Stricken Heroine Rethinkers Died from Toxic Drugs, Not AIDS
Christine Maggiore, Karri Stokely, Maria Papagiannidou

by Martin K. Barnes and Torsten Engelbrecht

Prominent AIDS rethinker Christine Maggiore died suddenly at the age of 52 on December 27, 2008. The cause of her death received great public interest because of her 'HIV positive' status, and the fact that Maggiore championed the notion that one can lead a healthy life while 'HIV positive' and_ without taking the recommended medicines. Maggiore refused to take these drugs, which have dangerous side effects, and lived for 16 years in good health. Information that she provided led other 'HIV positive' people to do the same. Advocates of the conventional wisdom that one's 'HIV positive' status inevitably leads to AIDS and death claimed Christine's death was another example of a person who died in denial.

However her autopsy and a report from a pathologist indicate that Christine Maggiore's death was iatrogenic, ie, it was caused by prescriptions and medicines given to her by her doctor. AIDS rethinkers Karri Stokely and Maria Papagiannidou from Greece also met untimely deaths in recent years. Just like Christine Maggiore, both were 'HIV positive' and both publicly campaigned for recognition that 'HIV' does not in fact cause the 30 well-known diseases called AIDS, and that the anti-viral medicines currently in use are dangerous. Both died from the very medicines given to them by their doctors.

Christine Maggiore died from kidney failure which lead to heart failure due to medications with dangerous side effects and interactions prescribed by her doctor, according to a report by toxicologist and pathologist Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati, Ph.D. She had no symptoms of AIDS.

Maggiore came down with non-AIDS-defining pneumonia and was treated with high doses of gentamicin (600 mg a day) for 9 days prior to her death. Gentamicin has been documented to cause an increase in tubular necrosis, a form of kidney failure.

Christine was also treated with Rocephin (ceftriaxone) at 2 grams a day and calcium solution IV for several days prior to her death. The treatment of ceftriaxone with calcium is contraindicated because of ceftriaxone-calcium precipitation in the lungs and kidneys. Christine was also treated with high doses of acyclovir (1600 mg a day) for 5 days prior to her death. Acyclovir is known to cause kidney damage in individuals treated with similar doses.

Blood and urine tests performed on December 15, 2006 and November 9, 2007 showed that Christine’s kidneys were working fine, and she was at low risk for heart disease. The autopsy performed on Christine after her death showed there was no evidence of heart attack or damage observed in Christine’s heart.

The growth of P. jiroveci bacteria (previously known as P. carinii) in Christine’s lungs and other tissues was exacerbated by her treatment with corticosteroids during the 9 days prior to her death. P. jiroveci has been associated with interstitial pneumonia in individuals suffering from severe immunosuppression, ie, AIDS. Christine did not have interstitial pneumonia.

The autopsy, pathology, and the clinical data and observation described in this report show clearly that Christine did not suffer from any AIDS indicator illness during the two years prior to her death or at the time of her death.

We will never know with certainty what brought on Christine's health crisis and pneumonia. Certainly the recent death of her young daughter EJ had caused her great grief, and had made it difficult for her to eat and sleep properly. We know that she was undergoing an herbal cleanse of some sort. Christine was under constant vicious attack for her unconventional and very public views on AIDS.

Karri Stokely died in 2011 at the age of 44. I had lunch with Karri in 2009. She was a tall, beautiful blond woman, alive and full of energy. "As a very young woman in her 20s my mother was diagnosed with AIDS," wrote Karri's daughter Colleen. "She faithfully took her medication every day for 11 years. She suffered, like many others, with nasty side_effects and gruesome things happening to herself... My mom found out in April of 2007 of the AIDS fraud. She quit the medications and went thru a 3 month detox period (that being gruesome as well, witnessing it all.) The medications are HIGHLY ADDICTIVE, so she suffered numerous withdrawal symptoms... We found out August of 2010 that my mom hadn't endured all her pain yet. She had a terrible wound in her colon."

