TRUE or FALSE? The new coronavirus was deliberately created or released by people.
Viruses can change over time. Occasionally, a disease outbreak happens when a virus that is common in an animal such as a pig, bat or bird undergoes changes and passes to humans. This is likely how the new coronavirus came to be.
Uganda, 1989-ongoing: Study of HIV transmission
and HIV-related mortality in a large rural cohort
Study Name: Rakai Community Cohort Study
US research organization: Columbia University, Johns Hopkins
University
US funders: NIH, Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, John Snow Inc.
Offenses
Not
protecting participants (HIV negative partners of HIV-positive men or women):
Following HIV discordant couples (only one infected) not aware of their
situation to observe spouse-to-spouse HIV transmission. During1994-98, the
project followed 415 discordant couples, recording 90 new infections in
formerly HIV-negative spouses (Quinn et al, N Eng J Med2000). In a large
subsample of these couples “56% of HIV-1-positive partners…had requested and
received HIV counseling, and 25% stated that they had informed their spouses”
(p 1152, Gray et al, Lancet 2001).
Not
protecting participants (HIV-negative babies of HIV-positive mothers): Following
pregnant and breastfeeding HIV-positive women not aware they are infected and
their babies. During 1994-98, the study identified 725 HIV- positive pregnant
women. Only 49% of all pregnant women received their test results (Gray et al,
Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001). The project followed babies to age 2 years,
determining that 16% were infected before or during birth and 16% during a
median 20 months of breastfeeding (Brahmbhatt et al, J Acquir Immune Defic
Syndr 2006). Prevention of mother-to-child transmission was possible: In 1994,
the US Public Health Service recommended Zidovudine to reduce mother-to-child
transmission by two- thirds (Lurie and Wolfe, N Eng J Med 1997). Even if this
intervention is deemed too difficult for Uganda, the project could have
protected infants by warning HIV-positive mothers to avoid breastfeeding after
6 months.
Not
protecting participants (HIV-positive adults): Following participants who are
not aware they are HIV-positive and without offering prophylaxis for
opportunistic infections or antiretroviral therapy to record HIV-related sickness
and death. During annual home visits, the study team examined and asked
participants for symptoms characteristic of opportunistic infections and
recorded deaths. During 1994-98, the death rate for HIV-positive adults was
19.8 time greater than for HIV-negative adults. Survival with AIDS was often
less than 1 year (Sewankambo et al, AIDS 2000). Not until the President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) arrived in 2004 did the study arrange antiretroviral
treatment (ART) for HIV-positive participants.
When American Biotechnology corporations fund Neo-liberal projects aimed
at challenging the human origins of COVID 19
The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2
The genomic
features described here may explain in part the infectiousness and
transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. Although the
evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not a purposefully manipulated virus, it is
currently impossible to prove or disprove the other theories of its origin
described here. However, since we observed all notable SARS-CoV-2
features, including the optimized RBD and polybasic cleavage site, in related
coronaviruses in nature, we do not believe that any
type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.
