Trump’s theory about disinfectant has a deep, dark history with Aids denialism

When President Trump used a White House press conference to ponder out loud as to the potential solutions to the Covid-19 crisis, including ultraviolet light and injections of disinfectant, cameras zoomed in on the face of the US government’s coronavirus response coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx.

Dr Birx’s non-verbal reaction to the president’s suggestions – which are at best ineffective, at worst more deadly than the virus itself – has sparked memes and raised questions.

Some have asked how eminent scientists can sit quietly in the presence of unscientific statements and leave them unchallenged. Others have expressed sympathy for Dr Birx’s position; no one can envy the task of advising this president, at this time.

But there is something more going on here. After a long and successful career as a leader in the global fight against HIV and Aids, this certainly won’t be the first time Dr Birx has encountered these kinds of quack remedies. They have been a hallmark of the Aids epidemic since its earliest days, with the promise of “miracle cures” ranging from light therapies and magnetic waves to crystals and electric shocks – and yes, injections of bleach.

Back in the early days, these ideas were most commonly sent to governments, health bodies and HIV organisations as letters, often penned in green ink. Since the advent of the information age, many of them have moved online, where you can find a cottage industry of blogs and websites all claiming to have the answers that the scientific community doesn’t want you to see. At their very worst, they are a gateway to the dangerous country of Aids denialism, luring people with HIV to ditch the drug treatments proven to keep them well in favour of homespun remedies that achieve nothing. People have died as a result.

HIV organisations have historically been a first line of defence against this kind of disinformation, separating fact from fiction and ensuring communities are empowered with the information they need to stay safe. This work continues today, and yet sometimes the snake oil finds a way to seep through.

In the early 2000s, the theories of Aids denialist Peter Duesberg were used by the Mbeki government in South Africa to justify turning its back on providing treatments for people living with HIV. One of Mbeki’s health ministers, labelled by her critics as Dr Beetroot, suggested the root vegetable, along with raw garlic and lemon peel, should be used to treat the virus instead of antiretrovirals.

It is estimated that 330,000 South African adults died from the lack of available treatments during this period, while 35,000 children were born with HIV.

As recently as 2014, the Egyptian military publicised a “Complete Cure Device” that claimed electromagnetism could remove HIV and hepatitis C from the body, prompting 70,000 requests to participate in trials. Following widespread criticism, including from Egypt’s own science adviser, the military were forced to backtrack.

Dr Birx will be all too familiar with this history when Donald Trump said that disinfectant “knocks [the virus] out in one minute” and can be consumed “by injection” to carry out a “cleaning” in the body.

Trump has since claimed he was pulling a prank on reporters, and was being “very sarcastic”. But for the leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world to parrot quack remedies which are normally confined to the wilder reaches of the internet is a shot in the arm for conspiracists and denialists – and a setback for everyone who stands against them.

For those of us who work in HIV and Aids, this stuff may not be new, but it is profoundly concerning.

Christine Stegling is executive director of Frontline Aids, the world’s largest civil society partnership of people and organisations working on HIV and Aids.