tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41429292011-04-21T21:44:57.834-04:00Investigative reporting and commentary on the epidemic of CFIDS/AIDS by Charles Ortleb, the author of "The Closing Argument," a courtroom novella about CFIDS/AIDS. The novella will soon receive a major theatrical production. Contact us at: rubiconmedia @yahoo.comrubiconnoreply@blogger.comBlogger881100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1069268074740608482003-11-19T13:54:00.000-05:002003-11-19T13:57:50.670-05:00

FIRST CASE OF SARS IN A NEW SARS SEASON MAY HAVE BEEN SEEN IN TAIWAN Patient recently returned from China The China Post today reported the first case of SARS in the new Flu season. Accoding to the report, "A Kaohsiung hospital yesterday reported this winter's first SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) case in Taiwan. Doctors at the Union Hospital said they diagnosed a resident of the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1068599110278266052003-11-11T20:05:00.000-05:002003-11-11T20:06:33.793-05:00

AS WE APPROACH THE NEW SARS SEASON, WE ARE REPRINTING AN OPEN LETTER THAT WAS PUBLISHED IN THIS SPACE IN JUNE AN OPEN LETTER TO THE DOCTORS AND NURSES IN TORONTO Dear Doctors and Nurses of Toronto, You have just been through Hell. I've been following your story since the begining of the SARS epidemic. Some of you have seen friends and colleagues suffer. Some of you have seen patients

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1067133268802450032003-10-25T21:54:00.000-04:002003-10-25T22:08:45.606-04:00

THE NEW YORK TIMES GETS YET ANOTHER EPIDEMIC WRONG The New York Times, which to this day still has not reported the true story about AIDS, CFIDS and HHV-6, now has shifted its monumental journalistic incompetence to the subject of SARS. An editorial in the Sunday paper gets it exactly wrong: "Health authorities are preparing for the possible return of the SARS virus this fall, but with any luck

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1066867257932843242003-10-22T20:00:00.000-04:002003-10-22T20:00:58.100-04:00

NEW RESEARCH BOLSTERS CLAIMS THAT HHV-6 PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN AIDS Is HHV-6 the real AIDS virus? New research published in Blood on October 15 by a team of researchers that includes famous HHV-6 researcher Paolo Lusso, suggests that HHV-6 can play a major role in suppressing the immune system. The abstract of the research follows: "Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is a potentially

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1066444262991807692003-10-17T22:31:00.000-04:002003-10-17T22:34:13.320-04:00

WILD BOARS ARE BACK ON THE SARS SUSPECT LIST Has it spread to China's domestic pigs? According to a report by Andy Ho in today's Straits Times, "A new study by Chinese researchers reported this week by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that many people may have had Sars without showing symptoms. The study of 508 animal traders in Guangdong showed that more than half of

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1065657257314547012003-10-08T19:54:00.000-04:002003-10-08T19:55:42.536-04:00

NEW STUDY FAILS TO RULE PIGS OUT AS SOURCE OF SARS The Sars coronavirus is described as a "Frankenstein type" virus that is partially related to a coronavirus that infects pigs and other animals. According to an article by Jenni Laidman in the Toledo Blade, "The SARS virus shows signs of Frankenstein-like construction, with one important gene cobbled together from two other viruses, a study by

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1064449006403389912003-09-24T20:16:00.000-04:002003-09-24T20:34:25.266-04:00

NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT THE SARS CORONAVIRUS IS MORE WIDESPREAD AND OLDER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT Are pigs the key to understanding the complications of SARS? According to a report from South Africa's News24, "Recent studies in China indicate the pneumonia-like Sars virus might have existed in humans for some time, as scientists testing blood samples collected prior to the recent outbreaks

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1062894305299192942003-09-06T20:25:00.000-04:002003-09-06T20:57:03.666-04:00

IT LOOKS LIKE SARS II IS COMING SOON AND WILL BE CATASTROPHIC Over the last few days there have been somber reports that suggest that SARS is percolating in two or more species of animals out there. They come on the heels of what was clearly an outbreak of SARS in British Columbia that was swept under the rug. The British Columbia outbreak showed that mild forms of SARS exist and that the virus

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1061742952047954992003-08-24T12:35:00.000-04:002003-08-24T13:01:56.883-04:00

THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS HAS BEEN FOUND IN A WIDE RANGE OF ANIMALS IN CHINA But are pigs the most threatening reservoir? According to Straits Times, a recent investigation into the presence of SARS-associated coronavirus has found the virus in many different animals. It is unclear which animals are transmitting the virus to people. According to the report, "A Sars-like virus has been

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1061418085768106502003-08-20T18:21:00.000-04:002003-08-20T18:23:41.680-04:00

SARS SPREADING IN CANADA AGAIN AS AUTHORITIES TRY TO EXPLAIN IT AWAY SARS now seems to come with a wide range of symptoms, making tracking it almost impossible According to newscientist.com, an outbreak of pneumonia, which tests so far indicate may be caused by the SARS virus, appears to be spreading in British Columbia, Canada. The virus had already infected over 150 people and killed six at

