En Afrique du Sud, la lutte contre le sida porte les stigmates du déni

AFP

Tous les matins à 8H00, Thabo Moloi avale ses deux petites pilules miracle. A 30 ans, ce Sud-Africain leur doit la vie sauve et n'arrive toujours pas à comprendre le précédent gouvernement, qui a refusé pendant des années de distribuer ces précieux antirétroviraux (ARV).

"Du moment que j'ai mes médicaments sur moi, je ne me fais pas de souci", lance le jeune homme, qui prend deux fois par jour ses ARV depuis le début de son traitement il y a trois ans.

"Ma santé est parfaite", dit-il. "Je l'attribue aux ARV. Ils sont mon carburant: si je ne les prends pas, je ne peux plus bouger".

Thabo Moloi prend part au plus grand programme mondial de lutte contre le sida, dont le gouvernement sud-africain s'enorgueillit aujourd'hui après des années de déni de la maladie.

Alors que le sida se répandait à travers toute l'Afrique du Sud, l'ancien président Thabo Mbeki a remis en question le lien entre VIH et sida, proclamant qu'il ne connaissait aucune personne séropositive au VIH.

Son ministre de la Santé, la fidèle Manto Tshabala-Msimang, proposait pour combattre ce fléau du jus de citron, des betteraves, de l'huile d'olive et de l'ail. Ce remède lui valu le sobriquet de "Docteur Betterave".

Une étude de l'Université Harvard vient d'évaluer les conséquences de cette politique: 365.000 personnes sont décédées entre 2000 et 2005 faute d'avoir reçu les médicaments adaptés.

"Ces gens sont morts à cause de l'ancienne ministre de la Santé et de l'ex-président. C'est aussi simple que ça", estime le docteur François Venter, à la tête de l'Association des cliniciens d'Afrique australe contre le VIH.

Aujourd'hui, quelque 550.000 Sud-Africains suivent un traitement adapté contre 12.000 en septembre 2004, lorsque les antirétroviraux ont été distribués par l'Etat. Le pays compte le plus grand nombre de séropositifs dans le monde avec 5,5 des 48 millions d'habitants porteurs du virus.

"Nous avons le plus grand programme mais aussi la plus grande population infectée par le virus. Il n'y a pas de quoi être fier", souligne M. Venter, pour qui le retard pris durant toutes ces années se fait encore ressentir en 2008 avec seulement 40% des besoins couverts.

L'arrivée de la nouvelle ministre de la Santé, Barbara Hogan, qui a pris son poste en septembre après la démission du président Mbeki, pourrait changer la donne. "Nous savons que le VIH est à l'origine du sida", a-t-elle affirmé.

Pour M. Venter, elle est la "nouvelle Obama", héritant d'"un système issu de l'enfer".

Au total, deux millions de personnes sont mortes du sida depuis les années 80 et 70.000 bébés naissent chaque année avec le virus, a précisé Andrew Warlick, militant au sein du groupe Treatment Action Campaign.

Consciente de ce large défi, l'Afrique du Sud va pour la première fois consacrer une minute de silence le 1er décembre. Mais le chemin est encore long, après des années d'inaction, pour faire baisser le taux d'infection et pousser les gens à se faire dépister.

"L'héritage de l'ancienne ministre de la Santé ne se résume pas au VIH mais s'étend à l'ensemble du système de santé", souligne M. Venter. Les Sud-Africains qui le peuvent sont de plus en plus nombreux à se tourner vers le privé pour se faire soigner.

En 2004, la distribution des ARV dans les hôpitaux publics, considérés comme de véritables mouroirs, est arrivée trop tard pour la soeur de Thabo Moloi. Sa famille, incapable de payer les 1.200 rands (120 dollars/ 94 euros) mensuels pour son traitement dans le secteur privé, n'a eu d'autre choix que de la regarder mourir, à 32 ans.

"S'ils avaient distribué les médicaments à temps, ma soeur serait toujours en vie", enrage encore aujourd'hui Thabo.

L'ancienne ministre de la santé, influencée par les stupidités du pseudo-docteur Rath et de Beljanski? Peut-être. En tous cas, ces stupidités, propagées par les bons soins des adeptes d'AMESSI tuent. Il est vrai que ce ne sont que des Africains, alors quelle importance?

