Subject: Dr. Caiazza's Theory

Dr. Stephen Caiazza's Theory
AIDS can be treated as syphilis with good results

NEW YORK - Dr. Stephen Caiazza says his sickest AIDS <2>
patients are getting well.

Caiazza, who treats AIDS patients as if they have syphilis,
said in a recent interview that he's seeing results he doesn't
believe.  See <30> for definition of syphilis.

He started his private practice in Manhattan in l982, primarily
treating gay men and, early on, noticed AIDS was increasing in his
patients as were gonorrhea and herpes <16>.  But he was only
seeing a couple of cases of syphilis.

Medical school taught him syphilis had been wiped out and it was
unlikely he would ever diagnose a patient with the venereal disease
throughout his career.  Yet, he found the low incidence of syphilis
among his own patients very odd considering their lifestyle.

Caiazza said the few times he diagnosed syphilis in AIDS and
patients with AIDS-related complex (ARC) <7> he treated them
with penicillin.  <24>  They got better.

He also became aware of the work of research physiologist Dr.
Joan McKenna <45 for McKenna's theory> and the treatments of two
West German doctors.  McKenna had come to the conclusion that 80 per
cent of AIDS patients really suffer from undiagnosed or masked
syphilis.

She holds that if a patient has AIDS it's probably not a bad
idea to treat them as if they've got syphilis.  For McKenna, who is not
a doctor, this means that doctors should treat patients with large
doses of pencillin for as long as two months.

An editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine last June,
while not supporting the idea that AIDS is really syphilis,
indicated, as did research papers in the same journal, that
traditional penicillin treatments are not always successful in
treating syphilis, especially in people with depressed immune systems.
See <30 for pencillin treatments>.
It also pointed out that the diagnosis of syphilis may be hindered in
patients with depressed immune systems.

See <6> for information on how the immune system works.

It concludes: "All HIV-infected patients should be screened for
syphilis and vice versa."  It also states that "anyone who has a
compromised immune status for any reason and has contracted syphilis
should be treated with higher doses of antibiotics for prolonged
periods."  See <30> for standard syphilis treatment.

Although intravenous treatment is the best for syphilis Caiazza
said he thinks this is impractical, particularly in New York where
hospital admissions must be justified to hospital officials.

Syphilis tests frequently show negative results in patients with
depressed immune systems, Caiazza said, and argues the false negative
tests would make it almost impossible to prove to administrators his
patients required hospitalization for intravenous penicillin.

As an alternative he started a two-step treatment program which
treats first a patient's immune system then attacks any syphilis
bacteria that has crossed the blood/brain barrier and may eventually
cause neurological damage.  Tissues that separate blood and
brain are referred to as the blood/brain barrier.

The first stage is a regime of weekly injections of 2.4 million
units of benzathine penicillin, the standard dose which was evolved 45
years ago to treat syphilis.  <30>

Some patients get one injection a week for four weeks.  Others,
in poorer health, have longer treatments.

"When I decide they've had enough weekly I convert to medication
by mouth and give them doxycycline, a synthetic tetracycline which
goes straight to the brain," he said.  The dosage is usually 400
milligrams a day.

The second stage of his treatment is administered for an
indefinite period of time.

"I haven't stopped anyone yet.  The Russians and Poles think that
like diseases such as herpes the patient may never get rid of
syphilis.   So they treat for two years...the answer is an issue we
have yet to decide."

Last year he treated more than 125 patients AIDS and ARC <7>
patients and only one died.

By comparison, he said between 1982 and 1986 he lost more than
200 patients using standard AIDS treatment.  (During those years he
treated about 1,000 patients).

"I'm seeing absolutely amazing clinical results," he said.

In three patients, Kaposi's sarcoma "is definitely going away."
See <20> for definition of Kaposi's sarcoma.

"At first I didn't believe it.  The patients said it was going
away and that they weren't fantasizing.  Finally, I couldn't even deny
it." he said.

Caiazza said some of his sickest patients are showing the most
promising results.In a paper he's written on his work he tracks the
health of 10 of them.

All of the three cases of Kaposi's sarcoma <20> are in
remission and lesions have regressed in two patients.  Ten out of 10
patients have responded to treatment and are clinically improved, he
said.  All have outlived their initial prognoses.  The immune systems in
nine out of 10 patients have improved.  Some have returned to their
regular jobs, although all are still very ill.

Caiazza said he would like to conduct more research to confirm
his findings but hasn't been able to find the financial support which
would let him do this.

