From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rafal@smigrodzki.org)
Date: Tue May 13 2003 - 18:16:40 MDT
Pat Fallon wrote:
> The samples Montagnier and Gallo called "viral isolates contain a
> few objects that resemble retroviruses (the "HIV") plus lots of other
> things, which clearly aren't viruses. Without a pure isolate of
> virus-like particles, there is no way to extract proteins and
> genetic material out of a molecular soup and know that they came from
> one group of particular looking objects rather than another.
### Using PCR it is easy to purify genetic material and to produce all the
proteins.
------------------------------------
The following are three possible
> explanations for why undiluted specimens of blood always react
> positive at the ELISA test:
> 1. Everybody has HIV antibodies...
> 2. Everybody has different levels of HIV infection...
> 3. The test is not specific for HIV...
### Explanation #4 - Persons who are unable to read the manual (or as
sometimes abbreviated, RTFM) for the Elisa test should not be allowed inside
a lab.
(A remark for the non-biologists - antibodies have always some degree of
nonspecific binding, especially in such complex mixtures as human serum, so
if you use a very high concentration of the antibody or the serum, different
from the concentrations the test was calibrated on, you will get a
"positive" result)
It's amazing that the anti-HIV fallacy keeps cropping up again and again,
with ever more bizarre claims.
Rafal
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