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Christine Maggiore

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Christine Maggiore is an HIV-positive activist and AIDS dissident (that is, a person who does not believe that HIV is the cause of AIDS). She is the founder of Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, an organization which questions "most common assumptions about HIV and AIDS".

Maggiore became a controversial figure following the death of her 3-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane Scovill, on May 16 2005. Maggiore had not taken medication to prevent transmission of HIV to her daughter, as she does not believe that HIV causes AIDS. Eliza Jane had never been tested for HIV. The Los Angeles County coroner concluded that Eliza Jane had died of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia as a result of untreated AIDS. However, a toxicologist (and AIDS dissident) retained by Maggiore to review the autopsy report disagreed, stating that he believed Eliza Jane's death was due to an allergic reaction to amoxicillin.

History

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Maggiore grew up in Southern California. After graduating with honors from Reseda High, she worked in advertising and marketing in Los Angeles until 1984. After traveling through Europe and North Africa in 1984, she settled in Florence, Italy, where she lived from 1985 to 1987. In 1986, Maggiore started what became a multimillion dollar import/export clothing company, Alessi International, based in Tuscany. In 1992, as part of a routine medical exam, Maggiore tested HIV positive.

Following her diagnosis, Maggiore became involved in volunteer work for a number of AIDS charities, including AIDS Project Los Angeles, L.A. Shanti and Women at Risk. However, following some anomalous HIV test results (negative, positive and indeterminate) and subsequently an interaction with prominent AIDS dissident Peter Duesberg in 1994, she began to question whether HIV did in fact cause AIDS. Maggiore came to believe that her positive test may have been due to flu shots, pregnancy, or a common viral infection.

In 1995, Maggiore left the clothing business to work as a freelance consultant for US government export programs. At the same time, she founded Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, an organization designed to foster an environment where HIV-positive people can feel free to openly discuss their health decisions, including decisions to avoid HIV medications for themselves or their children. Maggiore herself drew criticism for breast-feeding her children; breast feeding has been proven to increase the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, although this conclusion has not been accepted by many AIDS dissidents.

In a 2005 article in the L.A. Times, Maggiore claimed to be in excellent health without taking anti-retroviral treatment, and despite being diagnosed with a cervical condition that would qualify her for an AIDS diagnosis. Maggiore authored an article entitled My Bout of So-Called AIDS, expressing the fear and frustration of experiencing three conflicting Pap smear results.

Maggiore states that her husband and partner, filmmaker Robin Scovill, tests repeatedly negative despite what Maggiore describes as "a decade of normal, latex-free relations", as does their son Charlie, born in 1997.

Death of Eliza Jane

Christine Maggiore declined to take antiretroviral drugs or other measures to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV during her pregnancies. Antiretroviral drugs, along with other interventions, have been proven to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, although this conclusion is not accepted by AIDS dissidents. Maggiore also breast-fed her children, despite the fact that breast-feeding can also transmit HIV from mother to child. Her youngest daughter, Eliza Jane, was never tested for HIV, nor did she receive any of the recommended childhood vaccines. Maggiore discussed her beliefs as an AIDS dissident on Air America in March 2005, stating that "...our children have excellent records of health. They've never had respiratory problems, flus, intractable colds, ear infections, nothing. So, our choices, however radical they may seem, are extremely well-founded."

Illness and death

Several weeks after this interview, in April 2005, Eliza Jane became ill with a runny nose. She was seen by a physician from the family's pediatric practice, who documented a normal physical exam. Several days later, Maggiore took Eliza Jane to see another pediatrician, Dr. Jay Gordon, who felt she had a mild ear infection. Reportedly, Gordon was aware of Maggiore's HIV status, but did not have Eliza Jane tested for HIV and was not concerned about opportunistic infection.

When Eliza Jane failed to improve, Maggiore took her to see Dr. Philip Incao, a holistic practitioner and board member of Maggiore's dissident organization Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives. Incao stated that Eliza Jane appeared "mildly ill... no way I considered her in danger... she did not act as a patient acts if she's severely ill or in danger." On May 14 2005, Incao prescribed amoxicillin for a presumed ear infection.

The following day, Eliza Jane became lethargic and vomited several times. While Maggiore was on the phone to Dr. Incao, Eliza Jane collapsed and stopped breathing. She was rushed by ambulance to Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, California. Physicians attempted to rescusitate Eliza Jane, but were unsuccessful; she was pronounced dead at 5:40 AM on May 16 2005.

Cause of death

An autopsy was performed. The Los Angeles County coroner found that Eliza Jane was severely underweight and underheight, consistent with a chronic illness, and that she had had pronounced atrophy of her thymus and other lymphatic organs. Examination of her lungs showed infection with Pneumocystis jiroveci, a common opportunistic pathogen in people with AIDS. The post-mortem examination of Eliza Jane's brain showed changes consistent with HIV encephalitis; protein components of the HIV virus itself were identified in Eliza Jane's brain tissue via immunohistochemistry.

Based on the clinical information, the presence of documented HIV in Eliza Jane's brain, the evidence of pronounced immunosuppression, and the isolation of the opportunistic pathogen Pneumocystis jiroveci from Eliza Jane's lungs, the coroner concluded that Eliza Jane had died of Pneumocystis pneumonia in the setting of advanced AIDS. This conclusion was described by the coroner as "unequivocal".

Maggiore rejected the coroner's conclusion, ascribing it to political bias and attacking the personal credibility of the coroner, Dr. James Ribe. Maggiore retained a board-certified toxicologist, Dr. Mohammed Al-Bayati, to review the autopsy report. Dr. Al-Bayati holds a Ph.D. in comparative pathology; he is not a medical doctor, nor is he board-certified in human pathology; he does not believe that HIV causes AIDS.