Dr. David Rasnick, a friend of the family who accompanied Karri during her last months, explained that Karri had a series of botched surgeries during the earlier years of her marriage. On one occasion the doctor cut down to the anus for some reason during a vaginal delivery. She had to undergo a second surgery to repair the damage, which slowly healed. Unfortunately, the long-term result was a weakened rectal area and the wound re-appeared. More surgery was needed, and a biopsy found CMV (cytomegalovirus) in the ulcer. (1)

At the hospital an infectious disease doctor ('HIV' expert) appeared explaining that CMV is an AIDS-defining illness. Karri was put on intravenous ganciclovir, a nucleoside analog for CMV (listed side effects: liver and renal dysfunction, retinal detachment). The doctors also insisted that Karri begin to take anti-retroviral therapy (ARV) for 'HIV.' Karri told her story of taking the drugs for 11 years and they almost killed her. She had been off the drugs for 3 years or so and had regained her health. She expressed deep concern the ARVs had caused permanent damage and said she would not take the drugs again. The doctors were angry and cajoled and intimidated her. When Karri held fast they refused to perform the surgery and sent Karri home.

Meanwhile Karri was becoming more and more ill from the ganciclovir. When the treatment started she immediately got worse and soon her appearance was that of an "end stage AIDS patient," wrote Dr. Rasnick. Karri stopped the iv ganciclovir and in a few days looked like her old self.

Surgery was re-scheduled with a different doctor and hospital but Karri's health began to decline. "Vision loss in one eye began soon after that as I recall. In about a month or so her vision loss spread to both_her_eyes," reported Dr. Rasnick. "Her vision, walking, and mental capacity deteriorated rapidly over a period of months. She started taking oral ganciclovir because the doctors said CMV was responsible for loss of vision and ganciclovir was the standard treatment—but it doesn't work."

"I've been studying the neurotoxic consequences of anti-HIV drugs and other antivirals because of Karri's problems. Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) and consequent vision loss are common with these drugs. I found that around 50% of people taking the anti-HIV drugs experience vision loss and varying degrees of blindness. That's a huge number, but how often do you hear about this in the media or from your doctor? I found a recent study proving that these drugs damage the white matter of the brain, the exact same damage as seen in PML. (2)"

"My feeling is the combination of 11 years on anti-HIV drugs, the chronic infections due to the un-repaired rectal ulcer, and the round of drugging with ganciclovir and that antibiotic (which I don't recall its name) caused the neurological and vision damage Karri experienced. Once PML sets in it is virtually irreversible and causes exactly the symptoms Karri exhibited toward the end."

Maria Papagiannidou was taking ARV's for twelve years before deciding to stop them, cold turkey. For three years after her health was fine until the emergence of a serious case of anemia. Doctors conducted tests for what they believed was a MAC condition in her bone marrow (Disseminated Mycobacterium Avium Complex).

Gilles St-Pierre, Maria's husband, wrote "...her new doctors unaware of Maria's 'positive' status could not explain why they found no [MAC] microbe. However, they stopped looking for a reason after a new 'HIV test' was found 'positive'."

St-Pierre has a different theory as to what caused Maria's anemia. People who are on ARV's can develop breathing problems, i.e., taking short breaths but not breathing deeply--a problem that Maria had developed over the years. This can cause chronic acidosis. The stress of an upcoming court appearance contributed to "long periods of very shallow breathing when unable to sleep. Enough to cause anemia after some time, much of the hemoglobin from the red blood cells being used to neutralize the excess acidity, however that is not well known."

Based on advice from doctors Maria trusted, a decision was made to restart ARV therapy to fight the presumed MAC infection. Dr. Andrew Maniotis, a fellow Greek and friend of the family, described Maria's demise this way:

"...her extreme swollen liver and spleen during her last year of life on ARV's, antibiotics, and dozens of transfusions affected her to the extent that her vertebral axis, bone structure, posture, and ability to move was severely affected, and she couldn't laugh because the pain was too severe to do so, and she couldn't walk much of the time. Her death certificate was drawn up stating that she died of natural causes relating to AIDS. In fact she died of a pulmonary embolism following heparinization and a simultaneous, unexpected concomitant dissolution or 'gelation' of her swollen liver, which prohibited her from moving for months as it was so distended due to an 'HIV integrase' inhibitor, and fuseon, and also a contra-indicated proton pump inhibitor she was directed to consume."

