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Summary: This book is more frightening than any Stephen King novel.
Review: I bought this book on and could not put it down. It is a tremendous read on many levels. It is well researched, logically argued, and well written. As a piece of literature it ranks with the very best of Conan Doyle. As a piece of Social Science research, it is the best I have ever read. Hooper's arguments remind me of Rachel Carlson's Silent Spring. He clearly proves that transgenetic accidents like OPV/HIV are not only possible but also probable. After reading the book, when someone asks me who killed the most people in the 20th century, I will answer them--Koprowski. Thank you very much Edward Hooper for searching for the truth. Humanity owes you a lot.
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Summary: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Review: I find the book compelling, and a good read, he has researched extensively and put that information forward in a form that a non scientific person like myself can digest and understand. His theory is exactly that, it's a theory! We as readers of his book must make up our own minds whether we believe it or not. Ironically, the raging debate about the OPV theory has all but smothered an underlying message in this book, that I'm sure might even have escaped many critics .... and seeded a question in my mind:
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Who will watch the watchmen? We blindly submit ourselves to medical science and, whilst we all acknowledge the immense contribution it has given to all mankind, we have to question the few that lurk in the dark corners of an immense, money making enterprise. Harper makes little comment on this, nor does he have to, the intensity of his research does it for him.
It would appear that throughout history, certain medical "scientists" have acted without regard for consequences or simply overhasty decisions.
What layman understands where a vaccination comes from or how it is prepared? How many households marveled at the baby with a baboon heart or the man with a baboon liver? ... Good grief! Did we go mad? After reading this book, regardless of the OPV theory it has sparked off, there is immense food for thought, maybe (as Harper puts it) "We are strumming our fingers on Pandora's box", who knows who will end up opening it. If you are unsure, disregard the OPV theory, read between the lines, and make up your own ideas, you might find yourself chilled to the bone by the way some people have acted, and wonder fearfully what the next scene might bring...
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Summary: Stunning book
Review: I have read a lot of books and articles about the scientific process in researching the early days of AIDS, and felt that, for a layman, I had a pretty good understanding of how this disease first progressed in its' spread across the world. I also read the "Rolling Stone" article when it was first published about the hypothesis that AIDS was inadvertently caused by the experimental polio vaccine trials in Africa."The River", however, goes way past anything I have ever read on this subject. It is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. It is charged with the quest of a journey to find the roots of this disease, as compelling as any detective novel, as it is one...only this time, the detective is looking for a different type of killer. Mr. Hooper is objective and thorough as he explores theories, yet voices his opinions, and is not afraid to state when many theories turn out to be false leads. Overall, I found this to be a riveting adventure into the very possible origins of the AIDS virus. This is, in my opinion, a must read for anyone interested in not only AIDS, but also the scientific process of defining what has caused ANY infectious disease to begin and spread. My hat is off to Mr. Hooper.
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Summary: Watch the documentary
Review: I haven't read this book, but I'd like to second the recommendation of an earlier reviewer to watch the documentary called "The Origins of AIDS". It explores Hooper's hypothesis, but also brings to light new discoveries made after the publication of Hooper's book. The filmmakers interviewed several people who took part in the work at Stanleyville Medical Laboratory and at Camp Lindi, including Pierre Doupagne, Head Technician at Stanleyville Laboratory at the time, who confirm that tissue culture made from chimpanzee kidneys was indeed used there.
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Summary: A masterpiece
Review: I totally agree with the previous review. The title on its own is chilling. This is a monunmental work both in depth and scope.
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Summary: Don't believe the central idea in this book
Review: I write as a professional AIDS researcher and retrovirologist. While "The River" is a wonderful read on the earliest stages of the AIDS epidemic that continues to devestate Africa, I urge readers not to believe the central idea that the author promulgates. HIV did not enter the human population from contaminated polio vaccines, and to argue that it did is irresponsible, based on the scientific evidence available. Great damage could easily be caused to ongoing efforts to make AIDS vaccines for use in Africa if a climate of mistrust with western medicine is created by this book. One should never confuse speculation with real, hard facts, but while "The River" is long on the former, it is very, very short of the latter. The chain of events proposed by the author is improbable, to say the least; only one link has to break before the edifice falls, and none of the links is strong. The author would have us believe that chimp kidneys were used to prepare poliovirus vaccines, but he can't prove his point, only theorize. He argues that the kidneys were contaminated with chimp viruses that were precursors of HIV. But where's the evidence? And kidney cultures are very, very poor (at best) ways to grow HIV and its simian cousins. The timing of the cross-over of HIV from animals into humans is also wrong; this occurred decades prior to the poliovaccine experiments of the late 1950's, as will become clear in scientific publications early next year. And there was no "cover-up" in the scientific community. This makes no sense; what would have been the motivation in the late 1950's and early 1960's for polio vaccine researchers to disguise what they did? Nobody knew about HIV then. So, read this book by all means; if it awakens your conscience to the appalling situation that Africa faces over the AIDS epidemic then it will have done some good. But please don't believe that the epidemic was started by polio vaccination campaigns. That part of the book is on a par with "scientific investigations" of the Loch Ness Monster or the existence of human faces on Mars in terms of its overall credibility within the community of professional AIDS researchers.
