I totally disagree with you that The River is an (invalid) conspiracy theory.
In addition I greatly doubt you have read it.
Presume you are aware that HIV-1 is a lentivirus (the first one discovered) meaning it has an extremely long incubation period in the body before symptoms are exhibited, accounting for why it took so long for the CDC to identify AIDS as a new illness “affecting the homosexual community.”
Hi dis, u haven’t read into the river before but how could an infant be given HIV and then have it show up 20 years later. I doubt the infant would make it to 8 in Africa mid century with HIV. Just a big question I had from your summary.
Viral studies suggest the mutation dates back to the 1930s, and for years there was a slow wasting disease seen in some isolated villages thought to be hiv. I saw a few cases in Zimbabwe in the early 1970s, long before it was recognized...most of those dying we just assumed it was TB...Hiv leads to a quick death from TB. But we also saw kaposi sarcoma, now known to be hiv related.
The disease spread with migrations, civil war, and long distance truck drivers.
There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there, and the authors make money but the poor people die. But for doctors, we often find the stories are exaggerated or taken out of context...but if you are not familiar with what was going on, you believe it.
And a lot of these conspiracies back then were spread by the KGB to turn people against America. And yes, I include british leftwing conspiracy writers as their useful idiots.
For years the south African health minister believed hiv was a form of syphilis, so would not allow antiviral treatment.
And I wont even go into the conspiracies about measles, tetanus, and whooping cough vaccines.