by Emily Koch
There is a surprising amount of those around the world who are considered to be HIV/AIDS deniers, and they are usually people who have been diagnosed with the disease or who are close to someone that has been diagnosed. These people are also, to begin with, wearier of western medicine than the general public. AIDS was first recognized as a disease in the 1980’s and AIDS denialism gained a large number of followers following the release of Peter Deusburg’s 1996 book “Inventing the AIDS virus.” In his book, Deusberg expressed that HIV is harmless, a passenger virus. He believed that AIDS was spread through things such as drug abuse, sexual intercourse, poor sanitation and health, etc.
But, AIDS denialism does not have a set definition; some believe that it is a hoax made up by pharmaceutical companies to make money and that the treatments for AIDS are instead poisonous causing the patients to develop the same symptoms that AIDS is said to cause. Others believe that AIDS is just a name for cases where there are multiple diseases present. According to Bruce Mirken in “Answering the AIDS Denialists: Is AIDS Real?”, this multitude of diseases can include cancer, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and yeast infections to name a few. And then there are those such as Deusberg who believe that AIDS is real but not infectious, although they don’t think there is a correlation between it and HIV.
Those who do not believe that HIV is a direct cause of the AIDS virus have many reasons as to why they believe so. First of all, they claim none of the Koch Postulates that “…establish a causal relationship between a microbe and a disease” are met. Because none of them are met, there is no way that HIV could possibly cause AIDS according to this fact. They also say that those who have been diagnosed with the disease, and are given medicines to combat it, only seem to feel worse after taking the medicines. Due to this, they believe that there is a conspiracy within drug companies to create a deadly disease that doesn’t exist only so those who have been ‘diagnosed’ will buy their medicines leading to a profit gain for those companies. On the other hand, the evidence that supports the causal relationship between HIV and AIDS is extensive and seems to disprove all of the deniers’ claims. There have been extensive peer reviewed studies published that do in fact show the connection between HIV and AIDS. Many doctors and researchers have studied the progression of HIV and have stated that the last stage of the disease is AIDS- affecting your immune system which allows you to catch other diseases that the deniers say is what is being misdiagnosed as AIDS. There is also the explanation as to why patients feel better when they quit taking the AIDS medications. Because they have been told that the medications are poisonous and quitting them will lead to being cured, the placebo effect kicks in. They think it will work, and it does for a while, until the disease catches up to them and they continue to get worse.
AIDS denialism is an extraordinary belief that is believed by seemingly normal persons in our society. They are those who so badly want to believe that this disease isn’t real, so they make up reasons as to why it isn’t. Because AIDS is a deadly disease, it is emotionally difficult to be diagnosed with it or see someone you love be diagnosed. Because of this, those people long to believe that it really doesn’t exist and that there is some bigger conspiracy- they can’t possibly bear to face the truth. This leads them to deny the disease and the causal relationship between HIV and AIDS. Although they have been presented with the true evidence and facts, they are true believers who cannot face the reality they are trying to avoid. They are also presented with reasons as to why the disease is not real, and when it comes from someone similar to them, they are more likely to believe what those people say rather than others with opposing viewpoints.
In conclusion, AIDS deniers are easily convinced due to their extreme desire for it not to be real. Whether themselves or someone close to them has been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, their first reaction would mostly likely be to question why they are the ones in this situation. They so badly want to believe that it is not happening to them, so when they are presented with a theory that fulfills their desire to make it not real, then they will not stop denying the disease no matter how much evidence against it is shown to them. This extraordinary belief is one that is quite dangerous, as deniers who have the disease will most likely refuse treating, ultimately leading to their death. Lastly, those who deny their diagnosis and refuse treatment also put those around them at risk because they refuse to believe it exists, which in their minds makes it impossible for them to infect others.
Sources
“AIDS Denialism.” AIDS Action Committee, www.aac.org/aachealth-library/aids-denialism/.
“Debunking Denialist Myths.” AIDSTruth, 26 July 2015, www.aidstruth.org/myths/#m2.
James, John S., and From AIDS Treatment News. “AIDS Denialists: How to Respond.”
TheBody.com, 5 May 2000, www.thebody.com/content/art32141.html.
“Koch’s Postulates.” Wikipedia, Wikepedia Foundation, 12 Feb. 2007,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch%27s_postulates
Mirken, Bruce and From AIDS Treatment News. “Answering the AIDS Denialists: Is AIDS
Real?” TheBody.com, 1 Dec. 2000, www.thebody.com/content/art32028.html.
“What are HIV and AIDS?” AVERT, 2 Jan. 2018,
I liked how in your blog you talked about how HIV denial believers and how they chose to blame big pharmaceutical companies and chose to believe that they created the idea of HIV just to gain money. Believing in a causal relationship makes it easier to believe that such a horrible thing is fake. Putting the blame on something that is not personal to you makes it easier to deny the truth.
I found your post super interesting and I was glad I gave it a read! I was aware that there were AIDS/HIV deniers out there, but I knew little behind the basis of this thought & belief. I think you did a good job explaining why this belief might exist and what exactly these believers think. I was intrigued learning about the two views the believers have as well.