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1061135632972662822003-08-17T11:53:00.000-04:002003-08-17T12:18:42.603-04:00

IS THE INSIDIOUS FUTURE OF SARS MANIFESTING ITSELF NOW IN A CANADIAN NURSING HOME? And, as WHO heads for a pig farm in China, it appears that rats may also be a vector Great confusion now surrounds the outbreak of SARS or a SARS-like disease in a nursing home in a suburb of Vancouver in British Columbia. Apparently, in July, a number of residents of a nursing home came down with respiratory

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1060904832486563482003-08-14T19:47:00.000-04:002003-08-14T19:56:21.483-04:00

IN A PUZZLING MOVE, CHINA WILL ALLOW FARMS TO RAISE ANIMALS THAT MAY CARRY THE SARS CORONAVIRUS The World Health Organization is very concerned The Straits Times today reported that China would no longer prohibit the raising of the very animals that may be resnsible for SARS. According to the report, "China has allowed farms to resume selling masked palm civets, a species that may have been the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1060483096516534452003-08-09T22:38:00.000-04:002003-08-09T23:17:24.120-04:00

HARVARD'S HENRY NIMAN SEES A SARS APOCALYPSE COMING AS SOON AS THE WEATHER GETS COLDER The mutating virus seems to be spreading in the general population. While we have mainly been concerned about the probable spread of the SARS-associated coronavirus in the pig population of China, Henry Niman, a Harvard Medical School scientist, has a more pressing concern. He thinks that the Sars-associated

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1060273867732019422003-08-07T12:31:00.000-04:002003-08-09T22:51:30.830-04:00

AND IF SARS BREAKS OUT IN THE USA IN THE AUTUMN . . . "If SARS becomes established here the way it did in Toronto, all hell is going to break loose," warns Arthur Kellermann, chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Emory University in Atlanta. "We're struggling to meet tonight's demand for 911 calls, much less a major respiratory disease." --From The Wall Street Journal

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1060128252791959082003-08-05T20:04:00.000-04:002003-08-05T20:26:44.023-04:00

ARE PIGS A SARS RESERVOIR IN CHINA? Maybe someone should interview Zhong Nanshan Back on April 6, South Africa's News24.com reported that "Zhong Nanshan, touted as China's first health expert to identify the new disease, said Guangdong province's Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently completed a study of 30 animal types and found the virus in snakes, wild pigs, monkeys and bats."

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1058649173427844392003-07-19T17:12:00.000-04:002003-07-19T17:21:03.943-04:00

SARS: THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO In something like 100 days, SARS could break out in a devastating manner because the animal reservoir for the virus has still not been determined and that reservoir might not be as limited and exotic as some people think. If the finding that suggests that wild pigs are SARS carriers is accurate, and if the death of some domestic pigs in China's Guangdong Province was

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1058034118355417412003-07-12T14:21:00.000-04:002003-07-12T14:23:39.623-04:00

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHER IS SEARCHING FOR SARS RESERVOIRS IN CHINA. What follows is a media release from CSIRO, a scientific organization in Australia. A senior CSIRO veterinarian begins a three-week visit to China on Friday to help coordinate an international investigation into the roles animals might play in spreading the deadly SARS virus. One of CSIRO Livestock Industries' leading viral

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1057454831598843192003-07-05T21:27:00.000-04:002003-07-09T19:41:24.103-04:00

THE NEXT SARS EPIDEMIC Maybe you ain't seen nothing yet By Charles Ortleb While the media is celebrating what seems to be the disappearance of SARS from the face of the earth, there is a dark undercurrent to some of the news stories and there are some rather unpleasant facts that still have not been faced head-on. There is still the matter of the animal reservoir. Nobody is giving a straight

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-1056678636363109272003-06-26T21:50:00.000-04:002003-11-11T20:04:23.780-05:00

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE DOCTORS AND NURSES IN TORONTO Dear Doctors and Nurses of Toronto, You have just been through Hell. I've been following your story since the begining of the SARS epidemic. Some of you have seen friends and colleagues suffer. Some of you have seen patients die. Some of you have been had the illness and recovered. Some of you have gotten the illness and feel like you

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-958821802003-06-20T23:03:00.000-04:002003-06-21T11:39:06.000-04:00

ONCE AGAIN, THE TIMES SKIRTS THE PIG QUESTION By Charles Ortleb In today's New York Times, Lawrence Altman once again carefully avoids talking about pigs, the most obvious probable source of the SARS-associated coronavirus. With Keith Bradsheer, the former CDC employee reports that "Another concern is that researchers in Hong Kong and Guangdong say they have found viruses nearly identical to

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-958364742003-06-19T14:52:00.000-04:002003-06-26T21:02:55.500-04:00

HOW MANY PIGS IN CHINA AND CANADA ARE CARRIERS OF THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS? Nobody seems to want to talk about pigs and SARS. And what about the dead pigs in China's Guangdong Province? While the World Health Organization continues to warn that as long as there are animal reservoirs for the SARS-associated coronavirus (SAC), SARS will still be a problem. It's amazing that the discovery

