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In her life, Christine Maggiore was a visible and vocal advocate for a propaganda campaign that undermines the prevention and treatment of HIV infection – among the greatest threats to global public health. In life she was a voice for pseudoscience. Christine Maggiore spread conspiracy theories and ‘deconstructed AIDS’ to disinform and confuse people who are in desperate need of accurate information.
In her death, she has stirred the controversy she helped create. Those who looked to her for inspiration as the person who tested HIV positive and was alive and well without treatment must now confront what it means that she has died an uncommon death from an infectious disease. For some in denial, the death of Christine Maggiore will mean a snap back to reality. But for many others it will not.
It does not matter if Christine Maggiore died of AIDS (although she did). Regardless of why she died, her denialism has caused much harm. Countless people living with HIV/AIDS have been misled only to find themselves grasping for answers as their health diminishes. One week before she died, Christine Maggiore was reported (and retracted) to have communicated the following email about her health:
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The legacy of AIDS denialism is seen in the same desperation of other people who were led by denialism to feel good only to be shattered as they fell ill. Here are a few such stories accessed at the AIDS Myth Exposed Message Board.
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Hi, my partner has been diagnosed with having cryptococcal meningitis. He has been doing a slow cleanse for 3 years now, since going cold turkey on all the toxic "hiv/aids" drugs. He's been incredibly healthy but has had some issues that we've been able to work out. But for the past month he had a recurring and progressively worsening headache, migraine type, that traveled into his back. He had to fall back on painkillers to relieve the pain as it was so bad- he is adamantly against taking any drug for anything so this was a tough decision. He was constantly in an epsom salt warm bath or in bed with heating pads and/or ice packs. He was only eating raw fruits and juices and herbal teas. After 3 visits to the ER, again because the pain was so bad, and he was accused of being a painkiller addict, we made the 4th visit the other night. This time they kept him and checked him into a room. They tested for meningitis. I was told yesterday that it was viral meningitis, but they today they said it was cryptococcal
Hi! I need some serious advise in dealing with a serious and very persistent fungal infection that has made things very difficult for me. Before you ask me to seek a naturopath/alternative healer, let me tell you that I have done that three times and have taken herbal remedies worth over thousands of dollars and too many to count in number.Nothing has been able to get rid of my systemic infection. I have followed the diet for over one and a half year, tried IV hyrdogen peroxide, taken OTC remedies, homeopathic remedies (all under different practitioners) but nothing can get rid of this infection. It has affected every part of my health and body including my mental state
I have been a dissident for seven years. I am now being pressured to take an antiretroviral called Atripla starting next week. If anyone might have some advice for me on this topic I welcome it. As a dissident, I stopped having my surrogate markers checked several years ago and because I seemed to be enjoying good health I did not feel it was necessary. Last month I went to the doctor complaining of headaches sinus problems and general malaise which had been plaguing me since November of last year. Because I was supposed to leave on a trip the next week I wanted to get myself well. I was given a CAT scan and put in the hospital after the CAT scan revealed lesions on my brain attributable to Toxoplasmosis. I was in the hospital a week and I am only now returning to work after an absence of three weeks. My family came to see me in the hospital and I was able to avoid the AIDS issue somehow. Strangely enough I was HIV negative two years ago on a test. Anyway, my surrogate markers were 25 for CD4 count and 185,000 for viral load. According to my partner and my doctors, if I had been monitoring my numbers all of the could have been avoided. I do feel somewhat sheepish about what happened to me. I am now left with wondering what to do. I truly never thought that I would end up with an AIDS diagnosis in the hospital.
UPDATE JANUARY 31, 2009
More than a month after Christine Maggiore's death, there is no word on whether an autopsy was performed and what her cause of death was. Celia Farber's initial posting of Christine Maggiore in her own words has been removed.
Complete silence speaks volumes.
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