Interview with Zambia Post Newspaper July 27, 2012

Howard Armistead with former President Kenneth Kaunda at the First People's March Against AIDS

 in Lusaka, Zambia, 2006

How did you become an Aids researcher?

I was infected by the virus in September 1983 and became extremely sick for one week. In 1984 I joined a study at UCLA – the University of California Los Angeles – where I lived in LA California. This was a branch of the MACS Study, the largest study in the world on how HIV is transmitted from one person to another and how it progresses in the body and brain. The MACS study started with 5,500 people and is still going 28 years later. They still take my blood and give me a number of tests every time I go back to Los Angeles, even though I now live in Johannesburg, South Africa.

          In 1985 scientists finally developed a test for HIV and because I was in this study I was among the first few thousand people in the world tested for this infection. When the MACS study nurse informed me I was HIV positive and told me I had been positive since I joined the study in April of 1984she added, “You know, there are no drugs to treat this disease and we may never have a drug to treat this disease since we have never had a drug to treat a retro-virus.” At that time I thought maybe I had five years to live. I felt I wanted to do something to help others with this disease but didn’t know what.

          Gradually I became very interested in the research that was going on as hundreds of different substances were being tested to see if they had any effect against this disease. Many people with Aids began experimenting on themselves with different things. Although I started taking AZT, the first drug to treat HIV at the beginning of 1989, I knew this drug didn’t work very well so in late 1989 I began to experiment on myself. Since the MACS study provided me with a perfect record of my CD4 and CD8 blood counts it was easy for me to see if something I was taking was having an effect or not. After trying an amino acid called N-acetyl-cystein and the herb St. John’s wort – with no positive results - in September 1990 I tried aspirin. To my great surprise only one aspirin per day quickly doubled my CD4 count. Obviously I had stumbled across a very strong immune booster. The problem is that the boost in CD4 count from aspirin only lasted about a year, and for people in Zambia where many people suffer from stomach ulcers, those people should not take aspirin.

          Anyway my discovery of the influence of aspirin on CD4 count is what turned me into a real Aids researcher. I wanted to explain how and why aspirin caused this dramatic effect so I started to read dozens, then hundreds of medical journal articles to understand both the virology and immunology of HIV/Aids. Today I am still reading and researching having read over one thousand scientific journal articles and over 100 books on these subjects. I have attended twenty international Aids conferences and another forty in the United States and have met and talked with most of the most famous scientists in the field. Today I am the leading expert in the world on how aspirin-like drugs affect HIV disease and the leading expert in Africa on how selenium affects HIV and Aids. 

2.       What is selenium and how does it affect HIV and Aids?       

Selenium is the strongest immune booster known to science. Selenium is a basic chemical element like copper, gold or oxygen and is found in every cell of the human body where it helps keep the body’s cells healthy, sort of like a tiny cellular immune system. Selenium is in almost every food you eat but only in extremely tiny amounts. However many people don’t get enough selenium in their diet. This is especially true in Zambia where one report in the British Journal of Nutrition suggests that up to 50% of Zambians may be deficient in selenium. This would be especially true of people who don’t eat much meat since selenium is concentrated higher up the food chain.

According to scientists, selenium is essential for all aspects of immune function and immunity. That is one reason that livestock feed producers supplement selenium into animal feed – to help keep those animals healthy and prevent the spread of disease among the herd or flock. Unfortunately we don’t do the same for humans.

Selenium is important in the treatment of HIV/Aids and most Aids specialists physicians in the United States recommend that people with HIV take selenium supplements in addition to their ARVs. In fact it was noticed early on in Aids research that as HIV increases in the body, selenium levels decrease along with CD4 counts. Since selenium is essential to all aspects of the immune system, this decline in selenium level has a serious impact on health. As an Aids researcher working for the last twenty-three years to understand this disease that I’m infected with, my research has concluded that the way HIV actually causes Aids is by draining selenium from the body. This loss of selenium affects the thyroid gland, reducing active thyroid hormone. Since active thyroid hormone is what provides the stimulus to create new CD4 cells, I have proposed an hypothesis that HIV does not cause Aids by killing CD4 cells since it only infects about 1% of those cells. Instead, HIV causes Aids by draining selenium from the body, thus reducing or preventing the production of new CD4 cells.

