Ever since HIV/AIDS was first identified in the U.S. in 1981, rumours have persisted to its cause and origin.
One of the theories that has captured the imagination of conspiracists is that the deadly virus was created by the CIA to wipe out homosexuals and African Americans on the orders of U.S. president, Richard Nixon.
It boasts a number of high profile supporters including former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, who once touted the theory, "disputing scientific claims that the virus originated in Africa and accusing the U.S. government of manufacturing the disease in military labs."
Meanwhile, a number of prominent scientists, including former Nobel Peace Prize Kenyan ecologist, Wangari Maathai, have supported the theory.
Dubbed Operation Infektion, the USSR published letters from "anonymous U.S. official sources," in scientific journals and newspapers throughout the 1980's, claiming that the virus was a CIA experiment gone awry. This initially remained within the medical community but as the epidemic grew, the theory took hold and persists to this day.