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-954111962003-06-07T14:43:00.000-04:002003-06-07T21:33:31.000-04:00

IT'S OFFICIAL: THE TIMES ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS HAS BEEN FOUND IN WILD PIGS The media is taking its time on the SARS-in-pigs story. We're shocked, shocked! Knowing how the pork industry and its research pimps operate, we're lucky that there is any story at all. But finally in the New York Times, Lawrence Altman (MD and president of the CDC fan club) broke the porcine

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-953129122003-06-04T23:13:00.000-04:002003-06-07T14:44:44.000-04:00

WILD PIGS IN CHINA TEST POSITIVE FOR THE SARS CORONAVIRUS Most of the media seems to be ignoring an important new fact about SARS According to the South Africa's News24.com, wild pigs in China have tested positive for the SARS-associated coronavirus, which should raise serious questions about the possibility of SARS entering the food supply in China, Canada, and other places where there are

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-951582602003-06-01T13:37:00.000-04:002003-06-01T14:28:40.000-04:00

WOULD CHINA COVER UP A SARS EPIDEMIC IN PIGS? If PRRS is any indication, the unfortunate answer is yes. China seems to be circling the wagons again. Recent reports indicate that it's back to politics as usual regarding SARS, and most information coming out about the epidemic is less than trustworthy. Not that America is necessarily telling the truth about it's own SARS epidemic. (See the Vallejo

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-947154362003-05-21T22:16:00.000-04:002003-05-21T22:52:09.000-04:00

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION IS STILL NOT RULING OUT PIGS AS THE SOURCE OF SARS By Charles Ortleb Despite a recent announcement that scientists in Canada had shown that chickens and pigs could not become infected, a virologist with the World Health Organization said today that the organization had still not ruled out chickens and pigs as a possible source of SARS. According to an Australian

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-946451712003-05-20T14:37:00.000-04:002003-05-20T14:56:21.000-04:00

IS SARS BEING COVERED UP AT A CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL? A story in the Sierra Times by Carl F. Worden suggests that something bizarre is going on at a hospital in Vallejo, California. According to Worden's story, "While the evidence is not conclusive, information pouring in gives all indications of some type of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak has manifested itself in the Kaiser

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-944556062003-05-16T12:00:00.000-04:002003-05-16T12:27:32.000-04:00

CANADIAN RESEARCHERS SAY THEIR RESEARCH RULES OUT CHICKEN AND PIGS AS SARS RESERVOIRS. BUT IS THEIR WORK RELIABLE? In Today's Washington Post, Rob Stein reports on some conclusions by Canadian researchers about their ability to infect chickens and pigs with the SARS-related coronavirus. According to Stein, "In yet another finding, scientists in Canada said a series of experiments has shown that

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-943334832003-05-14T11:38:00.000-04:002003-06-26T15:36:56.433-04:00

WHERE DID SARS COME FROM? PIGS INCREASINGLY LOOK LIKE THE PRIME SUSPECTS On May 1, Science published the genome analysis of the SARS-associated coronavirus. The abstract noted a moderate similarity to a human coronavirus labeled "HCoV-OC43." That corononavirus has an interesting track record."HCoV-OC43" is the coronavirus that Japanese researchers found in pigs in a study that indicated that

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-941091832003-05-10T12:27:00.000-04:002003-05-10T12:30:28.000-04:00

WOULD CHINA ADMIT IT IF ITS PIG POPULATION CARRIED THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS? If history is an indication, the answer is yes--after they have been forced to. China has had many weeks to figure this out. The fact that food handlers seemed to be disproportionately affected by SARS should have been a hint that they should look at the first obvious suspects in the kitchen: ducks, chicken, and

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-940643402003-05-09T13:56:00.000-04:002003-05-09T13:56:37.040-04:00

We're back! This site is once again in the top listings at Google (KEYWORDS: PIGS, SARS) after completely disappearing! THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION IS LOOKING FOR PIGS IN CHINA TO TEST FOR THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS Accoding to an article by Rob Stein in the Contra Costa Times, "In southern China, teams [from the World Health Organization] are catching and testing pigs, birds and other

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-939969672003-05-08T12:06:00.000-04:002003-05-08T12:23:25.000-04:00

Please tell your friends about this site. It used to be in the top listings at Google (KEYWORDS: PIGS, SARS) but now it has completely disappeared from Google and we don't know why. CAN PETS TRANSMIT THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS? Silence=Death Why is the CDC and the World Health Organization not speaking up about the issue of pet transmission of SARS? Can cats and dogs transmit the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-938724452003-05-06T13:06:00.000-04:002003-07-05T22:29:32.730-04:00

Please tell your friends about this site. It used to be in the top listings at Google (KEYWORDS: PIGS, SARS) but now it has completely disappeared from Google and we don't know why. PIG SLAUGHTERING IS HALTED IN SEVERAL OF CHINA'S PROVINCES COULD CUT CHINESE PORK PRODUCTION IN HALF By Charles Ortleb Channelnewsasia.com has reported that "People's Food Holdings will temporarily halt pig