Of course my idea might be wrong, but it conforms with all the scientific facts about this disease. To my knowledge, no one else has successfully explained 100% how this virus causes this disease, so my idea may well be the correct explanation. Only time and Science will tell.

3.       What studies have been done on selenium and HIV/Aids?  HIV increasHIHI   

Many studies have been done over the last twenty years on selenium and HIV/Aids. They show that selenium supplements can help slow down HIV infection becoming Aids. Selenium has also been shown to help against almost all of the opportunistic infections related to Aids including tuberculosis, thrush, wasting (weight loss), muscle weakness, skin problems, depression, Kaposi sarcoma (KS), and many others conditions related to HIV, including pneumonia.

Perhaps the most telling study was conducted by Harvard University in conjunction with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research. They took 341 advanced Aids patients with less than 50 CD4 count and divided the group into matching halves. They put 170 patients on a three drug ARV therapy called Triamune and put the other group of 171 patients on Triamune plus one standard tablet of 200mcg selenium, and then followed the two groups for 72 weeks. While the group on Trimune alone gained 50 CD4 count, the group that used added selenium gained 120 CD4. The group with added selenium also experienced significantly greater weight gain, fewer opportunistic infections and fewer hospital visits. Although a higher dose of selenium should have been used by these advanced Aids patients, even one standard selenium tablet provided a dramatic improvement compared to Triamune alone.

4.       Can selenium supplements help with other diseases and health conditions besides HIV?   

Yes. Because selenium has such a strong effect on the immune system and the immune system influences the outcome of almost all diseases and health conditions, selenium supplements can help against many other health problems.

First, selenium is considered the strongest substance known to help prevent cancer. According to The Lancet medical journal, scientists have shown that taking one tablet of 200mcg selenium per day for several years or longer can reduce all cancers by 37% and reduce overall deaths from cancer by 50%.

Second, selenium can help against various other common viral infections including herpes, hepatitis, colds, influenza, measles, mumps, shingles, and at very high doses, even against rare and highly deadly viruses like Ebola.

Third, selenium can help against many skin conditions like acne, eczema, psoriasis, stomach ulcers, and cuts or sores that won’t heal.

Finally, selenium is beneficial against many chronic diseases related to aging including arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, heart problems, mental decline, and even menopause. Selenium supplements are not only safe but even beneficial for women who are pregnant or breast feeding.

While selenium should not be considered a “cure” for any of these conditions, these supplements are useful in helping reduce or control the impact of all of them. The nice thing is that selenium tablets can be used in conjunction with any other pharmaceutical drug and there are no negative side effects.  

5.       Howard, I understand you used to live in Zambia. Where did you live and what did you do here?

Yes, I lived in Lusaka, mostly in Rhodes Park from 2002 to 2007. Since I found out I was HIV positive even before there were any drugs to treat this disease, I have always been an Aids activist, an Aids campaigner, even a crusader against this disease and for the rights of people who are infected by this virus. Once I discovered the strong impact selenium has in increasing CD4 count and improving the health of people with HIV, I wanted to help people at the centre of the epidemic here in Southern Africa. Therefore I decided to set up a socially responsible company to bring selenium to Africa. Since Zambia is a peaceful country that speaks English and I had a Zambian friend here who invited me to come, I decided I would come here rather than any other country I could have chosen. I really enjoyed my time in Zambia and made many good friends who I still stay in contact with. However after five years I moved to Johannesburg South Africa due to business considerations. They also need help there fighting this epidemic. 

6.       So let me help clarify for the readers. Do you use selenium along with ARV drugs, or instead of ARVs?

I have been taking ARVs for twenty-three years and I added selenium thirteen years ago so I’ve been taking both together for the last thirteen years. ARVs and selenium are like chicken and chips. Just because you take one does not mean you don’t need the other. But anyone can take selenium to help improve their health. My own mother took selenium for thirty years because she didn’t want to get cancer. 

Taking selenium tablets can help slow down HIV becoming Aids so it would certainly be reasonable to start taking selenium tablets as soon as you find out you are HIV positive. However a person taking ARVs should never stop taking ARVs just because they start taking selenium. After all, you don’t take the chicken off your plate just because they put chips on your plate. You need both. A person living with HIV wants the best combination therapy they can get, and adding selenium to ARVs does that.

