Gregory LaMont Casey <gcasey at postoffice.pacbell.net> wrote:
>As far as the PCR is concerned, I would also suggest that you go to the web
>site of the man that won the Nobel Prize for it, Kary Mullis, Ph.D. Go to
>yahoo or any other web server and look him up. I was told that he answers
>emails.
By all means.
>Another benefit would be to read about his views regarding HIV and the use
>of the PCR. He stated in an interview that I watched, that the PCR cannot
>be used for determining viral loads. You will never get accurate numbers.
>According to Dr. Mullis, the numbers you will get will always be higher than
>reality.
Well, this is true--it's an amplification process! This seems to be
backpedaling on Mullis's part. Indeed, PCR is routinely used to
measure viral load in blood. It has limitations, to be sure, but the
correlation between higher viral load and advancement of disease
(whether HIV or HCV) is very strong.
George M. Carter
