JOHANNESBURG, Feb 25 (AFP) - Health officials Friday cautioned South Africans against bogus AIDS cures after a pamphlet was distributed in Johannesburg claiming "The cure for AIDS is here!"
The so-called "A.C.C.R - AIDS Cure Compound Remedy" is being advertised on a pamphlet circulated in the eastern Johannesburg suburbs, urging infected people to call immediately "to avoid disappointment".
The Johannesburg-based Citizen newspaper Friday printed a copy of the pamphlet which says: "This is not a joke. The cure for HIV/AIDS is here. This is your chance to be free of this killer virus."
South Africa has the highest HIV/AIDS caseload in the world, with 5.3 million people, or one in five adults, living with HIV and AIDS, according to UN figures.
Earlier in the week the local 702 Talk Radio station reported that a man called Dannie Binneman offering the "wonder drug" for 550 rand (94 dollars / 71 euros) per treatment.
Binneman apparently asks callers to pay upfront even though the drugs would only be available in the next few weeks.
He claims that the drug works wonders because it is "made of ozone" and that it has already cured 39 people, the newspaper reported.
"We have heard of the pamphlet. The health department condemns in the strongest terms anyone who claims that he or she has a cure for AIDS," provincial health spokesman Popo Maja told AFP.
"These quacks are feeding off people's confusion about the disease," added AIDS activist Nathan Geffen.
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