217:. The court documents revealed that the genetic test used by the CDC was an early test that was unverified. Dr. John Witte, Florida's top AIDS official, called the evidence of transmission "scientifically inconclusive." Investigators also discovered Kimberly Bergalis had lied to CDC investigators about her sexual history and other possible risk exposures, and another patient allegedly infected by Acer was discovered to have had intercourse with a prostitute who later died of AIDS. Medical records showed a third patient the CDC claimed Acer had seen often and for extensive procedures had only visited Acer's office once for a cleaning by a hygenicist - a treatment making exposure to HIV highly unlikely and deliberate infection impossible. The hygenicist also testified claims of shoddy sanitary practices were not true. The chief of Retrovirology at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Miami also discovered five cases of HIV with similar genetic strains to Acer that had no link to Acer or his patients, testifying "it is as likely the patients got HIV from the community." Finally, Bergalis developed AIDS two years after her treatment by Acer, but only 1 percent of patients go from infection to illness that quickly.
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team reviewed the CDC's actions and studied its evidence and conclusions. Their report fully supported the CDC report and refuted the claims of Barr and other skeptics, point by point. The principal investigator of the GAO team, Mark Rom, Ph.D., later published an analysis of the case. Neither the CDC nor the GAO was able to solve the mystery of just how
Bergalis acquired the HIV virus from Acer, but neither agency doubts that this did happen somehow.
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interviewers, 'wanted to wait for marriage.' Marriage and its joys will never come for
Kimberly Bergalis, but in her integrity and courage she affirmed that other things were also precious. Bergalis actively participated in several actions by congressmen to pass legislation restricting the activities of persons infected with HIV. Shortly before Bergalis's 1991 death, despite failing health, she testified before the
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was being debated in
Congress, but it was met with opposition because HIV infection was perceived to be caused by stigmatizing risk factors such as homosexuality, substance use, and sexual promiscuity. The media hype around Acer seemed motivated to create "innocent" as opposed to "deserving" victims.
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anchors argued that the CDC may have botched the genetic tests that proved that
Bergalis had the same strain of HIV as her dentist. The television broadcast was dismissed by CDC scientists as misleading and inaccurate. Stephen Barr, a journalist who contributed to the show, rebutted this dismissal.
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In 1990, Congressman Ted Weiss, who was skeptical of the CDC's conclusions, requested a formal investigation by the
Government Accounting Office (GAO, in 2004 renamed General Accountability Office), an independent auditing, evaluation, and investigative body responsible to Congress. A GAO technical
285:
On
December 8, 1991, Bergalis died of AIDS-related complications at her home in Fort Pierce, Florida. Her funeral was held on December 12 in her hometown of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, after which she was buried in Saints Peter and Paul RC Lithuanian Cemetery. Shortly after Bergalis’ death, a small park
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The CDC had closed and published its investigation in July 1990 without further verification or follow-up, but litigation against Acer's malpractice insurance continued through the 1990's. Depositions, private investigator reports, and medical records were leaked to journalist
Stephen Barr writing
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came to feel she had a special calling...to bring a glimmer of truth, however forlorn, into a debate characterized by confusion, denial, smugness, and suicidal self-indulgence... 'No sexual history' is how the jaded describe a chaste woman of 23 who, as Miss
Bergalis explained to disbelieving
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gene. The analysis revealed that the viral sequences from five patients, including
Bergalis, were more closely related to the dentist's viral sequences than to those from local controls. Later analyses identified another HIV-positive patient with a viral sequence closely related to Acer's.
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Testifying to
Congress, Bergalis claimed "I did nothing wrong" and legislators were moved by the story of a white self-proclaimed virgin victimized by a reckless gay man. The case of the "Florida Dracula Dentist" has gone down in AIDS history alongside "Patient Zero"
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During the last months of her life, Bergalis' case was cited by some politicians and journalists as an example of a 'blameless' HIV infection that had been allowed to happen due to the CDC and the healthcare industry being overly responsive to the concerns of
650:
Ward, J.R.; Bush T.J., Perkins, H.A.; et al. (1989). "The natural history of transfusion-associated infection with human immunodeficiency virus: factors influencing the rate of progression to disease".
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tested over 1,000 patients, discovering two additional HIV-positive patients. The CDC would eventually identify a total of ten HIV-positive patients and subsequently retraced six of the infections to Acer.
311:, and showed her on videotape allegedly claiming to have had sex with two different men during her life. However, none of Bergalis' former serious boyfriends tested positive for HIV. In addition, the
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Lifson, A.R.; Hessol N., Rutherford G.; et al. (June 20–24, 1990). "Natural history of HIV infection in a cohort of homosexual and bisexual men: clinical and immunologic outcome".
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at the time, having been diagnosed that fall. In March 1989, Bergalis began to display symptoms of AIDS and was diagnosed with the disease in January 1990. The initial report from the
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that included a segment covering Acer and the patients he allegedly infected. The episode alleged that Bergalis, who said she was a virgin, had been treated for
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and majored in business. A devout Catholic, Bergalis always maintained that she was a virgin and that she never used I. V. drugs.
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126:(January 19, 1968 – December 8, 1991) was an American woman who was one of six patients purportedly infected with
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568:"Epidemiologic Notes and Reports Update: Transmission of HIV Infection during an Invasive Dental Procedure -- Florida"
592:"Epidemiologic Notes and Reports Update: Transmission of HIV Infection During Invasive Dental Procedures --- Florida"
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Fatal Extraction: The Story Behind the Florida Dentist Accused of Infecting his Patients and Poisoning Public Health
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The time between Bergalis' dental procedure and the development of AIDS (24 months) was short; 1% of infected
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Ciesielski, C. A.; et al. (1994). "The 1990 Florida dental investigation, The press and the science".
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Independent review of the CDC tests strengthened the case that Bergalis' HIV infection was linked to Acer.
173:(CDC) stated that she had likely acquired her infection from her dentist, which prompted Acer to write an
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mandating HIV tests for healthcare workers, and permitting doctors to test patients without their consent.
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616:"Possible Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus to a Patient during an Invasive Dental Procedure"
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Ou, Chin-Yih; et al. (1992). "Molecular epidemiology of HIV transmission in a dental practice".
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Barr, Stephen (1996-01-15). "The 1990 Florida Dental Investigation: Is the Case Really Closed?".
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Hillis, DM; Huelsenbeck, JP (1994). "Support for dental HIV transmission".
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In December 1987, dentist Dr. David Acer removed two of Bergalis's
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Kimberly Bergalis Is Dead at 23; Symbol of Debate Over AIDS Tests.
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Editorial staff (December 30, 1991). Kimberly Bergalis, R I P
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requesting that his patients be tested for HIV infection. The
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Nearly three years after Bergalis’ death, in June 1994,
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The eldest of three daughters, Bergalis was born in
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424:"2 New AIDS Infections Deepen Florida Mystery"
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288:Hutchinson Island South, Florida
281:Death and posthumous controversy
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257:community. In an obituary, the
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357:Johnson, Bonnie (1990-10-22).
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639:. San Francisco. p. 142.
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359:"A Life Stolen Early"
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