A sizable number of African Americans believe in various HIV conspiracy theories, and it may be deterring some men from using condoms, a new survey suggests.

Researchers found that among 500 African Americans ages 15 to 44, more than half believed that information about HIV/AIDS is being held back from the public, and that a cure for AIDS exists but is being “withheld from the poor.”

In addition, nearly half agreed with the statement that “HIV is a man-made virus,” while a much smaller percentage - about 15 percent - believed the AIDS epidemic is a form of genocide against blacks.

Among men, who tended to hold stronger conspiracy-theory views than women, such beliefs were linked to lower rates of condom use, according to findings published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

“These beliefs are widespread and demonstrate substantial mistrust of the health care system among African Americans,” lead study author Dr. Laura M. Bogart, a psychologist at the research organization RAND Corp., said in a statement.

“For HIV prevention efforts to be successful, these beliefs need to be discussed openly, because people who do not trust the health care system may be less likely to listen to public health messages.”

A number of studies have demonstrated that black Americans have a greater distrust of doctors and medical researchers than whites do - a discrepancy thought to stem from the history of racial discrimination in the U.S. health system.

Most infamous was the “Tuskegee study,” a 40-year project that ended in the early 1970s, in which researchers withheld treatment from poor black men with syphilis in order to document the natural progression of the infection.

To win greater trust in black communities, Bogart and her colleagues write in the report, public health agencies “need to acknowledge the origin of conspiracy beliefs openly.”

Enlisting the help of people in black communities to spread public health messages about HIV and conspiracy beliefs - known as peer education - could be one way to address the issue, according to the researchers.

The study, a telephone survey of a national sample of black Americans, asked respondents the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with a number of statements about HIV.

Overall, 58 percent “somewhat” or “strongly” agreed with the statement, “A lot of information about AIDS is being held back from the public.” Fifty-three percent believed that there is a cure for AIDS, but it’s being withheld from the poor.

Few respondents agreed with the most extreme conspiracy theories - including the notion that doctors “put HIV into condoms” or that HIV/AIDS drugs are “poison.”

SOURCE: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, February 1, 2005.