be a lot more than precisely zero.", since such a statement implies that Gisselquist claims a lower limit of approximately 30% which is not the case.

I in no way implied that Gisselquist himself suggested a 'lower limit' of approximately 30%. And how would it matter if he did? In fact the ranges that he gave were unequivocally clear from the quote I have already given above(1):

--- "For more than a decade, most experts have assumed that more than 90% of HIV in African adults results from heterosexual transmission. In this exercise, we show how data from studies of risk factors for HIV can be used to estimate the proportion from sexual transmission, and we present our estimates. Calculating two ways from available data, our two point estimates - we do not estimate confidence intervals - are that 25-29% of HIV incidence in African women and 30-35% in men is attributable to sexual transmission" ---

Both his estimate of approximatley 30% heterosexual transmission of HIV and that of 'most experts' remain very much distant from any claims that it is precisely zero.

Hence I repeat my question from April 5th: Why has Gisselquist been cited to support claims that HIV isn't sexually transmitted? He has published work to indicate that he does not support any such alternative theories.

Here's another fine example (referring to the Padian study):

"It is obvious from her lengthy study that her aim was to prove heterosexual transmission"

Obvious? Yet she failed to state that anywhere.

In fact she was examining ways to prevent transmission in the same study group(2):

--- "Couple counseling in combination with social support appears to be an effective means to promote and sustain behavior change among HIV-infected individuals and their heterosexual partners." ---

If anything it is obvious that she didn't want any seroconversions.

Gisselquist and Padian continue to be falsely referenced in support of alternative AIDS theories.

References:

(1) Gisselquist D, Potterat JJ. Heterosexual transmission of HIV in Africa: an empiric estimate. Int J STD AIDS. 2003 Mar;14(3):162-73. PMID: 12665438 [Abstract]

(2) Padian NS, O'Brien TR, Chang Y, Glass S, Francis DP. Prevention of heterosexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus through couple counseling. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 1993 Sep;6(9):1043-8. PMID: 8340895 [Abstract]

Competing interests: None declared