The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS

1172 Pages·2000·25.65 MB·English

by  Edward Hooper

International acclaim for Edward Hooper’s
THE R I V E R
A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS
“A remarkable book___Mr. Hooper has done a prodigious amount of
research.... He finds close coincidence in both time and place between the
earliest cases of AIDS and the testing of an oral vaccine.... The River builds
a sufficiently detailed case to require serious examination.”
— Lawrence K. Altman, M.D., New York Times
“A masterful account of the early history of HIV infection and AIDS....
The River is filled with fascinating detective work and acute characteriza­
tions of the human actors.... Apart from the main argument, Hooper’s
definitive account of the early spread of HIV provides many fascinating
insights and/or speculations.... Hooper’s book makes OPV-HIV the the­
ory to beat.” — Robert Trivers, Times Higher Education Supplement
“Hooper’s case history on AIDS could serve as a cautionary tale for
researchers today, a warning that the crossing from animals to humans is
fraught with peril.” — Marlene Cimons, Los Angeles Times
“Not only fascinating but important___On the eve of a technological rev­
olution, scientists and all of us would do well to read The River. For it is not
often that one can say that the tensions in a book are those at the heart of
civilization.... The River represents nothing less than a version of the
Faust myth for our age.” — Giles Foden, Guardian
“Meticulous scholarship and bulldog journalism.... A profoundly serious
and important book.” — Paul Salopek, Chicago Tribune
“Hooper’s book is as much a work of detection as it is of science, and it is
clearly the product of an unquenchable passion.... A great achievement.”
—■ Anthony Daniels, Evening Standard
“Organized science dismissed the theory as wild speculation by unin­
formed laymen. So Hooper set out to see if the polio vaccine theory holds
water. He concludes that it does — that well-meaning scientists inflicted
AIDS on the world___Hooper makes what struck me as a strong case.”
— Harry Levins, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“The investigative and revelatory text of the year.”
— Will Self, Independent on Sunday Books of the Year
“Fascinating.... The River is among the best surveys to appear on the epi­
demiology of AIDS.” — Helen Epstein, New York Review of Books
“An extraordinary book... that doesn’t feel a page too long.... As read­
able and compelling as a thriller.” — Penelope Dening, Irish Times
“Was AIDS caused by human error? That’s the intriguing question that for­
mer BBC reporter Edward Hooper tries to answer in The River.... A quite
readable tome that is part travelogue, part scientific inquiry, part investiga­
tive journalism.” — Alice Park, Time
“The River makes compelling reading — Hooper’s investigations give a
remarkably clear picture of the way science and medicine were conducted
a generation ago, of the protagonists’ subsequent rationalizations of their
conduct, and of the politics of science today.”
— Roy Porter, London Review of Books
“With enormous energy and imagination — often in the face of extreme
obstruction — this nonscientist has discovered as much about the virology
and epidemiology of HIV/AIDS as most professionals.... A serious book
underlining the common sense view that science is good but must be con­
trolled and used for the common good.”
— Tony Barnett, New Statesman
“A remarkably thorough and gripping investigation. Hooper has tracked
unpublished research, identified gaps in the scientific record and weak­
nesses in established theories of AIDS causation, revealed inconsistencies in
official accounts, and followed up every lead and rumor he could lay his
hands on.” — Richard Horton, Times Literary Supplement
“Thrilling nuggets [detail] the history of polio vaccine development, pri-
matology, the rise of AIDS in Africa and around the world, and African his­
tory. ... Superb primary data consisting of tables, maps, graphs, and
phylogenetic trees provide a clear thread with which to follow the story.
Dozens of interviews with the leading luminaries in virology, vaccine devel­
opment, and HIV provide glimpses into the excitement of science.”
— Charles van der Horst, Washington Post Book World
“One of the great stories of the century.... What, then, is the source of
HIV?... You really should read the book and make up your own mind.”
— Charles Gilks, New Scientist
T H E R I V E R
A JOURNEY TO THE SOURCE OF HIV AND AIDS
EDWARD HOOPER
BACK
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LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK LONDON
Copyright © 1999 by Edward Hooper
Postscript copyright © 2000 by Edward Hooper
All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced
in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the publisher, except
by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Originally published in hardcover by
Little, Brown and Company, August 1999
First Back Bay paperback edition, December 2000
All maps and charts originally drawn by Sally Griffin
with the exception of those on pp. 744 and 745, by Nigel
Andrews; on p. 832, by Pat Griffin; and
on p. 878 by Brian Foley.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hooper, Edward (Edward Jonathan).
The river: a journey to the source of HIV and AIDS/ by Edward
Hooper; with maps and charts by Sally Griffin,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-316-37261-7 (he) / 0-316-37137-8 (pb)
1. AIDS (Disease) — Epidemiology. 2. AIDS (Disease) — Etiology.
3. Poliomyelitis vaccine — Contamination. 4. Poliomyelitis —
Vaccination — Congo (Democratic Republic) — History. I. Title.
RA644.A25H663 1999
614.5'99392 — dc21 98-41592
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Q-FF
Book design by Julia Sedykh
Printed in the United States of America
TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN AFFECTED
BY THE AIDS EPIDEMIC, EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY. MANY
HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY THEIR DIGNITY AND COURAGE-----AND
BY THEIR FREQUENTLY REMARKABLE RESPONSES TO ADVERSITY.
AND IN FOND MEMORY OF PROFESSOR BILL HAMILTON (1936- 2OOO).
A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike.
And all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion
are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that
we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.
— John Steinbeck
Contents
Cast of Characters xiii
Foreword, by Professor Bill Hamilton xxvii
Prologue: A Note on Sources — And Exploring Rivers 3
Introduction: John Snow and the Water Pump 5
I
THE RIVER IN CROSS SECTION: FROZEN MOMENTS OF FLOW 15
1. Frozen in Time: 1959 17
2. Frozen in Space: A Rural Epicenter in Africa 31
II
FROM TRICKLE TO FLOOD: THE EARLY SPREAD OF AIDS 53
3. “A Mysterious Microbe”: Early Evidence of AIDS in North America 55
4. High Days and Holidays: The Haitian Interchange 74
5. Early Traces in Europe 83
6. HIV and AIDS in Central Africa 89
7. False Positives, and the Specter of Contamination 103
8. The Manchester Sailor 115
9. AIDS in the Pre-AIDS Era? 129
viii Contents
10. Theories of Origin, Propounded and Refuted 151
11. Gerry Myers and the Monkey Puzzle Tree 170
III
A NEW HYPOTHESIS OF SOURCE 185
12. AIDS and Polio Vaccines 187
13. The Race to Conquer Polio: Early Researcha nd Inactivated Polio Vaccines 194
14. The Race to Conquer Polio: Oral Polio Vaccines 204
15. Dr. Dick and Dr. Dane 218
16. “What Happens When Science Goes Bad” 227
17. Louis Pascal 236
18. The Counterattack Begins 244
IV
EUROPEAN FEEDERS 255
19. An Untimely Passing 257
20. The Congo Trials 266
21. Primate Immunodeficiency Viruses 284
22. Pierre Lupine and the Pasteur Institute 296
23. The Norwegian Sailor 306
24. Switzerland and Sweden 323
25. An Introduction to HIV-2 338
26. Paul Osterrieth and Fritz Deinhardt 347
27. The Quieting of Louis Pascal 365
V
THE PASSAGE THROUGH THE POOLS 375
28. A Man of Many Ideas 377
29. Hilary Koprowski — Opening Moves 397
30. The West Coast Trials 411
31. The East Coast Trials — And the Question of Informed Consent 420
32. At the CDC 432
33. Tom Norton 444