Hello, I’m Paul Franks and I’ve written a conspiracy-thriller called ‘A Dive Into Darkness’, based upon my four years researching HIV/AIDS. In this original podcast series, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the story behind the story, the four-year research and writing process from inspiration to publication, and all points in between.

In Episode Twenty, I outlined how CMV wears down the immune system using guerilla warfare tactics that leave the immune system too preoccupied and, eventually, too exhausted, to deal with both CMV and other pathogens, the so-called opportunistic infections. This immune system overload and burnout is a totally rational, evidence-driven explanation of the development and progression of AIDS, requiring no third-party intervention by a ‘virus’ called ‘HIV.’

In Episode Twenty-One, ‘1970s Transplant AIDS - Part One’, I will begin an examination of three papers published in the 1970s which prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that AIDS was no mystery and no ‘out of the blue’ occurrence. If you wish to find out more about the symptoms of AIDS, then, as well as the Fauci lecture cited in the previous episode, I suggest you watch the San Francisco programme listed at the bottom of this post. This will show you how the symptoms and clinical timeline suffered by transplant patients in the 1970s were almost identical to those suffered by ‘AIDS’ patients in the early 1980s, and will tell you that AIDS, whatever the CDC said, was no inexplicable mystery requiring months and years to unravel.

The first paper ‘FORTY-DAY FEVER - An Epidemic of Cytomegalovirus Disease in a Renal Transplant Population’, was published in 1974 but was based upon events which occurred at Stanford University Hospital, California, between 1 April 1970 and 30 September 1971.

The very first sentence uncannily echoes the name given to the original CDC KSOI task force set up in June 1981: ‘A disturbing consequence of immunosuppressive therapy is the appearance of opportunistic infection in the compromised hosts.’

If people’s immune systems are damaged, then they will suffer from opportunistic infections. The next sentence gives the lie to the Task Force’s belief, led by Don Francis, that CMV hadn’t killed anybody:

‘As early as 1964 cytomegalovirus (CMV) was recognized as a contributory cause of the pneumonic disease observed in 47 percent of a group of 32 organ transplant recipients who died after immunosuppressive therapy. In four of these cases CMV was the only agent detected in the lungs.’

So, we have immunosuppression, CMV, pneumonic disease and death. What did the June 5 MMWR state about the first five GRID patients? All had PCP pneumonia, all had CMV infections, all were immunosuppressed.

The whole paper is incredibly instructive and another standout sentence comes a few paragraphs later: ‘All patients were ill with a clinically unique syndrome, manifested by the occurrence of fever 40 days after transplant, persistence of fever for four to six weeks, the development of interstitial pneumonitis, and varying degrees of hepatic and renal involvement.’ The words ‘syndrome’, ‘persistence of fever’and ‘pneumonitis’ stand out.

The paper analyses a ‘Clinical Syndrome of Disseminated CMV Disease’; if you watch the San Francisco video, you’ll see how closely the symptoms match those of the early AIDS cases.

The paper states that ‘The patients who were victims of the current CMV epidemic presented with a virtually diagnostic symptom complex. The first clinical sign was a rise in temperature, which ran as high as 41 C. The febrile episodes recurred daily and were not sustained. A non-productive cough was a very early symptom. The clinical picture was complicated to a greater or lesser degree by involvement of other organ systems.’

The next sentence is stunning: ‘Respiratory failure was the final common pathway for the five patients who died, superinfection with pathogenic organisms leading to overwhelming pneumonia.’

So, just like AIDS, we have immune deficiency, CMV, super / opportunistic infections, other pathogens, deadly pneumonia, death.

‘Four of the five patients who died showed histologic changes characteristic of viral encephalitis, and two of these had demonstrable CMV. One patient with established CMV encephalitis exhibited paranoid ideation and perseveration, with intermittent disorientation. She had alternating postural tremor in all limbs, tongue and mouth during voluntary movement which disappeared at rest. She also had muscle wasting and diffuse motor weakness.’ All these were symptoms of AIDS patients.

‘Another patient with CMV encephalitis became psychotic and in her case also loss of muscle bulk was associated with generalized weakness.’ AIDS patients all around the globe wasted away. ‘Low white blood cell numbers developed in more than half the patients during the febrile period.’

The paper concludes: ‘Cytomegalovirus infection is one of the numerous possible infective complications of immunosuppression. Of all the aspects of CMV infection in the outbreak, interstitial pneumonitis was the most feared complication, not only because of its direct effect in decreasing oxygenation, but also because it predisposes the patient to superinfection with pathogenic organisms. CMV infections have been described previously in immunosuppressed patients, but the degree of virulence we encountered was unusual. Asymptomatic CMV carriers may have high levels of antibody and excrete virus in the urine or throat secretions. We would like to suggest that a latent form of infection stemming from a common source is established and it persists in a fashion readily activated by immunosuppression. Infection may occur as a result of aspiration of airborne droplets from secretions, but transfer by blood transfusions has not been excluded. We have documented a virulent form of CMV whose hallmark is a particularly debilitating and injurious pneumonitis. Evidence has been presented to suggest that the infection may be acquired initially in the hemodialysis phase of the patient's course, and that the full devastating impact of the disease is then seen during the subsequent transplant phase.’

So, to conclude, this 1974 paper, based upon an epidemic which occurred in 1970/71, shows: immunodeficiency; acquired CMV infection; disseminated CMV disease; a unique clinical syndrome including fever; non-productive cough; muscle wasting; mental and physical disablement; overwhelming superinfection / opportunistic infections; pneumonia; death. In short, ‘Transplant AIDS’.

Thank you for listening to Episode Twenty-One of ‘A Dive Into Darkness’. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please tell your friends about it. In Episode Twenty-Two of ‘A Dive Into Darkness’, I will continue with my examination of ‘ Transplant AIDS’ cases from the 1970s.

Till the next time, goodbye and happy reading.

‘A Dive Into Darkness’ is available both as an ebook and paperback, with Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-dive-into-darkness-paul-franks/1145527746?ean=9781917129855

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dive-Into-Darkness-Paul-Franks-ebook/dp/B0D32DP97S

1985 "AIDS: An Incredible Epidemic" by San Francisco General Hospital

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1129295/pdf/westjmed00305-0023.pdf

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