Most of the $150,000 he's spent so far on research has come out
of his own pocket.   Of that, he's borrowed $50,0000.  "I'm still
paying debts," he said.

Caiazza's case studies are by no means exhaustive proof his
treatment method works.  Extensive tests with a control group that did
not recieve treatment would be needed to determine the usefulness of
his methods.

No mainstream medical journals will publish a paper he's written
on his work.  He admits he's turned to daily newspapers, radio and
television - or any other avenue he can find - to try to make the
public aware of what he's doing.

Recently, the Soviet Union asked him to present his findings at
the first international congress on AIDS and syphilis later this year.

Personally, he strongly feels he's up against a medical
establishment whose egos and reputations hinge on validating the HIV
virus link to AIDS.  In 1981 Caiazza prescribed amphetamines for
himself, which is against the law.  "I did something that in the
medical profession is very common - although that doesn't excuse it,"
he said.  "But I have never had a patient care issue raised." Caiazza
says he is still plagued by the error he made in 1981.

"God forbid, a schleppy doctor like me discovered something they
missed," he said.

Caiazza is a general internist and a graduate of the New York
University School of Medicine in New York.  Between 1977 and 1978 he
held a research fellowship in immunology from the National Institute
of Health.

Early in his career he was instrumental in getting the drug AZT
(Azidothymidine) released, an act he now looks back on with some
regret.  AZT, which can produce serious side effects, is said to
prolong the life of some AIDS patients although its effectiveness has
never been proven in a full clinical test.  See <9> for more
information.

Caiazza said he's asked for research funds from Dr.  Stephen
Joseph, Health Commissioner for New York City; David Axelrod, New York
state's commissioner of health; the Honorable Joseph Lisa, chairman of
the AIDS subcommittee of New York City council; and Mathilda Krim of
the American Medical Foundation AIDS research committee.

"I've gone to everyone I know and the only person who is willing
to fund me is the guy you're talking to," he said.

"In a certain sense (penicillin is) too easy.  Even if I'm half
right think of the incredible industry that I'm threatening:  the
pharmaceutical industry (penicillin is a generic drug and no-one
particular company profits from its use), doctors and researchers."

Because he can't find funding, and his overhead costs are high,
Caiazza said his patients ultimately are the ones paying for research
through his fees.  An initial consultation costs $375.  Each office
visit is $100.  Every injection costs $50.

He wonders what is so wrong about his request for some of the
AIDS research dollars.  Why shouldn't he be able to take 50 to 100
patients under controlled circumstances and treat them for syphilis,
he asks.  "Unless I can hurt them - which I can't - because there's a
test which will tell if they're allergic to penicillin."

Caiazza argues that - at the very worst - he would be treating
undiagnosed syphilis.

Caiazza said he doesn't know what role the HIV virus plays in
AIDS - maybe there's some synergism.  "It's (perhaps) not HIV alone
but a synergistic cofactor." See <11> for definition of cofactor.

"The question:  Can a person get sick and die with what you and I
call AIDS without the HIV virus?  <32> Yes.  It happens all the
time.   About 30 per cent of people who are dying with AIDS you can't
find any evidence of the HIV virus," he said.  Since 1985, 93 per cent
of persons with AIDS in New York and San Franciso were not tested for
the presence of the HIV antibody.  Diagnosize of the syndrome was made
solely by the confirmed presence of diseases associated with AIDS.  See
<29> for details on symptoms of AIDS.

Caiazza thinks there's no point in an HIV vaccine.  It could cause
dangerous problems by overstimulating the immune system.  It is
theorized that HIV may do damage to the immune system by triggering an
autoimmune reaction.  See <8> for details.  If the theory is true
it may be possible for a vaccine to also make the body's immune system
attack itself.

Like virologist and New York physician Joseph Sonnabend,
<36> Caiazza predicts AIDS will go away as a visible health
problem and be sequestered in urban ghettos of IV drug abusers and
hangers on.  See <48> for similiar views from Joseph Sonnabend.  He
thinks the leading proponents for the HIV theory are aware of the
attention their critics are getting.

He said virologist Peter Duesberg is "right on target and a
champion of the whole movement which opposes the HIV virus theory."
Duesberg believes there is insufficient biological evidence for HIV as
the cause of AIDS.  See <"Retroviruses and Reality"> for more information.

Could penicillin be somehow altering the progress of HIV induced
AIDS rather than treating syphilis?  It's not an issue that concerns
Caiazza.

"I don't care why it's working ...  my patients are living and
[those of other doctors] are dead," he said.