7.       I understand selenium used to be available in Zambia. What happened?

Yes. In 2002 I moved half way around the world to bring selenium to other HIV positive people like me who really needed it. Here in Zambia I saw first-hand how fast and how strongly selenium acts to bring back the health of people who were sick with Aids. At that time most people could not get ARVs and there was no selenium in the country.

I started a company specifically to bring selenium to Zambia. Most of the HIV committees in the government ministries were buying it and even many members of parliament and government ministers and permanent secretaries were using it. Naturally anyone who knows the health benefits of selenium can use it to improve their health – HIV positive or not.

Anyway, people really appreciated this product but issues became crossed in the regulatory agency. Half the time I was allowed to sell my product and half the time I was not allowed to sell, so I was losing a lot of money. To help straighten out these issues the Ministry of Health eventually convened a Technical Working Group on Selenium under the chairmanship of Brigadier General Dr. James Simpungwe (late) who was Director of Clinical and Diagnostic Services at the ministry.

This technical working group consisted of sixteen highly respected medical doctors, scientists, pharmacists and persons involved in Aids work. The working group met repeatedly over a three month period to review and analyse all the published science related to selenium and HIV disease and selenium’s effect on the immune system. Testimony was taken from a number of people who had used selenium to treat HIV including the late journalist Mildred Mpundu. As the leading expert in Africa on how selenium affects HIV, General Simpungwe asked me to serve as the consultant to the working group and I wrote the first draft of the report and helped craft the first version of the group’s recommendations. However the eventual wording of the report was closely edited by General Simpungwe and a core group of the doctors and scientists met to whittle down the initial list of twenty-two proposed recommendations to only eight final recommendations for the ministry to consider. These included that selenium should be added to the essential drug list to be made widely available to government clinics and hospitals – even though selenium is not a drug. It is a nutritional supplement. Among other things, the report recommended that “selenium should be recommended as early therapy in HIV disease and for anyone whose CD4 count is below 500” and “as adjunct therapy to ARV treatment”. It also said that “selenium should be recommended as part of first-line therapy for all viral diseases” and for “tuberculosis, pneumonia and peptic ulcers.” The report further recommended selenium “as a therapy for chronic diseases such as hypertension, anemia, heart problems, arthritis, some skin problems, depression and perhaps diabetes” and that “selenium should be included in all home based care kits for tuberculosis, cancer and HIV”. Finally the report recommended that “a broad based educational program should be instituted to inform doctors, nurses and other health care personnel…how [selenium] can be used to improve medical outcomes and general health.” It also recommended that “an aggressive research program should be immediately undertaken to refine how selenium can best be used in the African context to combat disease and improve health.”

Prior to this report selenium had been allowed on the market and taken off the market several times by the regulatory authority. I hoped the Technical Working Group on Selenium report would help straighten out this confusion but after Brigadier General Dr. James Simpungwe sent the report up to the Permanent Secretary Dr. Miti, Dr. Miti did not follow protocol as he should have by distributing the report for review and comments, but instead he totally ignored it - “tossing it under the rug” so to speak. It should have been sent out for review by various committees like the National Aids Council but this was not done.        

Following all my efforts to help people with HIV in Zambia and all the frustrations and spanners that were thrown in my way and the loss of so much money, I moved to South Africa where I have encountered no problems and thousands there have benefited from the expanded availability of selenium. As I mentioned, selenium is available in almost every pharmacy in South Africa and the United States and is generally available in most countries around the world, but not so much anymore in Zambia.

8.       Today what does the Ministry of Health think about selenium?

Well, I’m not sure what the attitude is in the Ministry of Health today. The people at the top have changed and I’ve received both positive and negative signals. But I’m sure most people in the ministry would like to see selenium more widely available because it could help so many patients in the hospitals and clinics around the country and actually make the job of the people in the ministry easier. The late General Simpungwe who was national Director of Clinical Services was sincerely interested in helping get selenium out to the people but sometimes just one or two people at the top in critical positions can block progress. I hope now with a new government in place attitudes will have been changed and a more pro-people stance may be taken. After all it is the poorest and sickest people who need this most.

