I read with sadness the letter by Thinesh Raj Wrong to force couples to take HIV test . For an obviously very intelligent medical student, he appears to have closed his mind to exploring alternatives outside the world governmental propaganda which he reiterates.

I did, however, find the statement 'First, let it be clear that HIV is merely the virus that causes the collection of symptoms called Aids, not Aids itself. Aids is a death warrant ...' to be a little contradictory.

I think we all agree that Aids is a syndrome, which is a collection of symptoms, and not a disease per say. So if, according to the quote, HIV causes the symptoms called Aids, but not Aids, what does that mean? And following the arguments through to the end of the letter, by extrapolation, all Aids sufferers would be HIV positive, which, as I stated, is now far from the case.

The letter from Kumaraguru quoting from What doctors don't tell you is much nearer the mark with the statistics about the testing methods. And yes, Kumaraguru, I spent 25 years of my life as a medical practitioner and, as well as my own observations, exchanged views with a good number of medical 'professors of hard sums'.

Sad to say, I also discovered that a large number of my colleagues were unable to think outside the box and merely regurgitated the propaganda of the day.

Obviously, it would be unwise of me to shoot down the dogma which has been released to allay the anxiety of the public regarding Aids if I did not have an alternative theory. But this is not the place for that level of technical discussion.

What I will add is that a large number of the older researchers who have been looking at Aids since the syndrome first appeared (as 'Slim' in East Africa circa 1953) will admit off the record that they know little more about the causative agent now than when it was first discovered.