Fall of the doctor who said his vitamins would cure Aids

Sarah Boseley, health editor, The Guardian

Matthias Rath, the vitamin campaigner accused of endangering thousands of lives in South Africa by promoting his pills while denouncing conventional medicines as toxic and dangerous, has dropped a year-long libel action against the Guardian and been ordered to pay costs.

Rath sued over three Guardian articles that condemned his promotional activities among Aids sufferers in South African townships.

A qualified doctor who is thought to have made millions selling nutritional supplements around the globe through his website empire, Rath claimed his pills could reverse the course of Aids and distributed them free in South Africa, where campaigners, who have won a hard-fought battle to persuade the government to roll out free Aids drugs to keep millions alive, believe Rath's activities led to deaths.

The Dr Rath Foundation focuses its promotional activities on eight countries - the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, France and Russia - claiming that his micronutrient products will cure not just Aids, but cancer, heart disease, strokes and other illnesses.

The collapse of the case will have repercussions around the world. International authorities on Aids welcomed the outcome. Prof Brian Gazzard, one of the UK's leading HIV/Aids experts, who advised the Guardian on its case, said he was delighted at the result. "The widespread provision of anti-retrovirals in sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most important public health measures of this century," he said. The confusion caused by suggestions that giving undernourished people vitamins and minerals was an alternative to taking Aids drugs was "extremely harmful".

Mark Wainberg, director of the McGill Aids centre in Montreal, said: "It is clear that he [Rath] has done enormous harm to people with HIV." Rath was linked to the Aids deniers who convinced people, he said, that Aids was not dangerous and that "you can treat yourself with medicines that are a complete waste of time".

John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunobiology at Cornell University in the United States, said: "The promotion of micronutrients and vitamin pills as effective remedies for HIV harms infected people. If they stop taking the anti-retroviral drugs that we are know are effective, their health suffers."

After the high court awarded initial costs of £220,000 to the Guardian, its editor, Alan Rusbridger, said: "We are very glad that Rath has dropped his libel action, doubtless designed to discourage other journalists - in Britain and abroad - from looking too closely at his dubious claims and methods. We will seek to recover the costs of defending our journalism."

The Guardian articles appeared in January and February last year in the Bad Science column written by Ben Goldacre, who said Rath "aggressively sells his message to Aids victims in South Africa that Rath vitamin pills are better than medication".

Goldacre praised Zackie Achmat, founder of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in South Africa, for winning his long-running battle with the government for the distribution of free Aids drugs. This victory, said one of the articles, was deeply damaging to Rath and his colleague Anthony Brink, a barrister and former spokesman for Rath's organisation who actively campaigns against anti-retroviral drugs.

Rath wanted to exclude from the court's consideration part of one of Goldacre's articles, which mentioned Brink's attempt to have Achmat indicted for genocide at the international criminal court in The Hague. In February, Mr Justice Tugendhat ruled that the entire article must be considered. Had the case proceeded, the court would have been presented with details of Brink's complaint to The Hague, which called for Achmat to be permanently confined "in a small white and concrete cage, bright fluorescent light on all the time to keep an eye on him" and force-fed his Aids drugs or, "if he bites, kicks and screams too much, dripped into his arm after he's been restrained on a gurney with cable tied around his ankles, wrists and neck". The complaint was described by the Rath Foundation in January last year as "entirely valid and long overdue".

Rath, who describes himself as German-born though is also listed as Dutch in Companies House documents, began operating in South Africa in 2004.

In a pattern that has been repeated in other countries, he began by running newspaper adverts attacking the pharmaceutical industry and promoting natural remedies for diseases. Eventually he was stopped by the South African advertising standards authority for making unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of vitamins in the treatment of Aids.

In 2005, Rath began to offer his nutritional supplement VitaCell to people with Aids in Khayelitsha, a township outside Cape Town. He claims he was running a trial, that participants were suffering from advanced Aids and that none were on or had been on anti-retroviral drugs. Some died, however, and relatives have given statements claiming that some of them had been on ARVs but were told to stop using them.

In June this year, TAC won a ruling from the high court that the trial was illegal. VitaCell was being promoted as a medicine, the court said, and therefore it needed permission. The court also ruled that the South African government had breached the law by not clamping down on unlicensed remedies. Rath has been given permission to appeal against this ruling.

The Rath Foundation recently expanded its reach into Russia, where Aids has been on the increase. In an advertisement in Izvestia in February, Rath attacked the pharmaceutical industry and suggested that heart attacks, strokes and cancers could be cut to a fraction of the present level through "natural health approaches".