Anyway, since selenium can be taken in combination with any other medicine, I think of it as kind of like nshima that can be used with any other food. If selenium were widely used in health clinics and hospitals it would really reduce the disease burden in the country and make Zambia a healthier country. No single medical intervention would do as much to make Zambia a healthier country than using selenium widely in health clinics. Since selenium is very affordable it would be quite cheap if the government purchased it in large bulk quantities. This would be both an extremely cost efficient, effective and sustainable way of improving the public health.       

It might be interesting to note that the nation that has the highest dietary intake of selenium – Japan – also has the highest life expectancy of any country in the world. And since President Sata mentioned prostate cancer at the recent cervical cancer conference here, I should mention that men who take one 200mcg tablet of selenium a day for three to five years or longer, show a 63% reduced rate of prostate cancer.

9.       So what would your recommendation be to the government? What is the way forward?

Well it is hard for just one person to recommend to the government even when they are an international expert on this one small topic like me. However a number of highly qualified Zambian doctors and scientists dedicated a lot of time and effort as part of the Technical Working Group on Selenium in order to formulate well-meaning, scientifically based recommendations to the Ministry of Health to improve the health of the Zambian public. However due to conflicting political and financial interests at the time, the man at the top of the ministry tossed those recommendations aside.

My recommendation today would be to go back and take the recommendations of the Technical Working Group on selenium seriously and make selenium widely available to the people who want it and need it. Doctors or patients who don’t want to use selenium don’t have to use it, but at least make it available for those who do.

Selenium supplements are extremely safe. They have been on the market in the United States and Europe for over 50 years, are approved by the World Health Organization, and unlike many drugs, there has never been a single recorded death due to the use or even overdose of selenium supplements. You could even say they are safer then water. There is absolutely no safety reason why selenium supplements should not be available to people. Even my own mother took selenium every day for thirty years because she didn’t want to get cancer.   

It only takes a tiny bit of political will at the top to do a small thing that can really have a huge impact in improving the health of the nation. But still, someone has to make that decision.

10.   But what about side effects? Doesn’t selenium have any side effects?

Yes, selenium has some side effects but for most people they are positive rather than negative. First, selenium increases appetite, so this is good for anyone who is sick or is losing weight. However this won’t help someone who wants to lose weight. But people who are physically active won’t gain much weight using selenium – maybe one kilo. I use two tablets a day and while I have a very healthy appetite my weight didn’t change using selenium

Second, selenium increases the basic energy level so people feel just a bit more energetic when they take selenium tablets. Finally, because selenium can be used to help treat depression, it is a slight mood elevator so taking these tablets may make a person feel lightly happier.

Generally speaking, anyone can take selenium tablets since they are completely safe and improve health by boosting the immune system. People who are not sick or have only a minor health problem like arthritis or high blood pressure only need one tablet a day. Taking one tablet a day is the best thing a person can do to maintain or improve their health and help prevent cancer too. Those who have HIV usually take two tablets a day and those with TB take three 200mcg tablets a day.   

11.   So what can our readers do to make sure they have access to selenium?

Governments often respond to the voice of the people. And governments should always try to do the best they can to help the people they govern, especially in the essential area of health. Providing selenium through the health clinic and hospital system as recommended by the Technical Working Group on Selenium is the most cost-effective, efficient and sustainable way to improve the health of the whole country.

If nurses, doctors and other health care workers are aware of this they can urge the top administrators in the Ministry of Health to expedite the large scale application of this scientifically proven method of improving health. Large employers like the mines would certainly benefit through a more healthy work force, as would the entire economy. Many others leaders like pastors, tribal leaders and leaders of Aids and health NGOs could also enquire how to get selenium to those who need it.

Even ordinary people can ask for selenium at health clinics and ask for it to be made available. People can even ask their members of Parliament why selenium is not widely available here in Zambia when in South Africa anyone can walk into any pharmacy and buy it. Even members of the media can raise this question when health issues are discussed. As the Bible says, “Ask and ye shall receive.” But if you don’t ask or don’t know what to ask for, you won’t receive.

I just hope this simple, efficient, safe, affordable and sustainable way of improving health can be made available to the people of Zambia again as soon as possible, especially to people like me who are HIV positive.

Thank you for taking the time to interview me, and God bless Zambia.