Discredited HIV/AIDS origins theories

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Various fringe theories have arisen to speculate about purported alternative origins for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), with claims ranging from it being due to accidental exposure to supposedly purposeful acts. Several inquiries and investigations have been carried out as a result, and each of these theories has consequently been determined to be based on unfounded and/or false information. HIV has been shown to have evolved from or be closely related to the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in West Central Africa sometime in the early 20th century. HIV was discovered in the 1980s by the French scientist Luc Montagnier. Before the 1980s, HIV was an unknown deadly disease. [1]

Contents

Discredited theories

Smallpox vaccination theory

In 1987 there was some consideration given to the possibility that the "AIDS epidemic may have been triggered by the mass vaccination campaign which eradicated smallpox". An article [2] in The Times suggested this, attributing to an unnamed "adviser to WHO" the quote "I believe the smallpox vaccine theory is the explanation to the explosion of AIDS". It is now thought that the smallpox vaccine causes serious complications for people who already have impaired immune systems, and the Times article described the case of a military recruit with "dormant HIV" who died within months of receiving it. But no citation was provided regarding people who did not previously have HIV. Currently several professional publications describe HIV as a contraindication for the smallpox vaccine—both for an infected person and their sexual partners and household members. [3] [4] Some conspiracy theorists propose an expanded hypothesis in which the smallpox vaccine was deliberately contaminated with HIV. [5]

In contrast, a research article was published in 2010 suggesting that it might have been the actual eradication of smallpox and the subsequent "ending" of the mass vaccination campaign that contributed to the sudden emergence of HIV. The theory was the possibility that immunization against smallpox "might play a role in providing an individual with some degree of protection to subsequent HIV infection and/or disease progression." [6] [7] Regardless of the effects of the smallpox vaccine itself, its use in practice in Africa is one of the categories of un-sterile injections that may have contributed to the spread and mutation of the immunodeficiency viruses. [8]

Hepatitis B vaccine (HBV) theory

The dermatologist Alan Cantwell, in self-published books entitled AIDS and the Doctors of Death: An Inquiry into the Origin of the AIDS Epidemic (1988) and Queer Blood: The Secret AIDS Genocide Plot (1993), said that HIV is a genetically modified organism developed by U.S. Government scientists. The virus was then introduced into the population through hepatitis B (via the hepatitis B vaccine, specifically through Lot 751 of the Merck Heptavax B vaccine) experiments performed on gay and bisexual men between 1978 and 1981 in major U.S. cities (New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and others) Cantwell claims that these experiments were directed by Wolf Szmuness, and that there was an ongoing government cover-up of the origins of the AIDS epidemic. Similar theories have been advanced by Robert B. Strecker, [9] Matilde Krim, and Milton William Cooper.

Oral polio vaccine (OPV) theory

In the 1999 version of his OPV AIDS hypothesis, Edward Hooper proposed that early batches of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) grown in cultures of chimpanzee kidney cells, infected with a chimpanzee virus, were the original source of HIV-1 in Central Africa. A vial of the batch most strongly implicated by Hooper was found in storage in the UK, and analysis found no HIV/SIV sequences or chimpanzee cellular components, but did find traces of macaque mitochondria. Analysis of five samples of OPV in storage at the Wistar Institute, including one from a batch used in the Belgian Congo between 1958 and 1960, found no chimpanzee DNA. [10] Other molecular biology and phylogenetic studies also contradict the hypothesis, and scientific consensus regards it as disproven. [11] [12] [13] [14] A 2004 article in the journal Nature described the hypothesis as "refuted". [15]

Additional theories

These theories generally attribute HIV's origin to the US government or its contractors:

Created at Fort Detrick

Jakob Segal (1911–1995), a professor at Humboldt University in then-East Germany, proposed that HIV was engineered at a U.S. military laboratory at Fort Detrick, by splicing together two other viruses, Visna and HTLV-1. According to his theory, the new virus, created between 1977 and 1978, was tested on prison inmates who had volunteered for the experiment in exchange for early release. He further suggested that it was through these prisoners that the virus was spread to the population at large.

At the end of the Cold War, former KGB agents Vasili Mitrokhin and Oleg Gordievsky independently revealed that the Fort Detrick hypothesis was a propaganda operation devised by the KGB's First Chief Directorate codenamed "Operation INFEKTION". This revelation was later supported by officer Günther Bohnensack of section X of East Germany's Main Directorate for Reconnaissance.

It is known that Segal was in close contact with Russian KGB officers and Mitrokhin mentioned him as a central asset of the operation. [16] [17] It is not entirely clear whether Segal pursued the hypothesis independently on his own accord or whether he was simply following orders. Segal himself always denied the latter and kept pursuing the hypothesis even after the operation had been canceled and the Cold War had ended.

