HIV TESTING It Could Happen to You

By Peggy O'Mara

Mothering Magazine Nov./Dec. 1999

Mothers generally believe that their risk for AIDS is low; and they're right. Figures released in 1999 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that AIDS numbers among women are not only low, but are on the decrease.

According to the CDC, the number of US women with AIDS fell from 13,000 in 1997 to 11,000 in 1998. The number of cases of US babies with AIDS fell from 671 in 1996, to 473 in 1997, to 341 in 1998.

Overall cases of AIDS dropped from 60,000 in 1997 to 48,000 in 1998 and of those 48,000 cases, only 6,700 occurred in heterosexuals.

Despite these relatively low numbers, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published a joint statement in the July, 1999 issue of Pediatrics calling for the universal HIV testing of the more than four million women who give birth each year. In doing so, they endorsed an Institute of Medicine (IM) study that calls for "a national policy of universal HIV testing as a routine component of prenatal care."

It should be noted that in 1998, the IM recommended that pregnant women be given the opportunity to decline the HIV test. In addition, the guidelines of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) state that HIV testing should be given by consent only.

Despite these suggestions regarding HIV testing and informed consent, families in the United States and the United Kingdom are increasingly being subjected to forced HIV testing and drug therapy. [See "AZT Roulette," Mothering, no. 90] A High Court in London recently ordered that a four-month-old baby be tested for HIV against her parents' wishes because her mother tests positive for HIV. This ruling contradicts the March, 1998 World Health Organization (WHO) publication "HIV and Infant Feeding: Guidelines for Decision-Makers" which states that it is impossible to tell before 18 months whether a positive HIV test is due to "child infection or persistence of maternal antibodies."

Regarding HIV testing during pregnancy, most mothers know that prenatal testing can be unreliable. Pregnancy is just one of 64 "conditions" that can cause a woman to falsely test positive for HIV.

Moreover, there is controversy in the medical community as to whether or not HIV is actually the cause of AIDS. In a new book, Get All the Facts: HIV Does Not Cause AIDS, pathologist and toxicologist, Mohammed A. Al-Bayati, PhD evaluated the published literature on the worldwide AIDS epidemic and concluded that HIV does not, in fact, cause AIDS. According to Al-Bayati, AIDS in infants and children is caused by their exposure to drugs and corticosteroids in utero and after birth.

Once a child is born, mothers who test positive for HIV are being forced to refrain from breastfeeding even though bottle-fed babies have five times more serious illness than breastfed babies. [See "In the Eye of the Storm," Mothering, no. 94] In addition, studies disagree about the transmission of HIV through breastfeeding. While some studies show an HIV transmission rate through breastfeeding of as high as 25 percent, others suggest that breastfeeding may actually protect babies from HIV and AIDS.

For example, one recent study published in the August 7, 1999, issue of Lancet concludes that breastfeeding benefits babies. "Influence of infant feeding patterns on early mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 in Durban, South Africa: a prospective cohort study" found that transmission rates among babies who were exclusively breastfed from birth were actually lower at three months than among those not breastfed at all, or among those who received both formula and breastmilk.

The authors write that this "raises a possibility that virus acquired during delivery could have been neutralised by immune factors present in breastmilk but not in formula feeds."

Another study reported in the March 16, 1999 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences isolated a protein called lysozyme, found in breastmilk, that was able to kill HIV quickly in test-tube experiments. Lysozyme was also found in the saliva, tears, and urine of pregnant women.

One group helping to sort out the conflicting HIV and AIDS data is the International Center for Medical Justice (ICMJ), a medical ethics, legal defense, and education organization. Last summer ICMJ asked the US Congress to demand a General Accounting Office (GAO) audit of the AIDS industry. Their full-page ad in the July 29, 1999, edition of Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, says in part, "15 years*400,000 US Deaths*No Cure*It's time to ask questions. Support a GAO investigation of AIDS research funding." Forty-five billion dollars have been spent on AIDS research so far. For more information, contact ICMJ at 540-829-9350 or e-mail them at ICMJ@biosys.net