Continuum (magazine)

Continuum was created in December 1992 by Jody Wells (12 March 1947 – 26 August 1995) in London, United Kingdom. It ceased publication in 2001, after all the editors died from AIDS-defining clinical conditions,

{{cite web |date=3 November 2009 |title=How to spot an AIDS denialist |url=http://newhumanist.org.uk/2165/how-to-spot-an-aids-denialist |accessdate=15 January 2013 |website=New Humanist}} leaving debts of over £14,000.{{cite journal|url=http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/continuum/latest/editoria.htm|journal=Continuum|volume=6|date=Summer–Autumn 2001|accessdate=16 January 2013 |title=Editorial }} The magazine last appeared in print in 1998 and then surfaced again in February 2001 on the Internet. It was initially published bimonthly, then began to be published seasonally.

According to the magazine:

{{quote|Continuum began as a newsletter encouraging those affected to empower themselves to make care and treatment choices. As we look further, anomalies in the orthodox view{{efn|The magazine used words like orthodoxy, orthodox view and hypothesis, to refer to the established fact by the international scientific community that the HIV is the cause of AIDS, the HIV/AIDS exists, and that HIV can be spread via sexual, vertical and parenteral means.}} continue to appear.{{cite journal|date=March–April 1996|journal=Continuum Magazine|volume=3|issue=6|url=http://www.immunity.org.uk/media/Continuum%20PDFs/v3n6.pdf|title=Continuum v3.6|accessdate=5 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410113709/http://immunity.org.uk/media/Continuum%20PDFs/v3n6.pdf|archive-date=10 April 2012|url-status=dead}}}}

Continuum promoted the idea that AIDS was a conspiracy and was not related to HIV. Wells believed that the fear of AIDS was based on homophobia, not science.{{cite web|url = http://voices.yahoo.com/13-aids-denialists-died-aids-6813978.html|title = 13 AIDS denialists who have died of AIDS|date=21 September 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306111823/http://voices.yahoo.com/13-aids-denialists-died-aids-6813978.html?cat=5|website=voices.yahoo.com|archivedate=6 March 2014|accessdate=4 February 2015|url-status=dead}}{{unreliable source?|date=June 2015}}

Continuum claimed to be a scientific journal for those who had alternative theories about HIV/AIDS, even though it had no peer review and promoted and advertised alternative therapies such as urinotherapy.{{Cite book |url=https://www.immunity.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Continuum_Vol_1_no4.pdf |title=Continuum vol.1 n.4 |date=4 June 1993 |location=London, UK |pages=3}} AIDS denialists often cite the articles published in this journal as a source of scientific information.

{{quote|Continuum is a unique forum for those in the scientific community challenging the orthodoxy and those whose lives have in some way been touched by the hypothesis.}}

In the January/February 1996 edition, the magazine began offering £1,000 to the first person who could find a scientific study that showed the isolation of HIV,{{cite journal|date=January–February 1996|journal=Continuum Magazine|volume=3|issue=5|url=http://www.immunity.org.uk/media/Continuum%20PDFs/v3n5.pdf|title=Continuum v3.5|accessdate=5 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410100833/http://immunity.org.uk/media/Continuum%20PDFs/v3n5.pdf|archive-date=10 April 2012|url-status=dead}} even though it had been isolated in 1983 by Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi{{Cite journal|vauthors=Barré-Sinoussi F, Chermann JC, Rey F, Nugeyre MT, Chamaret S, Gruest J, Dauguet C, Axler-Blin C, Vezinet-Brun F, Rouzioux C, Rozenbaum W, Montagnier L |title=Isolation of a T-lymphotropic retrovirus from a patient at risk for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)|journal = Science|volume = 220|issue = 4599|pages = 868–871|year=1983|pmid=6189183|doi=10.1126/science.6189183|bibcode=1983Sci...220..868B}} (for which they received a Nobel Prize),{{cite web| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7654214.stm|title = Nobel prize for viral discoveries|publisher = BBC News|date = 6 October 2008|accessdate = 15 January 2013}} and then was confirmed by Robert Gallo in 1984,{{efn|The four papers are,