Conspiracy to decrease the population

In Behold a Pale Horse (1991), radio broadcaster and author Milton William Cooper (1943–2001) proposed that AIDS was the result of a conspiracy to decrease the populations of blacks, Hispanics, and homosexuals. [18]

Prevalence of conspiracy beliefs

According to Phil Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles, conspiracy theories are becoming a barrier to the prevention of AIDS since people start to believe that no matter what measures they take, they can still be prone to contracting this disease. A 2005 study suggests this makes them less careful when engaging in practices that put them at risk because they believe there is no point. [19] "Nearly half of the 500 African Americans surveyed said that HIV is man-made. More than one-quarter said they believed that AIDS was produced in a government laboratory, and 12 percent believed it was created and spread by the CIA ... At the same time, 75 percent said they believed medical and public health agencies are working to stop the spread of AIDS in black communities." [19]

Prominent endorsers of discredited theories

Nation of Islam

The Nation of Islam endorses the view that governments and pharmaceutical companies have pursued genocidal racist policies including the creation and spread of HIV. Consequently, the group called for a boycott of U.S.-sponsored vaccination programs for children. Leonard Horowitz has been cited as influential in the boycott decision. [20]

Wangari Maathai

The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and environmental activist Wangari Maathai was asked by a Time magazine interviewer if she stood by a previous alleged claim that "AIDS is a biological weapon manufactured by the developed world to wipe out the black race". Maathai responded, "I have no idea who created AIDS and whether it is a biological agent or not. But I do know things like that don't come from the moon. ... I guess there is some truth that must not be too exposed." [21] Maathai subsequently issued a written statement in December 2004: "I neither say nor believe that the virus was developed by white people or white powers in order to destroy the African people. Such views are wicked and destructive." [22]

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang

In 2000 South Africa's Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang received criticism for distributing the chapter from Cooper's book discussing this theory to senior South African government officials. [23] Nicoli Nattrass, a longtime critic of AIDS denialists, criticized Tshabalala-Msimang for lending legitimacy to Cooper's theories and disseminating them in Africa. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Duesberg hypothesis is the claim that AIDS is not caused by HIV, but instead that AIDS is caused by noninfectious factors such as recreational and pharmaceutical drug use and that HIV is merely a harmless passenger virus. The hypothesis was popularized by Peter Duesberg, a professor of biology at University of California, Berkeley, from whom the hypothesis gets its name. The scientific consensus is that the Duesberg hypothesis is incorrect and that HIV is the cause of AIDS. The most prominent supporters of the hypothesis are Duesberg himself, biochemist and vitamin proponent David Rasnick, and journalist Celia Farber. The scientific community generally contends that Duesberg's arguments in favor of the hypothesis are the result of cherry-picking predominantly outdated scientific data and selectively ignoring evidence that demonstrates HIV's role in causing AIDS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV</span> Human retrovirus, cause of AIDS

The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. Without treatment, the average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS denialism</span> False belief that HIV does not cause AIDS

HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while others accept that HIV exists but argue that it is a harmless passenger virus and not the cause of AIDS. Insofar as they acknowledge AIDS as a real disease, they attribute it to some combination of sexual behavior, recreational drugs, malnutrition, poor sanitation, haemophilia, or the effects of the medications used to treat HIV infection (antiretrovirals).

The spread of HIV/AIDS has affected millions of people worldwide; AIDS is considered a pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that in 2016 there were 36.7 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, with 1.8 million new HIV infections per year and 1 million deaths due to AIDS. Misconceptions about HIV and AIDS arise from several different sources, from simple ignorance and misunderstandings about scientific knowledge regarding HIV infections and the cause of AIDS to misinformation propagated by individuals and groups with ideological stances that deny a causative relationship between HIV infection and the development of AIDS. Below is a list and explanations of some common misconceptions and their rebuttals.

<i>Simian immunodeficiency virus</i> Species of retrovirus

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is a species of retrovirus that cause persistent infections in at least 45 species of non-human primates. Based on analysis of strains found in four species of monkeys from Bioko Island, which was isolated from the mainland by rising sea levels about 11,000 years ago, it has been concluded that SIV has been present in monkeys and apes for at least 32,000 years, and probably much longer.

The oral polio vaccine (OPV) AIDS hypothesis is a now-discredited hypothesis that the AIDS pandemic originated from live polio vaccines prepared in chimpanzee tissue cultures, accidentally contaminated with simian immunodeficiency virus and then administered to up to one million Africans between 1957 and 1960 in experimental mass vaccination campaigns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilary Koprowski</span> Polish-Jewish-American physician, virologist, immunologist and medical researcher

Hilary Koprowski was a Polish virologist and immunologist active in the United States who demonstrated the world's first effective live polio vaccine. He authored or co-authored over 875 scientific papers and co-edited several scientific journals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jakob Segal</span>

Jakob Segal was a Russian-born German biology professor at Humboldt University of Berlin in the former East Germany. He was one of the advocates of the conspiracy theory that HIV was created by the United States government at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CCR5</span> Immune system protein

C-C chemokine receptor type 5, also known as CCR5 or CD195, is a protein on the surface of white blood cells that is involved in the immune system as it acts as a receptor for chemokines.

This is a timeline of HIV/AIDS, including cases before 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of HIV/AIDS</span> Epidemiological history

AIDS is caused by a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which originated in non-human primates in Central and West Africa. While various sub-groups of the virus acquired human infectivity at different times, the present pandemic had its origins in the emergence of one specific strain – HIV-1 subgroup M – in Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo in the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HIV/AIDS</span> Spectrum of conditions caused by HIV infection

Infection with HIV, a retrovirus, can be managed with treatment but without treatment can lead to a spectrum of conditions including AIDS.

HIV superinfection is a condition in which a person with an established human immunodeficiency virus infection acquires a second strain of HIV, often of a different subtype. These can form a recombinant strain that co-exists with the strain from the initial infection, as well from reinfection with a new virus strain, and may cause more rapid disease progression or carry multiple resistances to certain HIV medications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subtypes of HIV</span> Variants of the human immunodeficiency virus

The subtypes of HIV include two main subtypes, known as HIV type 1 (HIV-1) and HIV type 2 (HIV-2). These subtypes have distinct genetic differences and are associated with different epidemiological patterns and clinical characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation INFEKTION</span> KGB disinformation campaign claiming that HIV was a U.S. bioweapon

Operation Denver was an active measure disinformation campaign run by the KGB in the 1980s to plant the idea that the United States had invented HIV/AIDS as part of a biological weapons research project at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Historian Thomas Boghardt popularized the codename "INFEKTION" based on the claims of former East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi) officer Günter Bohnsack, who claimed that the Stasi codename for the campaign was either "INFEKTION" or perhaps also "VORWÄRTS II". However, historians Christopher Nehring and Douglas Selvage found in the former Stasi and Bulgarian State Security archives materials that prove the actual Stasi codename for the AIDS disinformation campaign was Operation Denver. The operation involved "an extraordinary amount of effort — funding radio programs, courting journalists, distributing would-be scientific studies", according to journalist Joshua Yaffa, and even became the subject of a report by Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social history of viruses</span> Influence of viruses and viral infections on human history

The social history of viruses describes the influence of viruses and viral infections on human history. Epidemics caused by viruses began when human behaviour changed during the Neolithic period, around 12,000 years ago, when humans developed more densely populated agricultural communities. This allowed viruses to spread rapidly and subsequently to become endemic. Viruses of plants and livestock also increased, and as humans became dependent on agriculture and farming, diseases such as potyviruses of potatoes and rinderpest of cattle had devastating consequences.

Vaccinia immune globulin (VIG) is made from the pooled blood of individuals who have been inoculated with the smallpox vaccine. The antibodies these individuals developed in response to the smallpox vaccine are removed and purified. This results in VIG. It can be administered intravenously. It is used to treat individuals who have developed progressive vaccinia after smallpox vaccination.

Big Pharma conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories which claim that pharmaceutical companies, especially large corporations, act in sinister and secretive ways, such as concealing effective treatments, or even intentionally causing and worsening a wide range of diseases, in pursuit of profitability, or for other nefarious reasons. Some theories have included the claim that natural alternative remedies to health problems are being suppressed, the claim that drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS are ineffective and harmful, the claim that a cure for all cancers has been discovered but hidden from the public, claims that COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective, and that alternative cures are available for COVID-19. In most cases the conspiracy theorists have blamed pharmaceutical companies' search for profits. A range of authors have shown these claims to be false, though some of these authors nevertheless maintain that other criticisms of the pharmaceutical industry are legitimate.

Beatrice H. Hahn is an American virologist and biomedical researcher best known for work which established that HIV, the virus causing AIDS, began as a virus passed from apes to humans. She is a professor of Medicine and Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In November 2002, Discover magazine listed Hahn as one of the 50 most important women scientists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bette Korber</span> American computational biologist

Bette Korber is an American computational biologist focusing on the molecular biology and population genetics of the HIV virus that causes infection and eventually AIDS. She has contributed heavily to efforts to obtain an effective HIV vaccine. She created a database at Los Alamos National Laboratory that has enabled her to design novel mosaic HIV vaccines, one of which is currently in human testing in Africa. The database contains thousands of HIV genome sequences and related data.

References

  1. ↑ Sharp, P. M.; Bailes, E.; Chaudhuri, R. R.; Rodenburg, C. M.; Santiago, M. O.; Hahn, B. H. (2001). "The origins of acquired immune deficiency syndrome viruses: Where and when?". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 356 (1410): 867–76. doi:10.1098/rstb.2001.0863. PMC   1088480 . PMID   11405934.
  2. ↑ Wright, Pearce (11 May 1987). "Smallpox vaccine 'triggered Aids virus'". The Times . London.
  3. ↑ Maurer, DM; Harrington, B; Lane, JM (1 September 2003). "Smallpox Vaccine: Contraindications, Administration, and Adverse Reactions". American Family Physician. 68 (5): 889–96. PMID   13678138 . Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  4. ↑ "Questions and Answers About Smallpox Contraindications and Screening". Emergency Preparedness and Response. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  5. ↑ Kalambuka, Angeyo (1 December 2009). "Kenya: Don't Discount Conspiracy Theories on Origin of Aids". Daily Nation . Nairobi. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  6. ↑ Weinstein, RS; Weinstein, MM; Alibek, K; Bukrinsky, MI; Brichacek, Beda (18 May 2010). "Significantly reduced CCR5-tropic HIV-1 replication in vitro in cells from subjects previously immunized with Vaccinia Virus". BMC Immunology. BioMed Central. 11 (1): 23. doi: 10.1186/1471-2172-11-23 . ISSN   1471-2172. PMC   2881106 . PMID   20482754.
  7. ↑ Connor, Steve (19 May 2010). "Smallpox vaccine 'helped fight HIV'". The Independent. London. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  8. ↑ Marx PA, Alcabes PG, Drucker E (June 2001). "Serial human passage of simian immunodeficiency virus by unsterile injections and the emergence of epidemic human immunodeficiency virus in Africa". Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 356 (1410): 911–20. doi:10.1098/rstb.2001.0867. PMC   1088484 . PMID   11405938.
  9. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "The Strecker Memorandum – AIDS is a man made disease" . Retrieved 27 June 2015– via YouTube.
  10. ↑ Sarah Ramsay 28 April 2001 "Cold water downstream from The River" The Lancet357 (9265) p.1343 doi : 10.1016/S0140-6736(00)04536-0
  11. ↑ Hillis DM (2000). "AIDS. Origins of HIV". Science. 288 (5472): 1757–1759. doi:10.1126/science.288.5472.1757. PMID   10877695. S2CID   83935412.
  12. ↑ Birmingham K (2000). "Results make a monkey of OPV-AIDS theory". Nat Med. 6 (10): 1067. doi: 10.1038/80356 . PMID   11017114. S2CID   10860468.
  13. ↑ Cohen J (2001). "AIDS origins. Disputed AIDS theory dies its final death". Science. 292 (5517): 615a–615. doi:10.1126/science.292.5517.615a. PMID   11330303. S2CID   70625478.
  14. ↑ Origin of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, Accessed 30 January 2007
  15. ↑ Worobey M, Santiago M, Keele B, Ndjango J, Joy J, Labama B, Dhed'A B, Rambaut A, Sharp P, Shaw G, Hahn B (2004). "Origin of AIDS: contaminated polio vaccine theory refuted". Nature. 428 (6985): 820. Bibcode:2004Natur.428..820W. doi: 10.1038/428820a . PMID   15103367. S2CID   4418410.
  16. ↑ Andrew, Christopher; Vasili Mitrokhin (1999). The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB . Basic Books. p.  319. ISBN   0-465-00310-9.
  17. ↑ Johanna Lutterroth: Aids-Verschwörung. Das Propaganda-Virus des KGB. Spiegel Geschichte, 2012-06-26 (German)
  18. ↑ Carroll, Robert Todd (2003). "Illuminati". The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 175. ISBN   9781118045633 . Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  19. 1 2 Fears, Darryl (25 January 2005). "Study: Many Blacks Cite AIDS Conspiracy". The Washington Post . Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  20. ↑ Knight, Peter, Conspiracy Culture: From the Kennedy Assassination to the X-files , p. 202 ISBN   9780415189781
  21. ↑ Faris, Stephan (10 October 2004). "10 Questions: Wangari Maathai". Time . Retrieved 19 March 2007.
  22. ↑ from the Green Belt Movement website- Wangari Maathai's "The Challenge of AIDS in Africa" Archived 6 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine .
  23. ↑ "SA Government steps into Aids row". BBC News. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  24. ↑ Nattrass, Nicoli (2012). The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back . New York: Columbia University Press. pp.  4, 23–27. ISBN   9780231149129 . Retrieved 17 January 2013.
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