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-938046632003-05-05T11:32:00.000-04:002003-05-09T11:36:25.000-04:00

OHIO RESEARCHER WORKING WITH THE CDC MAY ATTEMPT TO CREATE A PIG MODEL FOR SARS WILL THIS WORK SHOW WHETHER PIGS CAN BE CARRIERS OF SARS? By Charles Ortleb Is the Centers For Disease Control ready to take a possible link between pigs and SARS seriously? The organization has brought a scientist to their SARS research team who might have the expertise to help indirectly answer the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-936825032003-05-02T21:32:00.000-04:002003-05-03T11:30:41.000-04:00

CDC OFFICIAL: CHICKEN AND PIGS ARE STILL A GOOD PLACE TO LOOK FOR SARS-LIKE CORONAVIRUSES On the heels of the publication of the genome sequences of the SARS-associated coronavirus, a CDC official has suggested a closer look be given at farm animals in China. In Genome News Network, Kate Dalke reports that "scientists have now published the genomes of two strains of the virus. The genome

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-935602752003-04-30T19:16:00.000-04:002003-05-05T12:28:44.000-04:00

WHAT VIRUSES HAVE SARS PATIENTS BEEN TESTED FOR? By Charles Ortleb As scientists struggle today with the problem of not finding the SARS-associated coronavirus in most of the patients with the syndrome, wouldn't it be nice if someone would publish a complete list of all the viruses (animal and human) that the patients have been tested for? Actually, what might be the most helpful, and the most

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-933486862003-04-27T13:05:00.000-04:002003-04-30T19:34:40.000-04:00

THE TIMES REPORTS THAT 5% OF FIRST SARS CASES WERE CHEFS AND FOOD HANDLERS By Charles Ortleb According to a report in today's New York Times, something going on in the kitchens in China may be a clue to the source of SARS. Elizabeth Rosental writes that "Scientists have always considered the teeming farms of southern China, where animals and people crowd together as ideal breeding grounds for

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-932391552003-04-25T09:49:00.000-04:002003-04-27T13:18:17.000-04:00

THE OTHER HEALTH PROBLEM IN ONTARIO: PIGS WITH AIDS? By Charles Ortleb As the world awaits the results of the SARS experiments with pigs (currently being conducted on a slow boat from China, it seems) it would be prudent to take a look at the health of pigs in Ontario before they even come in contact with the SARS coronavirus--if they haven't already. It turns out that many of them have been

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-932129832003-04-24T21:40:00.000-04:002003-04-25T12:57:01.000-04:00

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHERS TO INFECT CATS, CHICKEN AND PIGS WITH SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS By Charles Ortleb According to The Advertiser in Australia, researchers at a very secure laboratory in Australia will soon study the progress of SARS, if there is any, in cats, chicken and pigs. Michael Owen-Brown reported that the research would be conducted in an animal health laboratory in Geelong,

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-931321342003-04-23T16:05:00.000-04:002003-04-24T21:59:41.000-04:00

CONGRESS SHOULD HAVE A LITTLE TALK WITH JULIE GERBERDING By Charles Ortleb Julie Gerberding, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, really should have a little message delivered to her that she can thoroughly understand. She doesn't have much wiggle room where the cause of SARS is concerned. The apocalpytic nature of this pandemic demands that she get it right, and if evidence is not

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-929866422003-04-21T11:33:00.000-04:002003-04-21T11:41:25.000-04:00

AIDS RESEARCHER RECOMMENDS TRYING PAPAYA EXTRACT TO TREAT SARS Celebrity AIDS researcher Luc Montagnier has suggested that a fermented extract from papaya may be helpful in treating SARS. According to a report from Reuters, "Montagnier said he believed an extract of fermented papaya could improve immunity to and symptoms caused by viruses including SARS, although he pointed out that the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-928981412003-04-19T14:44:00.000-04:002003-04-19T14:47:34.000-04:00

Can HHV-6 Be a Cofactor in SARS? HHV-6 is known to infect the lungs and is a chronic infection that can be reactivated or exacerbated by other conditions or infections. It has been linked to respiratory distress by itself. The good news is that if it is a contributing factor to SARS morbidity and mortality, it might be controlled by drugs like Foscarnet. Physicians would be wise consider the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-928419872003-04-18T11:49:00.000-04:002003-04-19T14:46:15.000-04:00

ARE ONTARIO'S 3.6 MILLION PIGS SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE SARS CORONAVIRUS? Scientists are now trying to determine if poultry and pigs are susceptible to the SARS coronavirus (see the story below). Given that pigs are already known to be susceptible to human coronaviruses (also see below), it would be a very lucky break if pigs are not susceptible to the SARS-associated coronavirus. Apparently Ontario,

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-927236002003-04-16T12:38:00.000-04:002003-04-18T13:15:07.000-04:00

