In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported the deadly HIV/AIDS epidemic. This deadly virus has affected millions in the past and still continues to wipe humans off the Earth, as it is incurable and will continue to spread throughout less developed countries without the needed medical advances. There is a group of people who truly believe that the deadly viruses were created by the CIA and the United States government. Keep reading to find out why many hold this rumor to be true. 

  When asked her thoughts on this rumor, freshman Kate Kilpatrick responded, “I honestly do not think that the United States could do something like creating a deadly virus with the intention of harming citizens either in America or not; it just seems wrong.” While most of the worldwide and American population would agree with Kate, there is still a high number of believers that think the CIA created HIV/AIDS in order to wipe out homosexuals as well as African Americans. In history classes throughout our high school and middle school years, we have all learned about the trans-Atlantic slave trade, in which Africans were shipped to North America and surrounding areas in god awful conditions. These types of situations were where disease spread and ended up killing hundreds. In this circumstance, it is taken that the United States knew that those conditions would promote deadly disease, and maybe putting those actions into play would help spread the disease to many more. 

  To this day, the HIV and AIDS epidemic still affects continents like Africa and South America along with many others as countries that are less developed are more receptive to disease because they do not have the proper, modern medicine to treat and prevent it. This epidemic is mostly associated with people of color, and the profile of believers of this conspiracy insists that the reasons behind the government’s accused actions refers to when racism was at its peak. The American government and white supremacy groups wanted to wipe out people of color. 

  Thabo Mbeki, the president of South Africa, flaunted the theory to the public as he scientifically claimed that the viruses did not originate in Africa, and he blamed the United States government and military labs. Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize and used her spotlight to highlight her support of this conspiracy theory, also.