Christine Maggiore

Christine Joy Maggiore (July 25, 1956 – December 27, 2008) was an HIV-positive activist and promoter of HIV/AIDS denialism. She was the founder of Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, an organization which disputes the link between HIV and AIDS and urges HIV-positive pregnant women to avoid anti-HIV medication. Maggiore authored and self-published the book What If Everything You Thought You Knew about AIDS Was Wrong?

Maggiore's promotion of HIV/AIDS denialism had long been controversial, particularly since her 3-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane Scovill, died of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, which is an AIDS-defining illness. Consistent with her belief that HIV was harmless, Maggiore had not taken medication to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV to her daughter during pregnancy, and she did not have Eliza Jane tested for HIV during her daughter's lifetime. Maggiore herself died on December 27, 2008, after suffering from AIDS-related conditions.

Early life and career Born in Chicago, Illinois, Maggiore grew up in Southern California. After graduating with honors from Reseda High School, she worked in advertising and marketing in Los Angeles, California until 1984. She traveled through Europe and North Africa in 1984 before settling in Florence, Italy, where she lived from 1985 to 1987. By the late 1980s, she was earning a high salary at the Alessi International clothing company.

HIV diagnosis and activism In 1992, as part of a routine medical exam, Maggiore tested positive for HIV, as did a former boyfriend.

In a 2002 article entitled "My Bout of So-Called AIDS", Maggiore wrote that she had an abnormal Pap smear (a "Grade 3 Pap smear with cervical dysplasia"), which she wrote would qualify her for an AIDS diagnosis. Maggiore's doctors recommended further evaluation with colposcopy; Maggiore writes that she instead followed a naturopathic program and had additional Pap tests performed under an assumed name by another doctor, ultimately obtaining what she described as a normal result.

In a 2005 article in the Los Angeles Times, Maggiore claimed to be in excellent health without taking anti-retroviral treatment. Her influence on Thabo Mbeki's decision to block medical treatment of HIV-positive pregnant women was criticized following her death, with medical researchers noting that an estimated "330,000 lives were lost to new AIDS infections during the time Mbeki blocked government funding of AZT treatment to mothers."

Daughter Eliza Jane

Christine Maggiore chose not to take antiretroviral drugs or other measures which reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV during her pregnancies. Maggiore also breastfed her children, despite evidence that breastfeeding can also transmit HIV from mother to child. Her youngest daughter, Eliza Jane, was never tested for HIV, nor did she or her older brother Charlie receive any of the recommended childhood vaccines. Maggiore later reported Charlie to have tested HIV-negative three times, and asserted that both were in good health. When Eliza Jane failed to improve, Maggiore took her to see Philip Incao, a holistic practitioner and board member of Maggiore's organization Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, who described Eliza Jane as only mildly ill and prescribed her amoxicillin for a presumed ear infection.

The postmortem examination of Eliza Jane's brain showed changes consistent with HIV encephalitis; protein components of HIV itself were identified in Eliza Jane's brain tissue via immunohistochemistry. Maggiore had the autopsy reviewed by Mohammed Al-Bayati, a veterinary pathologist who holds a Ph.D. in animal disease pathology, but is neither a medical doctor nor board-certified in human pathology. Al-Bayati argued that Eliza Jane had died from an allergic reaction to amoxicillin, a conclusion Maggiore embraced.

Reaction to Eliza Jane's death Controversy ensued in the wake of Eliza Jane's death; as Eliza Jane had acquired HIV from Maggiore perinatally or via breastfeeding, her HIV infection might have been prevented had Maggiore taken antiretroviral drugs or avoided breastfeeding, and her death may have been preventable with proper medical care.

During this controversy, Maggiore had held fast to her views on HIV/AIDS and to Al-Bayati's conclusion.

Eliza Jane's death was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Department of Child Protective Services as a possible case of medical neglect or child endangerment. In September 2006, the Medical Board of California filed charges of gross negligence against Eliza Jane's pediatrician, Paul M. Fleiss.

The board argued that Fleiss had failed to test Eliza Jane for HIV (or to document her parents' refusal of testing), failed to counsel Maggiore to avoid breastfeeding given the risk of transmitting HIV, and committed similar violations of standard medical practice in Fleiss' care of a second HIV-positive child. Ultimately, Fleiss conceded a failure to keep adequate medical records and was sanctioned with 35 months of probation, but was not found grossly negligent by the Board.

Maggiore and her husband, Robin Scovill, sued Los Angeles County in 2007 for allegedly violating their daughter's civil rights and privacy by releasing her autopsy report, which indicated that she was HIV-positive. A settlement was reached in 2009.

Death On December 27, 2008, Maggiore died at the age of 52. She was under a doctor's care and was being treated for what was originally reported as pneumonia. The Los Angeles County coroner's office stated that Maggiore had been treated for pneumonia in the six months prior to her death as well. Maggiore's death certificate states that the cause of death was disseminated herpes virus infection and bilateral pneumonia, with oral candidiasis as a contributing cause, all of which is related to HIV infection. The death certificate also states that no autopsy was performed.