[imagainstit]

This was a common theme for HIV/AIDS denialists and was actively embraced in South Africa with tragic results.

South Africa pursued an anti-treatment strategy for a period: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/spr09aids/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_denialism_in_South_...

Obviously I can't tell you if a partially remembered book with no name and no date has ever been fact checked.