Maniotis concludes, "...HIV isn't said to cause pulmonary embolisms. Doctors are."

The AIDS orthodoxy claims 'HIV positives' who refuse to take ARVs are doomed. However, there never was any proof for this. Early studies comparing the ARVs to placebo populations were flawed and inconclusive, and never repeated. Clearly some symptoms attributed to AIDS are due to the medicines doctors prescribe. Indeed, the package inserts on the ARVs state that many side effects of the medicines are the same as those suffering from AIDS. The first AIDS drug ever approved, AZT, and still one of the most commonly prescribed, has the following caveat, written by the manufacturer about its clinical trials,

“It was often difficult to distinguish adverse events possibly associated with administration of RETROVIR® (AZT™) from underlying signs of HIV disease or intercurrent illnesses.”

A study in the journal Nature Genetics is one of many stating the dangers of the medications, concluding,

"ARV’s have irreversible long-term effects, [which] raise the specter of progressive iatrogenic mitochondrial genetic disease emerging over the next decade."(3)

Did Christine, Karri, and Maria die from the effects of 'HIV?' Clearly not, as none of their symptoms were AIDS-defining. 'HIV+' may indicate the presence of a health-threatening condition, albeit NOT owing to a supposed virus (HIV) and NOT a harbinger of AIDS. The dilemma for 'HIV+' individuals is to find a doctor willing to look for possible causes for this marker, which sometimes but not always arises from a health-threatening cause. The evidence is clear that Christine, Maria, Karri were NOT killed by 'HIV' or by AIDS, but 'HIV+' should not be routinely ignored as always meaningless, though it may well be caused by vaccination, pregnancy, African ancestry, or other non-health-threatening condition.

We urge current clinical practitioners to become informed of the increasing body of research showing serious dangers of long term use of anti-viral medication.

 ________________

Mohammed Al-Bayati received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Davis in Comparative Pathology. He is also a dual board certified toxicologist (DABT & DABVT). He has offered professional testimony in many important court cases involving adverse reactions to medicines and/or vaccines in children and adults._Here is Dr. Al-Bayati's report on Christine:

 http://justiceforej.com/20091205-ChristineMaggiore-Report-AlBayati.pdf

Andrew Maniotis received his Ph.D in cell biology and the University of California, Berkeley. He recently served as Program Director in the Cell and Developmental Biology of Cancer at University of Illinois and taught in medical schools including Harvard Medical School, The University of Iowa, and The University of Illinois, Chicago.

David Rasnick received his PhD in chemistry at Georgia Tech in 1978. He has BS degrees in biology and chemistry. He worked for twenty years in the pharmaceutical industry developing protease inhibitors for tissue destroying diseases. One of his current specialties is the safety of anti-retroviral medicines.

(1) There is no peer reviewed scientific paper showing that CMV is an infectious virus.

(2) Schweinsburg, Brian et al: Brain mitochondrial injury in human immunodeficiency virus--seropositive (HIV+) individuals taking nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, Journal of NeuroVirology 11: 356-364, 2005.

(3) Payne, Brendan A. I. et al.: Mitochondrial aging is accelerated by anti-retroviral therapy through the clonal expansion of mtDNA mutations, Nature Genetics, 26 June 2011, pp. 806-810

Martin K. Barnes' life was thrown into turmoil when his girlfriend tested 'HIV+.' After moving to France in 2004 and researching the issue, he found the science of HIV/AIDS is riddled with inconsistencies and kept alive by hysteria and pharmaceutical profits, causing immense financial waste and human suffering.

Torsten Engelbrecht won the 2009 German Alternative Media Award for his article "The Amalgam Controversy". He and Claus Köhnlein are authors of the rethinker classic Virus Mania. Engelbrecht resides in Hamburg, Germany.