With this being such a concerning thing to believe in, I found your topic super interesting! It’s so hard for me to wrap my mind around some of the reasons that people believe HIV/AIDS is fake. The one that really got me was how some believe that the treatment is poison that makes you sick. I just don’t understand how you can think this when there would have to be symptoms that made the person have to take the medication in the first place. I’m sure that HIV/AIDS isn’t the only disease that has deniers that have crazy explanations.
Great post! I think this topic is very interesting. It blows my mind that people can really believe that AIDS/HIV do not exist or that the medicine is causing the symptoms. There are so many people in the world diagnosed with HIV and because they can not afford the medication they die from complications of HIV, then there are people like Magic Johnson and Charlie Sheen who can actually afford the medication and they are healthy and living. if the medication supposedly causes more harm then how come people who can afford it and take the medication and take care of themselves well are still living a healthy life.
While I was reading your post, I started wondering where AIDS Denialism got its start. I know that at the beginning of the AIDS crisis, there was very little response from the government, and especially conservatives at the time because they were not particularly concerned about a disease that they felt primarily affected the gay community. I’m wondering if you know if there is any connection between this mindset and the beginning of AIDS Denialism, or if AIDS Denialism comes later as a response to the emotional pain and difficulty of dealing with the disease?
That’s a great question! I just read an article that talked about how those who were diagnosed with AIDS right when it started to become widespread in the U.S. believed it to be an a “disease” created by the government to keep the gay community from having sex. I’m guessing that this most likely led to those who were HIV positive to stop believing that they were sick, and instead think that the disease was completely made up by those who were anti-gay. It’s interesting to look at the history behind it and about how it wasn’t just a health issue but a political one as well.
I’ve heard that conspiracy too about how the government created the AIDS epidemic as a way to discriminate against gay people. It’s interesting how theories like that manifest and become popular as time continues to pass. It could be argued that maybe people who are AIDS deniers have been diagnosed themselves and are fearful or paranoid about the disease, so denying the causes of AIDS or even that AIDS is a real disease provides them psychological comfort.
that is a great question shannon! i never thought about it that way. perhaps people who deny HIV are in denial with the disease its self because it is emotionally painful! Either way they need to do research and accept it !
I feel like AIDS denial has to be somehow tied to the fact that AIDS is a disease that is found in Gay communities and drug-user circles. I can’t help but imagine that becasue AIDS is seen as a “dirty” disease becasue of the ways it is transmitted and the origins of AIDS, it is set up to be criticized. Those with AIDS are forced to take responsibility for a disease that will ultimately end their lives and have to wear it like a red A on their chests, which can be criminalizing. I also think our society labels those with AIDS differently than those with other auto-immune diseases and isolates them. It’s not just a health issue, but a perception issue as well.
I totally agree with what you said about it being a perception issue as well as a health one. Because it comes with such terrible labels like you said, I can’t help but wonder if those who deny that they have it only choose to because they don’t want to be associated with those labels. It’s so sad that they can be treated so differently than people with other auto-immune diseases because of how it’s transmitted. With the fact that they have a life ending disease and the scrutiny they face from the public, it is no wonder that some who have HIV/AIDS are led to deny the existence of their disease.
Ugh, heartbreaking. I work at a summer camp, and we have a week devoted to kids living with or have immediate family living with HIV/AIDS. The camp is mostly run by volunteers and there is not one, set profile for people with HIV/AIDS just as there isn’t a set profile for people with Crohns, Cancer, etc. The kids and the people that come out and volunteer for it often talk about how it’s their deepest secret for most of their lives, and especially for the kids, they say they usually tell people its a different sickness to avoid the discrimination that comes to those with the disease. Living with such a painful and destructive illness is enough, without dealing with mean people in the world.
It’s very astounding that there’s people out there who don’t believe AIDS exists or that there’s a correlation between AIDS and HIV. It seems like deniers are just completely ignoring causal evidence between the two to fit their already set beliefs. It’s horrible that people think this way, especially because they are putting themselves or others at risk. Your post was very objective and informative!
Emily, I thought it was really interesting how the people who deny HIV/AIDS are the ones who are most closely related to it. I also found it interesting how AIDS denialism does not have a set definition. I feel as though that relates to a lot of extraordinary beliefs. Do you feel as though the people who do not believe in this are just oblivious and do not really want to see what is in front of them?
At first I thought your post was going to be about the conspiracy theory that HIV was created and spread to eliminate the peoples of Africa. I really had no idea that people in our world actively denied the disease itself was a real thing. I can certainly understand the denial aspect of having a sick friend or family member, but to claim the thing killing them isn’t real seems crazy. If most people who are HIV/AIDS denialists really do personally know someone with the disease, then it shows you there is a scary fragility to the human psyche. I don’t know how these people can overcome their denial, and it sucks that they will probably waste the time they would have with the person suffering from HIV/AIDS. This kind of denial is unfortunate, and I can see how it could ruin lives.
I did not realize there were so many people who were considered to be AIDS deniers. I am especially surprised to hear about the fact that a lot of these people are those who have been diagnosed themselves. I understand the initial shock of being told you have a disease or being in denial of actually having it, but I did not think people were actually in denial of the disease itself being real. It amazes me that with all the medical evidence we have and other forms of proof that people still think this way.