THE SEARCH FOR THE SOURCE OF THE SARS CORONAVIRUS TURNS TO POULTRY AND PIGS By Charles Ortleb According to an MSNBC and Associated Press story published today, "in experiments conducted at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands, scientists infected monkeys with the coronavirus suspected of causing of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and found that the animals developed the same

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-926489312003-04-15T09:46:00.000-04:002003-04-16T12:56:22.000-04:00

MALAYSIAN HEALTH MINISTER CONFRONTS RUMORS THAT SARS COMES FROM PIGS The Malaysian Star Online is reporting today that rumors are circulating that SARS is coming from pigs. Considering that the Nipah virus--that was their last health crisis--did come from pigs, it seems reasonable to wonder, especially since pigs have so many respiratory problems throughout Asia. How about testing pigs for the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-924510972003-04-11T17:12:00.000-04:002003-04-15T09:51:30.000-04:00

NEWS STORY SUGGESTS SARS PATHOGEN ORIGINATED IN PIGS By Charles Ortleb Evidence continued to mount today that suggests the SARS epidemic may grow into a pandemic that could cause unprecedented dirsruption of the world's economy if a way is not found to treat or control the illness. The idea that SARS originated in pigs gained some momentum from a new story published in the Toronto Globe and

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-923589362003-04-10T09:48:00.000-04:002003-04-10T10:08:52.000-04:00

"THE CORONAVIRUS IN ANIMALS MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE 'SHIPPING FEVER' PIGS AND CATTLE GET WHEN THEY ARE STRESSED" In Today's Vancouver Sun, Pamela Fayerman reports on an interview with Dr. Lorne Babiuk, director of the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization, based at the University of Saskatchewan. Babiuk told Fayerman that "he agrees with others the virus may be a new variant of the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-923130712003-04-09T16:33:00.000-04:002003-04-10T10:07:36.000-04:00

FAUCI'S STATEMENT ABOUT THE PORCINE CORONAVIRUS VACCINE AS A MODEL FOR SARS PREVENTON "Fortuitously, vaccines against common veterinary coronaviruses are routinely used to prevent serious diseases in young animals, such as a vaccine given to pigs to prevent serious enteric coronavirus disease." --Anthony Fauci

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-922203332003-04-08T09:47:00.000-04:002003-04-10T10:06:09.000-04:00

MORE STORIES ON POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN SARS AND PIGS IN THE NEWS TODAY By Charles Ortleb Ireland Online today reported on a paper published in the Lancet about the possibility that a coronavirus is causing SARS. According to the article, "Professor Malik Peiris, from the University of Hong Kong, and colleagues studied 50 patients with Sars from five separate outbreak clusters. A new type of

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-920537312003-04-05T15:07:00.000-05:002003-04-11T17:31:19.000-04:00

HAS THE SOURCE OF THE SARS CORONAVIRUS BEEN NARROWED TO MICE AND PIGS? By Charles Ortleb Today, in The Scotsman, Stephen McGinty reports in a story on the SARS coronavirus that "recent genetic work suggests the virus could be related to diseases found in either mice or pigs. The first stage in the battle against SARS is complete." The mere mention of pigs and SARS is the last thing the pork

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-920022182003-04-04T15:23:00.000-05:002003-04-09T16:54:18.000-04:00

CHLAMYDIA VERUS CORONAVIRUS: IN THE PIG VERSION OF SARS THEY'RE BOTH INVOLVED By Charles Ortleb According to a report in Reuters today, Chinese researchers think a form of chlamydia may be the real cause of SARS. According to the report Hong Tao, a scientists working at the Institute of Virology under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news conference that "The center

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-919193932003-04-03T10:51:00.000-05:002003-04-05T11:32:20.000-05:00

SCIENTIST SUGGESTS A FOOD LINK TO SARS By Charles Ortleb In Today's Taipai Times, Chang Yun-Ping reports that "a National Taiwan University Hospital (NTHU) doctor yesterday suggested that the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) may be spreading through contaminated food rather than through the saliva of those who are already infected." Yn-Ping also reports that, "Doctor Chang Shan-chwen

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-916668062003-03-30T16:48:00.000-05:002003-04-05T11:41:50.000-05:00

THE SECONDARY INFECTIONS OF PRRS IN PIGS MAY BE CLUES FOR THE CAUSE OF SARS IN PEOPLE By Charles Ortleb As scientists look more closely at the possbility that the Porcine Reproducive and Respiratory Syndrome epidemic in the pigs in China is the source of SARS, they should pay attention to the secondary infections of PRRS. Robert Desrosiers describes them on a site produced by the North

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-916628232003-03-30T15:15:00.000-05:002003-04-05T11:44:25.000-05:00

THE EXTENT OF PRRS IN CHINA By Charles Ortleb An posting about the 2003 International Conference and Exhibition on Pig Production, which will be held in China later this year, describes the spread of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome in China: "Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) has been regarded as an economically important swine disease in many swine-producing

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-915797092003-03-28T21:01:00.000-05:002003-04-05T11:45:17.000-05:00

