In Zambia a prominent anti-Aids campaigner and head of the Zambian network of people living with HIV says he has doubts about whether the virus causes Aids.

In 1990, Winston Zulu was the first Zambian to publicly declare he was HIV-positive and he has become Zambia's best known anti-Aids campaigner.

For most of the past decade he has campaigned to curb the spread of the disease believing the conventional view that HIV causes Aids.

However he now has doubts.

Advisory panel

Earlier this year South African President Thabo Mbeki caused an uproar when he appointed members of the scientific community who do not believe HIV causes Aids to an advisory panel set up to investigate the link between them.

Mr Zulu is also a member of the panel.

At a July meeting of the panel, the so called dissidents who believe HIV and Aids are not linked expressed their views.

What they said had a profound influence on Mr Zulu. He now believes there is no firm evidence that the virus causes Aids.

The whole debate he says has been stifled.

Indeed he doubts whether there has even been one death from Aids in Zambia.

He says the high mortality rates could be due to more common causes such as poverty or diseases like Malaria or Tuberculosis.

Dismay

His remarks have been greeted with dismay by anti-Aids campaigners in Lusaka, the country is one of the worst affected in the world with approximately one million Zambians HIV-positive.

Dr Kenneth Ofusu-Barco, the head of the UNAids programme in Lusaka, says Mr Zulu's comments are of grave concern.

He believes the views of dissidents threaten to undermine efforts to bring this devastating epidemic under control.

He says he will seek a meeting with Mr Zulu to explain why the HIV virus is the only plausible explanation for Aids.