Original sentence: A number of scientists and AIDS activists question the connection between HIV and AIDS, or the existence of HIV, or the validity of current testing methods
Edited sentence: A number of scientists and AIDS activists continue to question the connection between HIV and AIDS, the very existence of HIV, or of an independent AIDS disease.Advocates of these theories include elements within some African countries and some gay rights groups, such as ACT-UP in San Francisco.As with the enthusiasm for alternative therapies, consideration of unorthodox views about AIDS has declined with claims of increasing success of orthodox medical approaches to AIDS therapies.Dissident scientists report that they are usually not invited to attend AIDS conferences and are not granted research funding from most mainstream sources.Mainstream AIDS activists characterize the position of these dissidents as "AIDS denialism," and limit debate by claiming their public proselytization for their various theories is destructive to the adoption of appropriate preventive and therapeutic measures.Only sporadically covered by the mainstream media, the dissent has not gained public prominence despite the publication of some sixteen books on the topic in the US, and some extensive reporting by sections of the Murdoch press, such as the (London) Sunday Times and The Australian.Prominent members of this group are virus researcher Peter Duesberg, his colleague at Berkeley David Rasnick (now moved to South Africa), the founding scientific editor of Nature Bio/Technology Harvey Bialy and Nobel Prize laureate Kary Mullis.Robert E.South African president Thabo Mbeki famously made a speech questioning the causal link between AIDS and HIV.The AIDS dissenters deny that this success is confirmed in the literature, however, and claim rather that peer reviewed research shows the new medications (protease inhibitors) have a negative impact on patients.The validity of current testing methods is also questioned.These theories have been in the field for at least 15 years, and have found limited support beyond the original circle of advocates.Willner caught the attention of the Spanish media, when in 1994 he inoculated himself with the blood of Pedro Tocino, an HIV positive hemophiliac on live TV.Willner died of a heart attack in [[1995]}, a symptom not associated with AIDS