Although AIDS may be one of the most feared diseases of modern times, there is still a degree of scientific debate about how the disease originated and how early cases spread. Two filmmakers investigate a controversial theory about the origin of the disease.
In the 1950s, American and Belgian missionaries in the Belgian colony of the Congo mass-distributed the polio vaccine to 1 million children in an effort to eradicate the debilitating disease. However, there is evidence that Dr.’s oral vaccine. Koprowski may have been infected and the first cases may be linked to these vaccinations.
Using interviews, newsreels, and documented research experiments, Origins of AIDS examines how a combination of benevolence, lax laboratory procedures, and the need for a small number of people to cover their tracks may have led to one of the most devastating epidemics of the 20th century.
