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               ==== CHEAP AIDS CURE SUPPRESSED ? ====
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   CINCINNATI (AP) -- The surgeon who invented a lifesaving technique for
choking victims has been trying to cure AIDS patients in China with doses of
malaria, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Sunday.
   The experiment has shocked government institutions, AIDS researchers and
patient advocates, although doctors agree that the strain of malaria used is
easily curable.
   Dr. Henry Heimlich persuaded entertainers and other philanthropists to
donate about $200,000 for an experiment that critics said exposes desperate
patients to a dangerous and questionable treatment.
   "No evidence currently exists to indicate that malaria infection would
beneficially affect the course of HIV infection," states the official policy
of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Without evidence ...
the use of induced malaria infection in HIV infected individuals cannot be
justified."
   Heimlich, creator of the Heimlich Maneuver, and his supporters said critics
have not reviewed his research protocol, misinterpreted existing scientific
evidence and overstated potential risks.
   The research is safe for patients and will test a theory that is worth
exploring, he said.
   "Billions of dollars have been spent looking for a vaccine or a drug to
fight AIDS," Heimlich said. "Yet last year at the international AIDS
conference in Japan, the report issued said, 'We have no progress to report.'
I have no desire to dignify these criticisms with a response."
   Malaria could help treat AIDS patients because it naturally stimulates a
strong immune system response, Heimlich said.
   Published reports say Heimlich has treated at least nine patients in China
since last year. Heimlich will not reveal how many he has treated or where
they live, the newspaper said.
   Heimlich and his co-researchers have agreed not to discuss any details
until the project is complete and results are submitted to a peer-reviewed
medical journal.
   He was careful to avoid inflating the hopes of AIDS patients.
   "The only thing I will say is that if we were not encouraged by the results
so far, we would not be continuing our work," Heimlich said.
   Heimlich gave the newspaper his experimental protocol, a detailed blueprint
that describes how the research project will be conducted.
   The protocol calls for repeatedly inducing malaria fever in up to 30 AIDS
patients. Each patient would go through 10 or more fevers under close medical
supervision. They later would be cured of malaria and monitored for signs that
AIDS had been affected.
   In May, an institutional review board of the Great Lakes Association of
Clinical Medicine, a research evaluation organization, approved the research.
 
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