• {{cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.6200935 |vauthors=Popovic M, Sarngadharan MG, Read E, Gallo RC |date=May 1984 |title= Detection, isolation, and continuous production of cytopathic retroviruses (HTLV-III) from patients with AIDS and pre-AIDS |journal = Science |volume= 224 |issue=4648 |pages= 497–500 |pmid= 6200935|bibcode = 1984Sci...224..497P }}
• {{cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.6200936 |vauthors=Gallo RC, Salahuddin SZ, Popovic M, Shearer GM, Kaplan M, Haynes BF, Palker TJ, Redfield R, Oleske J, Safai B |date=May 1984 |title= Frequent detection and isolation of cytopathic retroviruses (HTLV-III) from patients with AIDS and at risk for AIDS |journal = Science |volume= 224 |issue=4648 |pages= 500–3 |pmid= 6200936|bibcode = 1984Sci...224..500G |display-authors=etal}}
• {{cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.6200937 |vauthors=Schüpbach J, Popovic M, Gilden RV, Gonda MA, Sarngadharan MG, Gallo RC |date=May 1984 |title= Serological analysis of a subgroup of human T-lymphotropic retroviruses (HTLV-III) associated with AIDS |journal = Science |volume= 224 |issue=4648 |pages= 503–5 |pmid= 6200937|bibcode = 1984Sci...224..503S }}
• {{cite journal|doi = 10.1126/science.6324345 |vauthors=Sarngadharan MG, Popovic M, Bruch L, Schüpbach J, Gallo RC |date=May 1984 |title= Antibodies reactive with human T-lymphotropic retroviruses (HTLV-III) in the serum of patients with AIDS |journal = Science |volume= 224 |issue=4648 |pages= 506–8 |pmid= 6324345|bibcode = 1984Sci...224..506S }}}} demonstrating that a retrovirus they had isolated, called HTLV-III in the belief that the virus was related to the leukemia viruses of Gallo's earlier work, was the cause of AIDS.{{cite news | last = Hilts | first = Philip | title=U.S. Drops Misconduct Case Against an AIDS Researcher | work = The New York Times | date=13 November 1993 |url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CEFDB1F3BF930A25752C1A965958260}}

Peter Duesberg tried to claim the prize and wrote an article for the magazine in its July/August 1996 issue,{{cite journal|url=http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/continuum/v4n2.pdf|journal=Continuum|volume=4|issue=2|date=July–August 1996|accessdate= 15 January 2013}} but the award was rejected because it had to meet certain conditions.

Immunity Resource Foundation hosts the complete library of Continuum magazine among an internet database of 120,000 similar documents {{as of|June 2013|lc=yes}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.immunity.org.uk/aims.html|title=Aims of The Immunity Resource Foundation|accessdate=4 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807140143/http://immunity.org.uk/aims.html|website=Immunity Resource Foundation|archive-date=7 August 2013|url-status=dead}}

Jody Wells, founder and editor-in-chief, died at the age of 48 on 26 August 1995, by Pneumocystis pneumonia, an AIDS-defining clinical condition.

Huw Christie Williams was the editor-in-chief after the death of Jody Wells until shortly before his death at the age of 41 on 17 August 2001,{{cite web |title=Obituario de Huw Christie Williams |url=http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/hiv/mbobituaryhc.htm |accessdate=15 January 2013 |website=www.virusmyth.com}} by Kaposi's sarcoma, an AIDS-defining clinical condition.{{cite web |title=AIDS denialists who have died |url=http://www.aidstruth.org/denialism/dead_denialists |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115183945/http://www.aidstruth.org/denialism/dead_denialists |archivedate=15 January 2013 |accessdate=15 January 2013 |website=www.aidstruth.org}}

Michael Baumgartner was the acting editor on the last edition of the magazine.{{cite journal| url=http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/continuum/latest/index.htm|journal=Continuum|accessdate=15 January 2013 |title=Continuum Magazine - Contents vol.6 no.3 }} At the request of Huw Christie Williams before his death, Baumgartner served as editor for what would ultimately be the final publication before the final closing of the magazine.{{Cite web |last=Radeska |first=Tijana |date=2016-09-06 |title=Continuum, a magazine devoted to the idea that AIDS is a conspiracy, went out of print after all the editors died of AIDS {{!}} The Vintage News |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/09/06/continuum-a-magazine-devoted-to-the-idea-that-aids-is-a-conspiracy-went-out-of-print-after-all-the-editors-died-of-aids/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=thevintagenews |language=en}} Baumgartner appears to be alive as of 2025{{Cite web |date=2024-11-26 |title=Michael U. Baumgartner |url=https://zeitpunkt.ch/michael-u-baumgartner |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=zeitpunkt.ch |language=de}} and reinvented himself as a freelance educator.

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{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/continuum/index.htm Continuum website]
• [http://www.immunity.org.uk/continuum/ Continuum archives]

Category:Alternative medicine publications

Category:Defunct LGBTQ-related magazines published in the United Kingdom

Category:Defunct health magazines

Category:HIV/AIDS denialism

Category:Magazines disestablished in 2001

Category:Magazines established in 1992

Category:Defunct magazines published in London

Category:HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom