Let us briefly discuss some of these theories about the origin of HIV.
The Congo Theory- That HIV started in DRC around 1940 by Africans having sex with African Green Monkeys, or through blood exchange (via cracked palms) when preparing their meat for food.
…but Africans have been eating monkeys before Columbia got to America and more so why is ‘avoid eating Monkey meat’ not one of the ways of preventing HIV infection today? About Africans having sex with monkeys, the author of this theory is simply SICK and IGNORANT of African culture.
The Gaetan Dugas theory- It is believed that this is ‘patient zero’ in bringing HIV to North America after Africans contracted the disease from primates. Gaetan Dugas was a well-travelled ‘wayward’ Canadian airline steward. He died from HIV/AIDS IN 1984. He was labeled ‘patient zero’, the man who brought the disease to North America. It was said that many of patients first infected with HIV had some form of sexual contact with him.
…. But tissue samples taken from a 15 years old called ‘Robert’ who died in 1969 was later reported as being HIV positive.
…. A Norwegian sailor with symptoms of AIDS and a history of sexually transmitted diseases died in 1966. His wife and daughter later on developed similar symptoms and both died from opportunistic infections. Their blood was frozen in 1971 and was later said to be HIV positive.
…There are other examples to prove Mr. Duga’s innocence, but I will stop at these.
The Polio Vaccine Theory- This is the most interesting to me since it is a fact today that there is a form of HIV present in the African Green Monkey- the SIV. In the 1950s’ a trial of polio vaccine was made from the kidney cells of the African Green Monkeys in Rwanda, Burundi and Congo (all former colonies of Belgium). About 500 primates were said to have been used and millions of Africans inoculated. The vaccine was developed by Dr Koprowski from the USA in conjunction with Belgian researchers.
… there are no known cases of HIV before 1951 and the coincidence years later of HIV transmission to humans in the same location is suspicious.
…. the polio vaccines at that time were grown on monkey kidneys which might have been infected by SIVs. Since SIV could not be screened for at that time, SIV contamination is possible and cross-species transfer of the virus might have happened.
… there are arguments and counter arguments to this theory no doubt but enough has not been done to disprove it.
Conspiracy Theories. That HIV is a biological weapon experiment gone wrong. Alan Cantwell Jr wrote a paper titled: AIDS – A Doctor’s Note on the Man-Made Theory:”A decade before the first cases of AIDS,
“A decade before the first cases of AIDS, Dr Donald M. MacArthur, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, told a Congressional Hearing that a “super germ” could be developed as part of our experimental bio-warfare program. This genetically engineered germ would be very different from any previous microbe known to mankind. The agent would be a highly effective killing agent because the immune system would be powerless against this super-microbe (Testimony before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Department of Defense Appropriations for 1970, dated July 1, 1969). Was the AIDS virus, or other so-called “emerging viruses” such as Ebola and Marburg viruses, created in bio-warfare laboratories during the 1970s? During the 1970s, the U.S. Army’s bio-warfare research program intensified, particularly in the area of DNA and gene splicing research. Renouncing germ warfare except for “medical defensive research,”
When HIV killed thousands in Africa in the late 80s and early 90s it was seen by the African as a new and strange disease, we had never seen anything like it before. Interestingly, the epidemic started in South Africa and East Africa. The one thing common to these two regions were the Safaris and the many tourists from the US and Europe. The cost of transportation also fell to an all-time low during this era with a surge in the number of tourists visiting Africa. Are all these just a coincidence? You can see am i fan of conspiracy theories.
AIDS was first identified amongst homosexuals in June 1981 in San Francisco and New York, USA. The virus itself was isolated as the cause of AIDS by Dr. R. Gallo from Baltimore, U.S.A in 1984.
So, where did HIV originate from?
…..‘until the story of the hunt is told by the Lion, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter’ (African Proverb).
