YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–Armenicum project leaders described as biased the conclusions made by the Hamburg Institute for Tropical Medicine in respect to the results of treatment of Russian citizen Nikolay Kolesnikov for AIDS.
Kolesnikov is the first Russian patient–who agreed to participate in clinical tests of the "Armenicum" drug. After a regular course of treatment which ended in August 1999–Armenian doctors observed significant improvement in Kolesnikov’s health. According to Armenian doctors–all symptoms of diseases accompanying AIDS disappeared and laboratory analyses outcomes approached to normal standards.
Results of analyses conducted at the Hamburg Institute two months after the treatment greatly differ from those of the Armenian side. Tests carried out at the Yerevan-based clinic after treatment showed that the amount of CD-4 T-cells (white blood cells that kill germs) increased from 480 to a standard of 850–while the ratio of CD-4 and CD-8 lymphocytes also stabilized. According to the German clinic–the number of T-cells totaled only 600–while the above-mentioned ratio is even lower than before the treatment.
Also–according to Yerevan-based clinic–the amount of viruses per 1 milliliter of blood totaled 5,612–whereas–according to the Hamburg-based clinic this number reached 130,000.
In his commen’s head of the information and analyses center of the "Armenicum" project David Aslanian put into question the conclusion of Prof. Manfred Dietrich and described it as illegitimate given to the volume of analyses carried out in Hamburg. Aslanian said–the conclusion provided by Dietrich indicates that Kolesnikov’s liver is larger than normal–which may be accounted for the presence of Hepatitis C–as well as the treatment performed. This is a misinformed conclusion as before the treatment–Kolesnikov’s liver was already significantly swollen. According to Aslanian–such a conclusion can only be made only if a patient is observed both before–during and after the treatment.
Aslanian said that data on the presence of Hepatitis C viruses in blood is also doubtful. "It is very easy to carry out such an analysis," Aslanian noted–"and I am sure that an analysis in any independent laboratory will confirm that there are no Hepatitis C viruses in Kolesnikov’s blood."
The same can be said about other conclusions–which were made without proper observation of the patient during the entire treatment.
He also said that five patients from the United States undergo regular examinations in their country and the results obtained by American experts are similar to those made public by the Armenian side.
"Everybody expected a clamor in Yerevan. The competition is too stiff. I would like to note that the Armenian doctors have always said that Armenia has found an anti-AIDS drug that considerably improves the quality of life more effectively that other drugs. Nobody has called "Armenicum" and all-out cure.