The River : A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS

Hailed both for its revelations and its intense readability, this extraordinary work of investigative reporting examines the myriad theories about the origin of AIDS -- and offers compelling evidence that an experimental polio vaccine administered in Africa in the 1950s led to one of the most devastating infectious diseases in human history. -- The publication will coincide with World AIDS Awareness Day. -- This is a landmark work -- the culmination of a decade of research, involving more than 600 interviews and analysis of more than 4,000 scientific texts. -- Readers of Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague, Gina Kolata's Flu, and Randy Shilts's And the Band Played On will be fascinated by The River. Based on over a decade of research, involving more than 600 interviews and analysis of more than 4,000 scientific texts, The River examines the myriad theories about the origin of the AIDS epidemic - and reaches a stunning and startling conclusion.. "Since the early nineties, serious HIV researchers have been aware that the most common variant of HIV - human immunodeficiency virus - is the direct descendant of an SIV - simian immunodeficiency virus - carried by African chimpanzees.. "Many doctors and scientists think the transfer was "natural," the result of human/chimp encounters - either from the keeping of chimps as pets, or from hunting and skinning chimps for food.. "Others, including Edward Hooper, believe it more likely that the transfer was the result of American and European medical interventions in Africa during the 1950s - and specifically the administration of more than a million doses of an experimental oral polio vaccine, some batches of which may have been manufactured from chimp kidneys. The maps of vaccinations and early AIDS cases are extraordinarily similar.

"...one of the most comprehensive investigations of the origin of the AIDS epidemic...includes photographs of the European & American medical intervention in Africa during the nineteen fifties."

"Based on over a decade of research, involving more than 600 interviews and analysis of more than 4,000 scientific texts, The River examines the myriad theories about the origin of the AIDS epidemic - and reaches a stunning and startling conclusion." "Since the early nineties, serious HIV researchers have been aware that the most common variant of HIV - human immunodeficiency virus - is the direct descendant of an SIV - simian immunodeficiency virus - carried by African chimpanzees.". "Many doctors and scientists think the transfer was "natural," the result of human/chimp encounters - either from the keeping of chimps as pets, or from hunting and skinning chimps for food.". "Others, including Edward Hooper, believe it more likely that the transfer was the result of American and European medical interventions in Africa during the 1950s - and specifically the administration of more than a million doses of an experimental oral polio vaccine, some batches of which may have been manufactured from chimp kidneys. The maps of vaccinations and early AIDS cases are extraordinarily similar."--BOOK JACKET. Examines the possible source of HIV, analyzing a number of theories concerning its origins and investigating current scientific inquiries into HIV, AIDS, and the search for a cure It is now nearly twenty years since it began.