PRRS AND PCV IN CHINA'S PIGS COULD BE A MODEL OF THE TWO VIRUS THEORY OF SARS IN PEOPLE By Charles Ortleb Although China does not like to admit that it has a Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome epidemic in its pigs, agricultural experts in America assume it to be the case. And that being so, then one would also expect that pigs there would have the cascade of complications associated

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-915630472003-03-28T14:51:00.000-05:002003-04-05T11:48:13.000-05:00

A TORONTO DOCTOR SUGGESTS THAT SARS COMES FROM PIGS By Charles Ortleb An article in the Winnepeg News today suggests that pigs in China may be the source of rhe growing SARS epidemic. Ken Connor reports that Dr. Jay Keystone, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital told him, "Pigs may be the culprits behind the outbreak of SARS." According to Connor, Keystone suggested that

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-914841842003-03-27T10:32:00.000-05:002003-06-21T11:38:06.000-04:00

DOES PRRS IN CHINA'S PIGS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE EMERGING HUMAN EPIDEMIC OF SARS? By Charles Ortleb SARS, the deadly new flu that has emerged from China has already been called a "holocaust," and it seems to only have just started. Because its cause is still confused by the presense of at least two suspect agents that might be working together, it would seem that the jury should still be

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-909988102003-03-19T11:43:00.000-05:002003-03-19T13:28:26.000-05:00

THE LAWSUITS BEGIN A leading class action law firm has started the ball rolling. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of the class action lawsuits against the HIV/AIDS establishment. On March 17, 2003, Milberg Weiss filed a complaint alleging violations of the federal securities laws by VaxGen, Inc. and certain of its officers and/or directors. The pdf of the complaint The text of the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-905265372003-03-11T10:50:00.000-05:002003-03-11T14:34:17.000-05:00

AIDS DISSIDENT APPOINTED TO SOUTH AFRICA GROUP ADVISING MBEKI In a move causing major indigestion in the AIDS/HIV establishment all over the world, Dr. Roberto Giraldo, a prominent dissident on the HIV theory of AIDS, has been named as one of the experts who will be advising the South African government. The Guardian today reported that "Aids activists renewed accusations that the authorities

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-904603992003-03-10T10:34:00.000-05:002003-03-10T11:14:51.000-05:00

AT LEAST PART OF THE DEBATE ABOUT HHV-6 AND HIV SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN WON BY HHV-6 The degree with which HHV-6 is avoided as a topic of discussion by the AIDS establishment is breathtaking. (Also tragically, the AIDS rethinkers and dissidents are also HHV-6 denialists.) And the refusal to deal with HHV-6 could be costing millions of AIDS patients their lives with tremendous damage also occuring in

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-901837482003-03-05T11:55:00.000-05:002003-03-10T11:00:21.000-05:00

PUBLIC HEALTH AND LAW ENFORCEMENT MERGE IN SOUTH DAKOTA According to an AP report in the Aberdeen American News today, a bill has passed the South Dakota Senate which "would authorize state officials to give prosecutors otherwise confidential information when people are being investigated for intentionally exposing others to the AIDS virus without their knowledge. A judge would have to issue an

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-900604412003-03-03T13:00:00.000-05:002003-03-03T13:04:34.000-05:00

WHY NOTHING MAKES SENSE IN THE WACKY WORLD OF AIDS SPIN Today in the Washington Post, Howard Kurtz pointed out a slight discrepancy: "Vaccine for AIDS Shows Promise" -- last Monday's USA Today "Large Trial Finds AIDS Vaccine Fails to Stop Infection" -- last Monday's New York Times

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-898422972003-02-27T10:41:00.000-05:002003-02-27T10:57:12.000-05:00

IS DON FRANCIS MASSAGING THE DATA ON THE AIDS VACCINE? A disturbing report today in The San Francisco Chronicle by Andrew Pollack suggests that the recent results of VaxGen's AIDS vaccine have an aroma that is all too familiar in AIDS in general and in the work of VaxGen president, Donald Francis, in particular. According to Andrew Pollack, "VaxGen may have overstated the effectiveness of its

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-896518632003-02-24T12:02:00.000-05:002003-02-24T13:52:22.000-05:00

THE AIDS VACCINE FAILURE: "SCIENTIST ZERO" STRIKES AGAIN Ever since the clown known as Donald Francis assisted in the building the AIDS circus of death in the early '80s, he has provided one gruesome performance after another. Today the press is covered with announcements of his vaccine's failure. The good news is that this might slow down the very queer AIDS agenda that the breathless,

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-895271772003-02-21T20:00:00.000-05:002003-02-21T20:13:13.000-05:00

HOW MANY CASES OF CFIDS ARE THERE IN SOUTH AFRICA? A story in the Washington Post today about Gibson Kente, a famous South African playwright announcing that he is HIV positive, contains the obligatory bit of HIV agitprop: "An estimated one in five South Africans, or 4.7 million people, are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, giving the country the highest caseload in the world."