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Summary: Tremendous Piece Of Investigative Journalism
Review: If there was a Nobel Prize for Journalism, Hooper should get it. Step by step he takes you through his investigations and interviews, seeking to prove the link between the sudden appearance of HIV-1 and some shabbily-constructed mass trials of a polio vaccine in the 1950s. In a vanity contest with Sabin and Salk, the lesser-known Koprowski took various experimental shortcuts that seem reckless in hindsight. It's amazing to see the way Hooper cuts through the obfuscations and obstructions of the science establishment, and sifts facts from the few living people associated with the trials. With the casual racism of the day, these were mostly conducted in the Congo, or on handicapped children or newborns at prisons and hospitals in the US. A sneaking suspicion that 'Hooper may be right' builds into almost total conviction that this theory bears intensive investigation by the time you reach the halfway mark. Almost incredibly, the records of these 'trials' -- I put them in quote marks because they were not properly conducted, by any scientific standards of today, or of the time -- are either incomplete, or 'missing.' The book reflects no credit on the drug industry, doctors' codes of secrecy, or medical ethics. Quite probably, if Hopper has it right -- and it seems he does -- some of the living players ought to be facing a grand jury investigation, in view of the millions who have suffered in the resulting plague of AIDS. It's the science book of the year, unparalleled since Rhodes' "Making Of The Atomic Bomb."
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Summary: This theory needs to be given due consideration ...
Review: In addition to reading this great book, you should see the film "The Origins of AIDS" directed by Peter Chappell. The case made by Hooper and the reasons that the status quo scientific community have attempted to prevent it being investigated further are well documented, especially in the film.
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Summary: Every piece of this hypothesis crumbles to hard evidence
Review: In contrast to Ed Hooper's accusation that the scientific community has shoved the hypothesis that AIDS came from contaminated oral poliovaccines (OPV) administered in the Belgian Congo in the 1950s, a recent forum was organized by no less than the Royal Society in London to address central points in this hypothesis. What emerges from this discussion is that this hypothesis is unlikely, based on counterproofs from different angles and disciplines: 1. There was no evidence that chimpanzee kidneys were used for preparation of the vaccine. 'Eyewitness proof' put forward by Hooper is subjective and can easily be dismissed as interview bias. Having invested so much time in preparing this book, it is easy to suspect that Hooper has a vested interest in protecting this hypothesis. In any case, several lots of these vaccines were tested to be NEGATIVE for SIV contamination, and were shown to be made from monkey, not chimpanzee, cells. 2. The ecological association purported in this book, suggesting that early AIDS cases came from sites where vaccinations were done, is misleading. One village turned out to be misspelled. Moreover, these areas are alongside major routes of trade, and hence could facilitate the spread of the early epidemic. The epidemiologic correlations cannot be verified statistically due to the lack of a control population, and the very low number of cases. The cohort presented by Hooper is weak to conclude any epidemiologic causality. 3. Chimpanzees used for testing the vaccine came from an area where the schweinfurthii subspecies abound. HIV-1 Group M, N and O are most closely related to SIV from the troglodytes subspecies, found in west-central Africa. The earliest case of HIV-1 documented in 1959 was in Kinshasa, which is close to the troglodytes range via operative ferry routes from Brazzaville. To date, Kinshasa has the highest diversity of HIV-1 Group M viruses ever documented, with all the subtypes present (except B), suggesting that it is the site of the early epidemic. 4. Phylogenetic analyses using supercomputers extrapolate that HIV-1 Group M began to diversify around the 1930s. A key element here is the 1959 sample which Hooper ironically helped identify. Sequences from this sample branch before the split of subtypes B, D and F, suggesting that the ancestor of all the subtypes (10 in all) was present far before 1959. The diversity of HIV-1 isolates in Kinshasa also reveal a less subtype structure, suggesting that the diversification occurred there, and that evolution from a single common ancestor, rather than multiple introductions of the different strains, have occurred. 5. Reconstruction of the method for poliovaccine preparation (washing, trypnization and freeze/thawing) using infected kidneys from SIV-infected macaques revealed that the infectivity of viruses is reduced 10^13 (e.g., 10-trillion)-fold. Hence, no virus could have survived the vaccine manufacturing process. Combining all these arguments, the chain-of-evidence presented in this book is severely weakened. Overall, Hooper has presented a spectacular hypothesis fit for a media frenzy. Unfortunately, this may affect efforts to control polio eradication in the globe. Based on the presented evidence, this hypothesis NEEDS to be put to rest. Much work has to be done. The origin of AIDS remains to be solved.
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Summary: A Great Read, and a Very Important Book
Review: In my opinion, this is one of the more important books of the past ten years. It offers a comprehensive examination of a controversial theory of the origin of the HIV virus in humans. The first 200 pages offer a history of the start of the HIV epidemic, presented in a style that reads like a detective novel, while still maintaining credibility. I have always found the natural transfer theory to be incomplete. At the same time I had never taken the OPV theory of origin seriously, possibly because no one had ever presented it to me as powerfully as the author of this book. I naturally have some issues with this book. Its comprehensiveness is its great strength, but also its primary weakness. An abridged version would be very helpful to someone like me who is trying to present the theory to others, and is trying to get other busy researchers to read it. I would be delighted if the author were to present a short description of the theory and his recommendations to a leading Medical Journal for review. This would give me something shorter and more manageable to pass on to colleagues. Also there are small sections of the book that strike me as too speculative, though they certainly make for interesting thinking. For instance, while intriguing, I find the authors speculation that HIV was passed by OPV to infants in a subclinical state and then transmitted when these children reached sexual maturity to be unnecessary, and conjectural. Still, this is all nit-picking. This is a marvelous book. An earlier reviewer called it a work of 'histiography' I think, and I agree with that. I find it to be a remarkable example of investigative journalism, and an impressive integration of qualitative and quantitative archival and epidemiological data. If I ever teach a class on HIV/AIDS or a qualitative methods class, I hope to use major portions of this book.
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