Dr. Al-Bayati released a report describing his conclusion that Eliza Jane had not died from AIDS or PCP, but from an allergic reaction to amoxicillin. Maggiore embraced Dr. Al-Bayati's conclusion that a reaction to amoxicillin was responsible, stating, "I believe the unfortunate irony in this situation is that the one time that we were asked to and that we complied with mainstream medicine, we inadvertently gave our daughter something that took her life."

Critics have dismissed Al-Bayati's report as both biased and medically unsound. Both the L.A. Times and ABC PrimeTime Live consulted independent experts in pathology about Eliza Jane's case; these experts agreed unequivocally with the coroner's conclusion that AIDS and PCP were the cause of death, and rejected Dr. Al-Bayati's report.

Criticism and controversy

Following Eliza Jane Scovill's death, Maggiore's beliefs, as well as her refusal to take medication to prevent transmission of HIV to her children and her refusal to have her child tested for HIV, have become points of controversy. Maggiore holds fast to her belief that HIV does not cause AIDS, and that Eliza Jane died of a reaction to amoxicillin. Maggiore has also described much of the major journalistic coverage of her story as biased or inaccurate. She submitted a letter to the L.A. Times alleging factual errors and omissions in their articles on Eliza Jane; the Times did not print the letter, stating that "If facts in an article are wrong, a correction would be published. However, no correction is warranted in this case."

Others point to the weight of evidence, which suggests that Eliza Jane acquired AIDS from Maggiore perinatally or via breast feeding, that Eliza's HIV infection might have been prevented had Maggiore taken antiretroviral drugs or avoided breast feeding, that Eliza Jane's death was due to complications of AIDS, and that her death may have been preventable with proper medical care. Eliza Jane's death has been described as a concrete example of the human harm that can result from pseudoscientific beliefs such as AIDS denialism. Speaking at the 16th International AIDS Conference, Dr. John Moore argued:

... infants whose HIV infected mothers listen to AIDS denialists never got the chance to make their own decisions. The Maggiore case received wide publicity. Christine Maggiore is a person who’s proselytized against the use of antiretrovirals to prevent HIV/AIDS. She’s a classic AIDS denialist, and she gave birth to a child who died at age three late last year of an AIDS-related infection. The coroner’s report clearly reports that the child died of AIDS. That was another unnecessary death.

Maggiore's inclusion as an exhibitor at the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa has been criticized by AIDS activists.

The journalist and AIDS dissident Celia Farber wrote an article in June 2006 in the independent paper Los Angeles City Beat, arguing Maggiore's case and alleging incompetence, conspiracy, and coverups on the part of the coroner, the mainstream AIDS community, the mainstream media, and the medical community.

Legal ramifications

The death of Eliza Jane was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Department of Child Protective Services as a possible case of medical neglect or child endangerment. On September 15 2006 the LA County district attorney's office announced that it would not be filing charges against Christine Maggiore.

In September 2006, the Medical Board of California has filed charges of gross negligence against Dr. Paul Fleiss, Eliza Jane's pediatrician, due to his failure to test Eliza Jane for HIV (or document her parents' refusal of testing), his failure to counsel Maggiore to avoid breast-feeding given the risk of transmitting HIV, and similar violations of standard medical practice in Fleiss' care of a second HIV-positive child.

References

  1. ^ Alive & Well: AIDS Alternatives official organization page.
  2. ^ A Mother's Denial, a Daughter's Death: Article from L.A. Times
  3. ^ ABC News Primetime Live special report
  4. Nduati R, John G, Mbori-Ngacha D, Richardson B, Overbaugh J, Mwatha A, Ndinya-Achola J, Bwayo J, Onyango F, Hughes J, Kreiss J (2000). "Effect of breastfeeding and formula feeding on transmission of HIV-1: a randomized clinical trial". JAMA. 283 (9): 1167–74. PMID 10703779.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. Tess B, Rodrigues L, Newell M, Dunn D, Lago T (1998). "Infant feeding and risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 in São Paulo State, Brazil. São Paulo Collaborative Study for Vertical Transmission of HIV-1". J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr Hum Retrovirol. 19 (2): 189–94. PMID 9768630.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Watts D (2002). "Management of human immunodeficiency virus infection in pregnancy". N Engl J Med. 346 (24): 1879–91. PMID 12063373.
  7. Mofenson, LM, and the Committee on Pediatric AIDS. Technical report: perinatal human immunodeficiency virus testing and prevention of transmission. Pediatrics 2000; 106(6).
  8. ^ Autopsy Report on Eliza Jane Scovill
  9. ^ Justice For E.J., website maintained by David Crowe of the Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society, accessed 5 September 2006.
  10. Dr. Mohammed Al-Bayati's C.V., accessed 5 September 2006.
  11. Dr. Mohammed Al-Bayati's home page, at www.whale.to/a/bayati1.html, currently spam-blocked by Misplaced Pages. Accessed 5 September 2006.
  12. Mohammed Al-Bayati's review of Eliza Jane Scovill's autopsy, accessed 5 September 2006.
  13. Christine Maggiore: AIDS naysayer, accessed 5 September 2006.
  14. ^ Rebuttal to Dr. Mohammed Al-Bayati's report, by Nicholas Bennett, accessed 5 September 2006.
  15. Maggiore's view of the L.A. Times article, accessed 5 September 2006.
  16. HIV and Responsible Journalism, presented at the 16th annual International AIDS Conference, accessed 5 September 2006.
  17. Criticism of Maggiore's inclusion in the 13th International AIDS Conference
  18. Celia Farber's article on Eliza Jane, accessed 5 September 2006.
  19. ^ "L.A. County D.A. Won't Act in Girl's AIDS-Related Death", article in the L.A. Times, published 16 September 2006. Accessed 5 October 2006.

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