Passenger virus

A passenger virus, according to the Duesberg hypothesis, is a virus that simply 'hitchhikes' in the body of a person without causing symptoms, illness or disease. From a disease perspective, therefore, a passenger virus may be thought of as inert.

Conventional AIDS theory asserts that, through antigen or antibody testing, it is possible to detect the presence of a specific virus, HIV, commonly thought to be the primary cause of AIDS. However, this indirect detection of the widely presumed trigger for AIDS is disputed by some researchers, including Peter Duesberg and Kary B. Mullis (inventor of such a test and 1993 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry). Such indirect evidence of viral agents, according to Duesberg and Mullis, frequently yield false antigen positives and other improper results.

Standard AIDS theory supposes that the indirectly detected HIV may not be a mere passenger virus, but may, in fact, actually cause serious disease symptoms in individuals by compromising the immune system. This is the conventional medical view of the cause for AIDS. If the mainstream theory is correct, that would contradict the notion of the blameless passenger virus defined above.