AIDS Origin Traced To 1920s Kinshasa

An anonymous reader writes: A new study published in Science (abstract) has traced the origin of HIV/AIDS back to Kinshasa in the 1920s. The authors say Kinshasa, now in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was then undergoing explosive population growth while supporting an abundant sex trade. These factors, combined with the use of unsterilized needles at health clinics and the railways moving a million people in and out of the city each year, conspired to start the pandemic. "HIV is a mutated version of a chimpanzee virus, known as simian immunodeficiency virus, which probably made the species-jump through contact with infected blood while handling bush meat. The virus made the jump on multiple occasions. One event led to HIV-1 subgroup O which affects tens of thousands in Cameroon. Yet only one cross-species jump, HIV-1 subgroup M, went on to infect millions of people across every country in the world."

Comments

So remember:

[cirby]

HIV made a cross-species jump in the 1920s, and went on to kill millions.

But Ebola couldn't possibly mutate enough to survive slightly longer when exposed to air.

I feel much safer now.

Re:So remember:

[markass530]

The reason AIDS has been so prolific is how long people carry it before showing symptoms , this makes for a long period of time during which they can transmit the disease. Ebola is much more efficient and kills much faster, ==>> much less time to spread the disease

Re:The story

[AK Marc]

Okay, was there no monkey meat business before 1920s? Why did it make the jump only at that time?

Globalization. The ease that the infected could move around is what spread the disease. The jumps likely happened before as well, but died out in the infected humans.

How exactly does a virus change from a chimp version to a human version?

What change? It's a simian virus. We are simians. You are requiring change when none is necessary. And it changed the same as the pig and bird flus.

Re:Doctor Mary's Monkey

[Columcille]

"...but unless people were having sex with chimps..."

Because the only way to transmit HIV is through sex? As the article itself notes (I know, in our fast-paced age, you cannot be expected to read an entire article), transmission likely happened through blood while eating the meat. Much more plausible.

Re:Are we sure it is blood/meat contact?

[bangular]

There's a lot of misinformation that's been passed around regarding HIV. I think the origins of HIV and AIDS as a homosexual disease (remember Gay-related immune deficiency) heightened the "sex with chimps" origin stories. People wanted to believe that some homosexuals also had sex with animals and was just one more reason to hate them.

I remember an elementary school teacher of mine in the 90's telling us that sex with chimps was the most likely reason HIV jumped species. We all giggled, but I'm sure there are many from that classroom that still believe it today.

Re:Are we sure it is blood/meat contact?

[EvilSS]

Consumptions of infected simian meat has been the explanation for a very long time. Why does everyone seem surprised?

Because, at the same time, we've been told HIV can't spread orally.

Well since we don't routinely butcher and eat people, I imagine they felt they could leave that method out of the pamphlet. However blood-blood contact is also a known, disclosed method of transmission. It's just a lot less common in humans than sexual contact.

Re:Doctor Mary's Monkey

[khallow]

A butcher contaminating himself with animal blood as a means of accepting a viable mutation is a much less likely lottery 'win'.

But people do win the lottery. And it's worth noting here that HIV crossed over numerous times some well before the 60s. It's not like it only happened once.

Re: climate change

[ultranova]

So how is this the fault of the Catholic Church again?

Oh, and raping little virgin girls won't cure AIDs. As long as the Catholic Church speaks against contraception, the Catholic Church can and should be hold responsible for any and all consequences, such as the spread of AIDS. And yes, that includes rapes carried out from desperation as a result of said spread.

There's a more general point here: you can't wield power yet disown the consequences. Moving from a bunch of selfish, irresponsible individuals and tribes to a more mature mindset is the biggest challenge facing humanity right now. Catholic Church is still stuck on the "it's all about me" mindset, as demonstrated every time some of its dirty laundry gets aired, but it's not like our nation-states are much better.