Study Group AIDS Therapy                        
c/o Felix A. de Fries

Eglistr. 7 CH-8004 Zürich
Tel. 0041 44 401 34 24
Zürich, 10 August 2009                                  
Email: felix.defries@tele2.ch


Antibiotics and AIDS: Therapy or Cause?


To whom it may concern:

 

Since 1982, studies were published (see appendix 1) on how common antibiotics (tetracycline, chloramphenicol, macrolides, etc.) affect the respiratory chain and thus ATP synthesis by inhibiting in the endothelial reticulum the formation of ribosomal proteins and enzymes for the production of peptides which are then absorbed into the mitochondrial membranes. Thereby protein synthesis and the quenching of toxic oxygen radicals in the mitochondria are impaired, and the formation of B cells in the bone marrow and the circulation of T4 helper cells become depleted, while at the same time resistance to antibiotics occurs. The spread of resistant bacterial strains in US clinics in the late 1970s lead to a crisis which was addressed by national conferences on collective guidelines for antibiotic prescribing.

 

The simultaneous appearance of PCP and KS in promiscuous homosexual men in New York and San Francisco, whose continued intake of antibiotics (TMP+SMX) and nitrite stimulatory drugs (“poppers”) lead in 1982 to the definition of “acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)’’ – that according to the postulation of HIV by Luc Montagnier (1983) and the development of HIV antibody tests (1985) – was traced back to the human immunodeficiency retrovirus HIV. On the basis of nonspecific tests, of which one even has different definitions in America and Europe to those in Africa and Asia (Western Blot), the rapid proliferation and the severe course over 30 different infectious diseases (from tuberculosis, cryptococcosis, candidiasis, toxoplasmosis, mycobacterium avium, herpes simplex and salmonella sepsis) were traced back to this new “infectious retrovirus,’’ rather than to the rapidly growing problem of microbial resistance and mitochondrial damage caused by antibiotics.

 

The emerging resistance of the agents of these diseases, which was well-known to the national health institutions (in the USA the NIH in Bethesda) from the early 70s, led to ongoing trials of new antibiotic substances and combinations of such , which provoke serious side effects and lead after a short time to renewed resistance (see appendix 2). Since 1985, in addition to the continued treatment of AIDS-defining illnesses with antibiotics, nucleoside analogs (e.g. AZT) were used which because of their severe toxic effect on mitochondria had previously only been approved for animal experiments and select patient groups (e.g. elderly sepsis patients). Therapy with these nucleoside analogs, which quickly lead to the gruesome deaths of thousands of patients, was replaced in 1996 by combination therapy (HAART) in which the dosage of nucleoside analog substances was reduced and supplemented by protease inhibitors (PI) (and later, fusion inhibitors (FI) and integrase inhibitors).

 

As various studies carried out since the introduction of combination therapy in 1996 clearly show (see appendix 3), this therapy also causes growing and irreversible damage to mitochondrial DNA leading to organ failure, cancer and the progression of AIDS.  Resistance to nucleoside analog substances and protease inhibitors, an apparently inevitable result of such therapy, was combated with renewed combinations of these substances. The various infections appearing with this new therapy, known as “inflammatory immune reconstitution syndrome” (IRIS), are in turn treated with antibiotics which further compromise mitochondrial functions.

 

Against this backdrop of facts, the AIDS epidemic in the developed and developing nations as a whole, since the very beginning in 1982, has proven to be a vicious circle: therapy completely concentrating on antibiotic substances (including nucleoside analogs, protease inhibitors, antifungals, antiparasitics, etc.) continuously spawns new hyper resistant pathogens, damage to mitochondrial DNA and immune cells leading to opportunistic infections which in turn are treated with new antibiotic substances and combinations, that again result in renewed resistance and further cell damage. This pattern also corresponds to the recent demands at the International AIDS conference in Capetown to treat all HIV positive patients as early as possible with combination therapy. Therapy for the most important AIDS-defining illness – tuberculosis – is also singularly concentrated on antibiotics, nucleoside analogs and protease inhibitors; whereas malnutrition, contaminated water, and poisoning by antibiotics, herbicides, pesticides and heavy metals are still not being considered as factors for the proliferation of the disease.

 

In light of these well documented facts, and of the knowledge of national institutions about the effects of these substances at the beginning and during the course of the AIDS epidemic, we call for a thorough reassessment of the role played by the unlimited dispensing of antibiotics in the process of antibiotic resistance and in the damage of immune cells and mitochondria – and thus the spread of AIDS-defining illnesses. This reassessment should include suitable studies to clarify exactly how far the phenomena ascribed to HI-retroviruses (T4 helper cell depletion, increased reverse transcription, Th1-Th2 switch, activation of inflammatory messengers, formation of Tat proteins and genetic mutations) which even according to the claims of Luc Montagnier only appear under ongoing oxidative stress (see appendix 4) can be traced back to the impairment of mitochondria by antibiotics.

 

Considering the lasting damage to mitochondria and their DNA caused by combination therapy and the continuous administration of antibiotics, we demand once more the replacement of such treatment (immediately so for newborns from parents with a positive HIV-test result) and the use of a nontoxic immune-supporting therapy (orthomolecular nutrition, herbal immune modulation, detoxification, and intestinal balancing) which we have been presenting in various studies since the late 80s and in the book by Dr. Heinrich Kremer (see appendix 5)

 

Given the limited financial resources in many parts of the world, the growing number of chronic diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, immune deficiencies, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases – which according to current research are accompanied by disruption of mitochondrial functions and therefore must be traced back to environmental toxins, chemicals and medications as well as to stress and malnourishment – cannot be successfully treated by means of a one-sided specialist medicine focused on genetic biotechnology and antibiotics.

 

What is now required of the institutions in individual countries and from the WHO are new answers to the present challenges. We call for the controlled and strictly-limited dispensing of antibiotic substances, and for further research into natural therapies which support mitochondrial functions and the immune system.

  

Study Group AIDS Therapy

 

Felix de Fries