 On May 16, 2005, a three-year-old little girl was rushed to the hospital. She had been vomiting at home and eventually collapsed and stopped breathing. Doctors at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nys, California were unable to resuscitate the little girl. She was pronounced dead at 5.40 a.m. This is a nightmare for any parent, the worst possible thing that could ever happen to you. The sense of powerlessness and fear are torture for a mother or a father. What makes this story especially tragic was the cause of death and the identity of the victim. The little girl was Eliza Jean Scoville and the cause of death was AIDS-related pneumonia. An autopsy was performed that found a pronounced atrophy of the thymus and lymphatic organs. The lungs were found to contain an opportunistic fungal pathogen called pneumocystis. This is known as pneumocystis pneumonia or PCP. A later post-mortem exam identified the presence of HIV viral proteins in her brain, as well as signs of encephalitis common in late-states age patients. This all adds up to a rather textbook case of pediatric AIDS death. Eliza Jean's mother was Christine Maggiore, a prominent AIDS denialist. Christine was the wealthy founder of a large clothing import-export operation. In 1992, she tested positive for HIV during a routine exam. She became very active in various AIDS charities. But in 1994, there was a sudden change in Maggiore's activism. She had encountered Peter Dusberg, the UC Berkeley professor, and prominent AIDS denialist. I don't know what the extent of their interaction was, but she was now one of them, a denialist. She was a group that is today alive and well AIDS alternatives. They estimated in 2005 that they had provided legal assistance to about 50 HIV-positive mothers in legally blocking the proper testing or treatment of their children. This was an issue that Maggiore felt very strongly about. She opposed testing for HIV. She opposed preventative treatment, and she advocated HIV-positive mothers breastfeeding their infants despite the advice of competent doctors and scientists. She was completely against any use of antiretroviral drugs. Instead, she advocated herbal therapies, megavitamins, homeopathy, naturopathic medicine, acupuncture, colon hydrotherapy, a.k.a. enemas, juice fasting and diets, imagery, and of course, Ayurvedic medicine. The advisory board of Alive and Well is composed of a who's who of AIDS denialism, the Perth group, Peter Dusberg, and others. Maggiore practiced what she preached. She did not take antiretrovirals before, during, or after her pregnancy, and she refused to let Eliza Jane be tested. She breastfed with no precautions. Her behaviors maximized the chance of infection to her baby. Her lack of testing or proper medical treatment for Eliza Jane guaranteed that the child would have the worst possible chance of survival. She also endangered her son, Charlie, born 1997, and her husband, Robin Scoville, by a lack of precaution. Both of her children failed to receive normal childhood vaccines. In April 2005, when Eliza Jane became sick with a chronic runny nose, Maggiore took her to the family physician. And then a few days later, to one of the doctors on her advisory board, Jay Gordon. One of them diagnosed her with pneumonia, according to an interview with Maggiore at the hospital after her daughter's death. Rejecting that diagnosis, Maggiore went to Philip Inkal, a holistic practitioner that was also on the board of Alive and Well. He diagnosed Eliza Jane with an ear infection, which the autopsy would later show she did not have. And he prescribed amoxicillin, which seemed surprisingly crass western-based medicine for a holistic practitioner to use. Sadly, pneumocystis is a yeast-like fungus, not a bacteria. So the amoxicillin was completely ineffective, and Eliza Jane died two days later from preventable causes. After the autopsy was released, an investigation was started by the LAPD and the LA Department of Child Protective Services as a case of medical neglect. In September of 2006, the LA County DA's office announced it would not file charges because it would be difficult to get a conviction of neglect when Eliza Jane had been taken to a physician who was aware of the mother's HIV status. One of the physicians, Paul Fleiss, was issued a probationary period of 35 months of heavily supervised practice for gross negligence in failing to diagnose the HIV status of the three-year-old daughter of an HIV-positive AIDS denialist. The parents of Eliza Jane counter-attacked the LA Coroner's office, making accusations that the coroner's report contained misinformation included for political reasons. They went to Dr. Mohamed Albaidi, who holds a PhD in animal disease pathology. Albaidi had done research on metal toxicology of rats and mice, but he is not a clinician and has no credentials in human health diagnosis or treatment. Yet he often shows up as a professional witness in controversial trials. He's also an AIDS denialist and on the advisory board of Alive and Well. Albaidi wrote a report at the parents' request in which he has scribed Eliza Jane's death to an allergic reaction to amoxicillin. His report is full of holes and legalistic care splitting. Anyone can see the heavy bias he brings to the table. I won't go into this legal battle. I think the point is made about denial in the death of a child. There's another tragic turn in this sad story. On December 27, 2008, Christine Maggiore, the mother of Eliza Jane, died at the age of 52. She had been under a doctor's treatment for the six months prior to her death for a chronic case of pneumonia. There were two very different accounts for her decline in death at such a young age. Her fellow denialists insist that it was a reaction to a holistic cleansing routine she underwent, plus stress and possibly a flu infection. The official account on her death certificate was disseminated herpes virus infection in her lungs leading to pneumonia. She also appears to have had oral candidiasis or thrush, but no autopsy was performed at the request of the family. Is it normal for a healthy 54-year-old to show signs of profound immunocompromise after a holistic cleanse? How many non-AIDS patients die of pneumonia with disseminated herpes virus infection and thrush? The sad truth here is that this woman died of her own denial. She was so wrapped up in her status as an activist and a dogmatic belief that it prevented her from getting the help that could have saved her life. Even more sad, she was willing to risk her daughter's life on the beliefs of a fringe group with no real science behind it. Some of you wonder why I bother to make these videos on AIDS denialism. It seems like such a small group and so heavily discredited that they no longer really matter, but the damage they've done and continue to do is something I can't overlook. Christine and her daughter can serve as an example for us all of what can happen when we fail to address these dangerous fringe beliefs when pseudoscience is allowed to flower and grow without challenge. Eliza Jane didn't deserve to die for her mother's lack of judgment. I don't know, I think sometimes maybe Christine didn't deserve to die for falling for the propaganda of a pseudoscientific fringe group. The people who are truly responsible here know who they are. I hope they feel the occasional twinge of guilt for the death of this woman and her daughter, or maybe they're so deeply wrapped in their denial that they can even fool themselves. Eliza Jane would be eight years old now if she had lived, the same age as my daughter. I think there is no greater cause than preventing the needless death of children. For me that means I will never stop challenging the eight denialists. Thanks for watching.