Disproven medical conspiracy theory
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.
Data analyses in molecular biology and phylogenetic studies contradict the OPV AIDS hypothesis; consequently, scientific consensus regards the hypothesis as disproven.[ 1] [ 2] [ 3] [ 4] A 2004 Nature article has described the hypothesis as "refuted".[ 5]
^ Hillis DM (2000). "AIDS. Origins of HIV". Science . 288 (5472): 1757–1759. doi :10.1126/science.288.5472.1757 . PMID 10877695 . S2CID 83935412 .
^ Birmingham K (2000). "Results make a monkey of OPV-AIDS theory" . Nat Med . 6 (10): 1067. doi :10.1038/80356 . PMID 11017114 . S2CID 10860468 .
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^ "Origin of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS)" . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . 22 October 2007. Archived from the original on 25 February 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2021 .
^ 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 .