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-894355652003-02-20T10:12:00.000-05:002003-02-20T10:26:42.000-05:00

MAYBE AIDS IS NOT A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE WILL THE NEW STUDY VINDICATE DUESBERG? It has been a very emotional article of faith among the HIV establishment and the AIDS activists that AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease. All kinds of bizarre theories about the sexuality of Africans have peppered the official racist paradigm of AIDS. But a new study suggests that what is really driving

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-893121522003-02-18T11:10:00.000-05:002003-02-18T11:35:38.000-05:00

THE CREEPY ATTACKS ON MBEKI CONTINUE Business Day carries a story today about yet another attack on Thabo Mbeki because he is not doing what the AIDS establishment and the AIDS activists want him to, i.e. when they say jump he does not ask how high. Thus far he has refused to be the Steppin' Fetchit of AIDS in South Africa. Why is there not a bold international effort among intellectuals to

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-892457872003-02-17T11:30:00.000-05:002003-02-17T11:34:40.000-05:00

THE CLOSING ARGUMENT INTERVIEW Here's the interview I did with Cary Harrison about The Closing Argument. It's part of his February 16th program. And here's the book itself. Read it for free.

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-890970842003-02-14T11:13:00.000-05:002003-02-14T11:26:02.000-05:00

THE DIRTY WAR AGAINST MBEKI CONTINUES The HIV thugs seem to want South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to crawl on his knees through the streets of Johannesburg, begging for the forgiveness of the the American AIDS establishment and the AIDS activists as he admits that HIV is the real, official, no-doubt-about-it cause of AIDS. Thus far he has been brave and resisted their international pressure.

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-890378902003-02-13T11:13:00.000-05:002003-02-13T11:31:22.000-05:00

THE RACIST PARADIGM OF AIDS Yesterday the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report ran this item: "HIV is 11 times more common in black women in Ohio than in white women, according to state health department figures, and the number of cases is increasing, the Columbus Dispatch reports. In Franklin County, women represented 17% of all HIV/AIDS cases in 2001, compared with 6% in the early 1990s, and "most" of

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-889729592003-02-12T09:22:00.000-05:002003-02-12T12:20:54.000-05:00

AMPLIGEN IN THE NEWS AGAIN The following headline orginates from Medstar: "AIDS patients whose bodies become resistant to the “AIDS Cocktail” drug treatments may find help from a nucleic acid drug that is under study. Ampligen® is a synthetic form of RNA and is thought to produce a positive immune system response. That response helps fight off a viral attack. Clinical trials are currently

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-889181102003-02-11T11:29:00.000-05:002003-02-12T12:21:25.000-05:00

CELIAC DISEASE AND CFIDS In a story on Celiac Disease today in The Washington Post, David Brown notes that new "research is revealing that celiac disease may be one of the most common genetic diseases, affecting perhaps as many as 2 million Americans. A national survey published today, for example, estimates that 1 in 133 Americans has it." It's tragic that The Washington Post, like most of the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-889157432003-02-11T10:43:00.000-05:002003-02-11T11:30:39.000-05:00

THE INCREDIBLE DISAPPEARING WEBSITE A week ago you could type in "AIDSGATE" in Google and this site was number 8 on the first page of listings. Now you can't even find it in any of the pages of listings. We can't figure out what's going on. Can you? Maybe Google is using an old cache of sites.

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-888603242003-02-10T12:48:00.000-05:002003-02-10T13:04:52.000-05:00

GREASY PIG DISEASE No, it's not a new malady affecting our top AIDS researchers. Greasy Pig Disease is caused by a form of staph and bears looking into because it is a complication of PRRS which looks like a CFIDS/AIDS epidemics in pigs. One PRRS researcher has suggested that PRRS might make a good model for studying AIDS. According to a report by PRRS researcher Monte McCaw, "We demonstrated

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-887195142003-02-07T14:18:00.000-05:002003-02-07T14:53:21.000-05:00

STAPH AND CFIDS On February 3, the New York Times reported on the growing problem of "mysterious" staph infections on the West Coast. According to the David Tuller's report, "More than 1,000 jail inmates in Los Angeles County have suffered painful and aggressive skin infections caused by a bacterium resistant to many antibiotics, medical authorities say. The unusual outbreak over the last year

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-886561552003-02-06T12:13:00.000-05:002003-02-06T12:44:15.000-05:00

THE MEDICAL POLICE STATE GROWS According to a story in the South Dakota Aberdeen American News, the South Dakota "state Health Department is seeking legal authority to alert prosecutors about people with the AIDS virus who are having sex without disclosing their medical status." Imagine if the public health police tried to track the sex lives of people with the CFIDS form of AIDS. Every person

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-885969912003-02-05T11:52:00.000-05:002003-02-05T11:53:02.000-05:00

MORE BAD NEWS ABOUT THE MIRACLE PROTEASE COCKTAILS Reuters is reporting on a University of Kentucky study on mice that suggests, "that the drugs, known as protease inhibitors, may directly contribute to artery disease even before triglyceride and cholesterol levels rise." These are the drugs that some people want to force patients to take. We hope all the class action lawyers out there are

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-885501252003-02-04T16:15:00.000-05:002003-02-04T16:18:30.000-05:00

NEW CFIDS ABNORMALITY Doctor's Guide recently reported on a new cardiac abnormality found in CFS patients: "A particular and quantifiable abnormality in the cardiovascular reactivity of most patients with chronic fatigue syndrome provides an new objective tool for assessing this disorder, suggest researchers in Israel."