Parmi les nombreux charlatans de la santé, le 'Dr' Rath est un des plus sinistres. Le négationnisme du virus du SIDA est un énorme business comptant sur le désespoir des malades des pays défavorisés pour leur extraire le peu d'argent qu'ils peuvent se permettre de dépenser. Dans une 'logique' très commune chez AMESSI, ils dénoncent le business des laboratoires pharmaceutiques pour supporter le charlatanisme commercial.

Scientist supporting herbal HIV remedy suspended

06/07/06 12:34

Researcher faces university investigation after work with unproven AIDS treatment.

Natasha Bolognesi

Mysterious medicine: Secomet V is made from the red clover, Trifollium pratense.
The University of Cape Town in South Africa has closed down the laboratories of one of its top scientists, who has been supporting an unproven herbal AIDS remedy.

Girish Kotwal, head of medical virology at the university's Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, has been temporarily suspended from his research duties so the university can investigate his association with the plant extract Secomet V, which is manufactured and distributed by the Stellenbosch-based company Secomet.

Secomet V has found a champion in Kotwal (see 'Bad Medicine'). But there have as yet been no clinical trials of the product.

Kotwal has published some data from a trial with four individuals showing that the herbal extract, which comes as a Coca-Cola-coloured liquid, acts as a broad-spectrum inhibitor of viral entry. But Kotwal's work has also shown that it can be toxic to cells, at least in the test tube. He acknowledges that much more testing is needed before the product should be used clinically.

Two AIDS patients in Stellenbosch died earlier this year after sudden liver failure. Neither had been on antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), says their doctor Lisa Hellstrom, but both were taking Secomet V. Another of Hellstrom's patients, who has taken both ARVs and Secomet V, has been found to have abnormal liver enzymes.

The product does not seem to be properly registered in the country as a herbal or complementary medicine, and some have raised potential ethical concerns about the university's sales royalty agreement with Secomet.

This royalty agreement will be reviewed by the university on completion of their investigation, says the university's manager of marketing and communications, Skye Grove.

Taking action

The institute's director Greg Hussey has said that Kotwal was dealing with Secomet in a personal capacity, and has said that his behaviour regarding the product is unacceptable. The matter was brought to the attention of higher university authorities by the investigations of Nature Medicine, which first reported on Kotwal's involvement with Secomet on 28 June 2006 (see 'Bad medicine').

Cheryl de la Rey, deputy vice-chancellor of the university, told news@nature.com they are taking the matter seriously.

Certain allegations of possible professional misconduct in respect of Kotwal are under investigation, says Grove. "The preliminary investigation committee convened on Monday 3 July to decide what the charges against him will be. He has been temporarily suspended from his research duties, and his laboratory has been closed, pending the outcome of this," says Grove.

Kotwal told news@nature.com that he cannot communicate with the press until the investigation has been completed.

Secomet, meanwhile, continues to sell their product. Their website says that the herbal extract "is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease" but adds that: "patients generally experience a lowering of viral load, which allows their CD4 count to stabilize and then to start improving."

Chairman of South African Medicine's Control Council (MCC), Peter Eagles, told news@nature.com that "Secomet cannot trade making medicinal claims. The company's conduct will be discussed at an MCC meeting on Friday 7 July when the matter will be put forward for further clarity and investigation." Secomet refused to comment to news@nature.com.

L'Afrique du Sud est un havre pour les médecines 'alternatives' contre le SIDA soutenues par certains politiques, dont le président Mbeki et son Ministre de la Santé, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. On se rappellera notamment le cas des pilules multivitaminiques du Dr Rath censées combattre le SIDA, des cancers, etc. Il est donc intéressant de constater qu'il n'est quand même pas possible d'y faire du n'importe quoi médical, comme de recommander des produits potentiellement dangereux sans tests scientifiques, avec en plus un lien financier pouvant générer un conflit d'intérêt.

