Editing Lynn Margulis (section)

=== AIDS/HIV theory ===
In 2009 Margulis and seven others authored a position paper concerning research on the viability of round body forms of some spirochetes, "Syphilis, Lyme disease, & AIDS: Resurgence of 'the great imitator'?"<ref name="Margulis-2009">{{cite journal |url=http://www1.biogema.de/WEK/312-Margulis-final.pdf |title=Syphilis, Lyme disease & AIDS: Resurgence of "the great imitator"? |journal=Symbiosis |volume=47 |issue=1 |year=2009 |pages=51–58|doi=10.1007/BF03179970 |last1=Margulis |first1=Lynn |last2=Maniotis |first2=Andrew |last3=MacAllister |first3=James |last4=Scythes |first4=John |last5=Brorson |first5=Oystein |last6=Hall |first6=John |last7=Krumbein |first7=Wolfgang E. |last8=Chapman |first8=Michael J. |s2cid=25177964 }}</ref> which states that, "Detailed research that correlates life histories of symbiotic [[spirochete]]s to changes in the immune system of associated vertebrates is sorely needed", and urging the "reinvestigation of the natural history of mammalian, [[tick]]-borne, and venereal transmission of spirochetes in relation to impairment of the human immune system". The paper went on to suggest "that the possible direct causal involvement of spirochetes and their round bodies to symptoms of immune deficiency be carefully and vigorously investigated".<ref name="Margulis-2009"/>

In a ''[[Discover Magazine]]'' interview, Margulis explained her reason for interest in the topic of the 2009 "AIDS" paper: "I'm interested in spirochetes only because of our ancestry. I'm not interested in the diseases", and stated that she had called them "symbionts" because both the spirochete which causes syphilis (''[[Treponema]]'') and the spirochete which causes Lyme disease (''[[Borrelia]]'') only retain about 20% of the genes they would need to live freely, outside of their human hosts.<ref name="Teresi-2011"/>

However, in the ''Discover Magazine'' interview Margulis said that "the set of symptoms, or syndrome, presented by syphilitics overlaps completely with another syndrome: AIDS", and also noted that [[Kary Mullis]]{{efn|[[Kary Mullis]] won the 1993 [[Nobel Prize]] for the [[polymerase chain reaction]], and was known for his unconventional scientific views.}} said that "he went looking for a reference substantiating that HIV causes AIDS and discovered, 'There is no such document' ".<ref name="Teresi-2011"/>

This provoked a widespread supposition that Margulis had been an "[[AIDS denialist]]". Jerry Coyne reacted on his ''Why Evolution is True'' blog against his interpretation that Margulis believed "that AIDS is really syphilis, not viral in origin at all."<ref>{{cite web |author=Jerry Coyne |website=Why Evolution is True |url=https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/lynn-margulis-disses-evolution-in-discover-magazine-embarrasses-both-herself-and-the-field/ |date=April 12, 2011 |title=Lynn Margulis disses evolution in Discover Magazine – Embarrasses both herself and the field}}</ref> [[Seth Kalichman]], a social psychologist who studies behavioral and social aspects of AIDS, cited her [Margulis] 2009 paper as an example of AIDS denialism "flourishing",<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kalichman |first1=S. C. |last2=Eaton |first2=L. |last3=Cherry |first3=C. |doi=10.1007/s10865-010-9275-7 |title="There is no Proof that HIV Causes AIDS": AIDS denialism beliefs among people living with HIV/AIDS |journal=Journal of Behavioral Medicine |volume=33 |issue=6 |pages=432–440 |year=2010 |pmid=20571892 |pmc=3015095}}</ref> and asserted that her [Margulis] "endorsement of HIV/AIDS denialism defies understanding".<ref>{{cite book |author=Seth C. Kalichman |title=Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy |author-link=Seth Kalichman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_mtDBCDwxugC&pg=PA181 |date=January 16, 2009 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-387-79476-1 |pages=181–82}}</ref>