The supposed link between HIV and full blown AIDS has been further muddied by new research. It shows that around 5 per cent of people infected with HIV have shown no signs of disease or any decline in their CD4 lymphocyte count in the 10 years they
Rather than admit that the link is at the very least questionable, researchers say that the participants have shown a “robust” immune response to the virus. Also, in some cases, they claim the virus itself must have been “defective”.
Once infected with this newly discovered defective strain of HIV, the patient then seems to gain protection against other, more virulent strains, say researchers, twisting themselves into ever more complicated logical knots.
!ANew England Journal of Medicine 1995; 332: 201-32.