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-884761872003-02-03T10:51:00.000-05:002003-02-03T11:08:19.000-05:00

THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE OF THE HHV-6 COVER-UP As long as the HIV establishment keeps the public from knowing the truth about the role of HHV-6 in CFIDS/AIDS, all kinds of people suffer from not knowing how widespread HHV-6 is in the general population and how many lives it is destroying. This story in the Albuquerque Tribune describes an out-of-control child whose problem was an underlying HHV-6

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-883324272003-01-31T11:26:00.000-05:002003-02-03T11:05:05.000-05:00

NOBODY WITH AIDS EVER DIES AND YOUR HEART WILL GO ON AND ON Gay.com today is reporting that a BBC soap opera is under fire from the AIDS Thought Police for the way it plans to kill off an HIV-positive character. The writers of the soap have the nerve to suggest that the character dies because his AIDS "cocktail" fails him. Well, Hello! God forbid that anyone suggests that anything isn't peachy

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-882788902003-01-30T13:13:00.000-05:002003-01-30T13:40:37.000-05:00

HOMODEMIOLOGY "Homodemiology" is a term we've coined to describe the science of blaming epidemics on gay people. We of course mean "pseudo-science." The biggest breakthroughs in homodemiology were made under the Nazis, until the AIDS researchers came along. The idea that "AIDS" and "CFIDS" are separate epidemics is a good example of homodemiology. The work on HHV-8 seems to be the latest

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-882179822003-01-29T13:26:00.000-05:002003-02-04T16:19:39.000-05:00

HORSES WITH CFIDS According to an article in The CFIDS Forum written by Alan Cocchetto, CFS is becoming a major veterinary problem. Cocchetto writes "Dr. Walter Tarello, who has several publications on CFS in various animal populations has reported on an emerging problem in veterinary medicine - one that was reported from England that suggested that CFS exists in the animal population and that

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-882111832003-01-29T11:26:00.000-05:002003-01-29T11:28:34.000-05:00

PETS WITH CFIDS/AIDS Some of the most interesting research on Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfuncton Syndrome involves pets. Many people with CFIDS symptoms apparently have pets with similar symptoms. No one as far as we know, has done a study of the transmission of AIDS to pets, but based on the work of Thomas Glass, and the overlap of CFIDS and AIDS, such research would make a great deal of

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-881683072003-01-28T13:49:00.000-05:002003-01-28T13:52:55.000-05:00

AIDS MEDICINE = NAZI MEDICINE Today's story in The Baltimore Sun about an informal version of what is called "Directly Observed Therapy" (DOT) is chilling. We hope that the AIDS activists who have helped create this civil liberties mess are happy. The next step will be to incarcerate people who don't cooperate. After all, they're public health threats, right?

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-881139872003-01-27T15:32:00.000-05:002003-01-27T15:48:14.000-05:00

AIDS IN PIGS (Should that ham sandwich be wearing a red ribbon?) The CFIDS/AIDS-like epidemic of PRRS in pigs gets more and more interesting. Now that a ciguatera-like substance (a toxin associated with tropical fish) has been found in CFIDS patients, it would be interesting to know whether pigs with immune problems similar to those in people with CFIDS/AIDS also test positive for ciguatera.

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-881018442003-01-27T11:19:00.000-05:002003-01-27T11:44:19.000-05:00

FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS Thanks to Andrew Sullivan and the San Francisco Chronicle, we now know that the appointment of Jerry Thacker to the presidential AIDS advisory council was not just an aberration. The situation is far more ominous. Here's a paragraph from the Chronicle's story by Carolyn Lochhead: "'It is very clear that increasingly people within the Christian right and in the

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-880536932003-01-26T13:02:00.000-05:002003-01-26T13:18:10.000-05:00

CIGUATERA AND AIDS ---------- As CFIDS researchers and activists try to understand the role of ciguatera-like toxins in CFIDS, they would be wise to revisit the notion that AIDS and CFIDS are actually part of the same epidemic. What they may have shown is that AIDS and CFIDS have cytokines and cytotoxins in common. Both so-called different syndromes have a kind of dementia in common. Both are

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-880088512003-01-25T11:34:00.000-05:002003-01-25T12:26:34.000-05:00

The recent announcement that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients test positive for a ciguatera-type toxin could radically change the political landscape of CFIDS/AIDS. Research sponsored by the National CFIDS Foundation found a link between an exotic fish toxin called ciguatera and the AIDS-like condition of Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome. Because ciguatera is taken very seriously

rubiconnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4142929.post-880087192003-01-25T11:30:00.000-05:002003-01-25T11:36:50.000-05:00

Here we will cover developments in the science and politics of CFIDS/AIDS.

rubiconnoreply@blogger.com