KZN task team to probe HIV cure claims

A task team has been set up to investigate various treatments advertised as cures for HIV/Aids, KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize said.

"We need to deal with this issue urgently because people who have abandoned their treatment will develop drug resistance," he said at a meeting of the province's Council on Aids after it received a report about people selling the alleged cures.

Ethekwini mayor James Nxumalo said one company offered "HIVEX" treatment in Durban. "They claim this treatment uses electro-magnetic rays which target proteins in the virus."

Taditional leaders claim to cure HIV

There was no scientific evidence that the procedure, which cost R1,000, treated HIV, he said.

The Advertising Standards Authority previously ruled that HIVEX's website was in breach of standards as it contained misleading information.

Mkhize presented correspondence with HIVEX's leader Clive Harvey Fox, in which he said the therapy was not a cure for HIV.

Certain wellness schools, charismatic church groups and bogus doctors were identified as having claimed they could cure the illness.

Nxumalo said a series of workshops on HIV would be hosted by the province's Council of Churches to raise awareness. Traditional healers who claimed to cure HIV were being investigated in Durban.

(Sapa, March 2012)

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