Référence:
Article du Skepdic sur le Dr Rath

Le Dr Rath, ses vitamines et ses lucratives boutiques

06/10/05 14:42

Concernant le Dr Rath, le mieux est de laisser parler le web. Comme pour Le Ribault et son G5, il n'y a pas le moindre début de preuve de l'efficacité des mégadoses de vitamines sur des maladies comme le cancer, le SIDA ou les pathologies cardiaques.
Le Dr Rath, qui défend ses boutiques et contourne les lois en vendant via Internet, attaque tout ce qui bouge et conteste ses allégations infondées, glapissant "au complot pharmaceutique" et accusant les médecins et les groupes pharmaceutiques de "génocide".
Ces diffammations lui valent procès sur procès et nul doute qu'il finira dans les oubliettes de la charlatanerie, ce dont l'accusent tous ses détracteurs. Aucun des procès qu'il a intenté à ces derniers n'a jamais abouti.
Il lui a été consacré un dossier très complet en anglais dans le Dictionnaire Sceptique.

Statement from Harvard School of Public Health Researchers Regarding Misinterpretation of Findings on Vitamins and HIV/AIDS :

Boston, MA--Published statements in the United States and South Africa by
businessman Matthias Rath, whose company Matthias Rath Inc. sells vitamin
formulas, state that antiretroviral therapy (ART) "severely damage[s] all
cells in the body--including white blood cells--thereby not improving but rather
worsening immune deficiencies and expanding the AIDS epidemic." These statements
promote vitamins as superior to ART in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Rath has
attempted to support his claims with findings from Harvard School of Public
Health research in Tanzania. We condemn these irresponsible and misleading
statements as in our view they deliberately misinterpret findings from our
studies to advocate against the scale up of antiretroviral therapy.

Les auteurs de l'étude mentionnée par Rath, en support de ses allégations charlatanesques, sont démenties formellement par les propres auteurs de l'étude en question.

Autres références:

South Africa: UNAIDS Lambastes Vitamin 'Charlatans' :

Anyone who claims vitamins can cure or treat HIV/AIDS is a "charlatan", UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot told a press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday.
Reacting to questions about vitamins proponent Matthias Rath, Piot said it was unfortunate that there would always be people who tried to make money out of the misery and suffering of others.
"Recommending vitamins as a treatment for HIV/AIDS is not only confusing, but is going to kill people ... We are very disturbed that this kind of commercial exploitation of the impact of HIV/AIDS is made," Piot remarked.

TAC dénonce les mensonges et la fausse science sur le sida:

Treatment Action Campaign a exprimé sa colère envers un richissime fabricant de vitamines, Matthias Rath qui mène une campagne mensongère sur le traitement du sida.
Ce fabricant de vitamines fait campagne dans plusieurs journaux pour la promotion de ces vitamines qui, prises en grande quantité, seraient le meilleur traitement contre le VIH/sida. Cette campagne est accompagnée de propos diffamatoires envers les scientifiques qui préconisent la prise d’antirétroviraux pour lutter contre la maladie, et ceux qui font campagne pour l’accès à ces médicaments, en particulier TAC
Alors que le gouvernement reconnaît que plus de 500 000 personnes ont besoin de ces médicaments, qu’il a adopté un plan global de lutte contre la maladie et qu’il vient d’annoncer qu’il allait dépenser plus de 3 milliards de rands pour l’achat de ces médicaments et leur distribution dans les centres publics de santé, la campagne de ce charlatan sape les efforts du gouvernement et sème la confusion dans l’opinion publique.

Le Dr Mattias Rath vend des préparations controversées :

Alors que les scientifiques auraient aimé recevoir quelque preuve que des produits naturels pourraient retarder les attaques cardiaques ou le cancer d'un an ou deux, Rath promet des résultats presque magiques de ses préparations: "sa percée médicale" "a déjà sauvé les vies de milliers de patients", dit-il: "les crises cardiaques seront pratiquement inconnues des générations futures".
Il n'existe pas d'études en donnant la preuve. Roth Grossklaus, directeur de BgVV poursuivi par Rath, croit donc que les promesses du docteur sont risquées: "Si des gens ayant des maladies de coeur croient pouvoir se passer de leur médication en se fondant sur les promesses de Rath, leur foi pourrait fort bien leur retomber dessus."

Voir également:
Vitamin profiteer and AIDS-denialist misleading South Africans, says WHO/UN
AIDS Activists Go After Vitamin Salesman
United Nations Slams AIDS "Dissident" for Attack on Antiretroviral Drugs
U.N. slams AIDS 'dissident' for attack on drugs
South African Activists Take On AIDS "Dissident
Court case shines spotlight on South African AIDS policy
Misleading salesman endorses vitamins to treat HIV/AIDS