AIDS: The HIV Myth

A medical journalist based in London, Adams has written a jolting book on AIDS that is certain to be controversial. He believes that an undiscovered microbe probably causes AIDS, contrary to the prevalent theory that HIV or human immunodeficiency virus is the culprit. Adams places great weight on the hotly debated research of Berkeley virologist Peter Duesberg, who maintains that HIV is not a causative agent of AIDS. He also cites work by a small but growing minority of researchers who lean toward ``co-factor'' theories, which hold that other deadly germs or predisposing factors must be present before a person can develop the disease. In Adams's reckoning, the politics of the scientific, medical and pharmaceutical establishments reinforced the hasty, erroneous conclusion that HIV causes AIDS, and this assumption, he further claims, has stifled the spirit of open inquriry. (Mar.)