In response to recent claims of “negative AIDS”, a team led by academician Zhong Nanshan released the results of a systematic clinical observation and pathogen testing of 60 cases of self-reported suspected HIV infections from 16 provinces and cities across China on the afternoon of June 6.
Zhong Nanshan said, “We do not agree with the statement ‘negative for AIDS’ because there is no evidence that they have developed AIDS. No unknown virus has been found, and what we want to explain with the results of this study is that the symptoms that this group of people is producing are not just the psychological factor of ‘AIDS-phobia’, but that there is some known virus infection.”
Under the guidance of Academician Zhong Nanshan, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College established a special research group consisting of the Department of Infection and the Virus Unit of the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases. The research team, with the cooperation of clinical departments and experts from the Department of Dermatology, Psychology, Rheumatology, Gynecology, Ophthalmology and Urology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, conducted systematic clinical observation and pathogen testing on 60 persons who reported suspected HIV infection between March 31 and May 3, 2011. These persons came from 16 provinces and cities, of whom 50 were self-reported patients with suspected HIV infection, 42 of whom were male and 8 female. The other 10 were family members of self-reported patients. Their average age was 34.2 years old.
Zhong Nanshan introduced that these people received a comprehensive physical examination during this period, and the routine examination included blood routine, immunological examination, HLA-B27 gene, X-ray examination; pathogen examination included serum antibody, culture or antigen examination, fluorescent PCR examination, and focused on these people’s white blood cells, plasma, prostate fluid, leucorrhoea, saliva, paraurethral gland, urethral A total of 258 samples of 7 types of swabs were tested for Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU), gonococcus (NG), herpes simplex virus (HSV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), EBV (human herpesvirus) and other 6 pathogens that may form chronic or latent infections by nucleic acid fluorescent PCR.
Zhong Nanshan introduced, after testing the preliminary results obtained: first, 60 self-reported suspected HIV-infected personnel HIV antibody primary screening test and white blood cell HIV nucleic acid fluorescence PCR test were negative; second, of the 60 people tested, the total number of pathogen-positive patients detected was 48, accounting for 80 percent. Among these 48 positive pathogens, 33 patients (68.75%) were positive for EBV. state 1 case and mild depression 1 case.
According to the test results, the Department of Infection of KWIH provided targeted treatment to some of them, and the symptoms were partially relieved, such as CT, UU and NG disappeared. The treatment plan needs to be further improved, especially the EBV treatment, and the long-term efficacy needs to be further observed.
According to Academician Zhong Nanshan, HIV and its related markers were not found in the examined population, but the aforementioned pathogens can be infected through sexual contact or close contact, can be chronic or exist latently in the white blood cells, and affect the relevant immune functions of the body, forming part of the complaints of the examined personnel, such as reactive arthritis or chronic fatigue syndrome.
“As the onset of cases are mostly young adults, and most of them have high-risk sexual behavior before the onset of the disease, some of the symptoms described by the personnel are mostly related to the pathogenic infection and not timely and standardized treatment, at the same time, during the examination, the personnel who have undergone psychological testing partly suggest abnormal performance, such as hypochondria, anxiety and depression.” Zhong Nanshan said.
In response to the test results, the medical staff noted, “More than two-thirds of those who attended the clinic with positive pathogens were EBV infected, and several family members were positive at the same time, which is related to the high infection characteristics of EBV as a frequent occurrence. Since EBV can be transmitted through saliva, it is recommended to use public chopsticks when eating out and at home to avoid cross-infection.”