Where Did Hiv Aids Originated

How Does Hiv Become Aids

The HIV virus targets T cells, infecting them and making more copies of the virus. After a long period of time without treatment, the virus destroys the infected T cells so the immune function of the body is compromised. CD4 cells are a type of T cell targeted by the HIV virus. When CD4 cell counts become very low , AIDS is present.

Where Did Hiv Originate

A chimpanzee version of the HIV virus, known as simian immunodeficiency virus , was believed to be transmitted to humans when chimpanzees were hunted for meat in West Africa, causing humans to come into contact with blood of the infected animals. After humans acquired it, the virus is believed to have mutated to its present form. This transfer to humans may have taken place as early as the late 1800s. The virus spread across Africa and finally to other parts of the world.

Where Did Hiv Come From A Look At The Origins Of The Pandemic Of Our Time

A chimpanzees virus has killed 35 million humans.

That virus, commonly known as HIV, is the defining pandemic of our time. More than 35 million people have been killed by the virus to date. But the virus itself didnt get its start in humans.

HIV/AIDS is, like the vast majority of emerging viruses infecting people, zoonotic in nature. The AIDS crisis, as we generally think of it, began in the 1980s. First as a mysterious illness primarily infecting gay men in urban areas in the United States. But thats not really the beginning. Before the diseases first mention in 1982 in the New York Times, people had been dying of AIDS for at least a decade, though probably not much longer. In Africa, HIVthe virus that causes AIDShad jumped from chimpanzees to humans sometime early in the 20th century.

To date, the earliest known case of HIV-1 infection in human blood is from a sample taken in 1959 from a man whod died in Kinshasa in what was then the Belgian Congo.

Its this fact which keeps me awake at night. Imagine, for a moment, that the HIV virus in that 1959 sample had been studied and identified. If, in the 1950s, the scientific community realized the potential harm this new virus could unleash. What could we have done? What therapies could we have developed before it became one of the deadliest pandemics in human history? Would we have a cure by now?

That work takes several forms, including:

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How Did Hiv Cross From Chimps To Humans

The most commonly accepted theory is that of the ‘hunter’. In this scenario, SIVcpz was transferred to humans as a result of chimps being killed and eaten, or their blood getting into cuts or wounds on people in the course of hunting.5 Normally, the hunter’s body would have fought off SIV, but on a few occasions the virus adapted itself within its new human host and became HIV-1.

There are four main groups of HIV strains , each with a slightly different genetic make-up. This supports the hunter theory because every time SIV passed from a chimpanzee to a human, it would have developed in a slightly different way within the human body, and produced a slightly different strain. This explains why there is more than one strain of HIV-1.6

The most studied strain of HIV is HIV-1 Group M, which is the strain that has spread throughout the world and is responsible for the vast majority of HIV infections today.

Samples Collected From Wildlife In Thailand

While its true that most emerging diseases affecting humans come from wildlife, its often human behavior that is to blame for the spillover. Humans are tearing down forests and hunting, eating, and selling wild animals at unprecedented rates. Each exotic animal shipped across the ocean to be sold as a pet is an sveacasino opportunity for a new pathogen to take root in a new continent. Each tree ripped from its roots increases interactions between humans and wild animals, and thus the odds that viruses will find new populations to infect.

But the good news is: If were the ones causing the problem, were the ones who can stop it.

At EcoHealth Alliance, were striving toward a world where pandemics like the one caused by HIV/AIDS are a thing of the past. Join us.

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Risk Factors Contributing To The Black Hiv Rate

Access to healthcare is very important in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS. It can be affected by health insurance which is available to people through private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid which leaves some people still vulnerable. Historically, African-Americans have faced discrimination when it comes to receiving healthcare.

Homosexuality is viewed negatively in the African-American Community. “In a qualitative study of 745 racially and ethnic diverse undergraduates attending a large Midwestern university, Calzo and Ward determined that parents of African-American participants discussed homosexuality more frequently than the parents of other respondents. In analyses of the values communicated, Calzo and Ward reported that Black parents offered greater indication that homosexuality is perverse and unnatural”.

Which Is Not Considered A Common Method Of Transmission For Hiv

HIV is spread among humans by certain fluids, including blood, semen, breast milk, vaginal secretions, rectal fluids, and pre-seminal fluid. The infected fluid must come in contact with a skin break or mucous membrane of the healthy person in order for infection to occur. Contamination of the bloodstream can also spread the virus. HIV is not spread by urine or contact with urine from an infected person.

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Hiv Originated With Monkeys Not Chimps Study Finds

Researchers have found new clues to the deadly disease’s origins.

Scientists now say that the simian immunodeficiency virus in chimpanzees , which is believed to have been transmitted to humans to become HIV-1the virus that causes AIDSdidn’t start its life in chimps.

Instead, it was a product of separate viruses jumping from different monkey species into chimps, where they recombined to form a hybrid virus, according to a new study.

Researchers believe the chimpanzee virus is a hybrid of the SIVs naturally infecting two different monkeys, the red-capped mangabey and the greater spot-nosed monkey . Chimps eat monkeys, which is likely how they acquired the monkey viruses. The hybrid virus then spread through the chimpanzee species, and was later transmitted to humans to become HIV-1.

The study suggests striking parallels between SIV infection of chimps and HIV infection of humans. Just as chimps acquired viruses from two different sources, humans are infected by two distinct AIDS viruses: HIV-1 and the less virulent HIV-2, which humans acquired from sooty mangabey monkeys.

“Because of the similarity between chimpanzees and humans, any virus that successfully adapts to spreading among chimps would be a candidate for a further jump to humansa potential HIV-3,” said Paul Sharp of the Institute of Genetics at University of Nottingham in England, who led the study.

Who Was Patient Zero

The first verified case of HIV derives from a 1959 blood sample of an individual who lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, scientists cannot say whether this person was the first human with HIV, or the first documented case, known as patient zero.

There are numerous documented cases before this one in which the patterns surrounding death suggest HIV as the cause. However, there is no way to prove this through a blood sample. The 1959 sample is the first recorded case in which a blood sample can confirm HIV infection but may not be the first official emergence of HIV.

For many years, Gaétan Dugas was presumed patient zero in the U.S., originally termed patient O for outside Southern California. He was a flight attendant suspected of picking up HIV in Africa or Haiti and bringing it back to the U.S., transmitting it to dozens of men before his death.

However, an analysis into genetics in 2016 found that the viral strain Dugas had was already spreading among men in New York before he began visiting the citys gay bars. This means that Dugas was not the initial individual with HIV. It seems he was an early case but was by no means the first.

There is limited actual knowledge on how the epidemic entered the U.S. because of the challenges in tracing HIV to one individual.

, a virus that attacks the immune system of apes and monkeys.

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In fact, some researchers now think the very first HIV infection in humans may have happened more than 100 years ago, in 1908 or earlier. In his new book, Spillover , author David Quammen describes how viruses that attack wild animals can sometimes spill over. That means the viruses can start attacking people.

Scientists found clues to suggest this happened with HIV after detecting a very similar virus in monkeys and in chimpanzees and other great apes. Its called SIV, which stands for simian immunodeficiency virus. The types most similar to HIV appeared in chimpanzees living in the African country of Cameroon. Based on the most recent research, Quammen reports, SIV may have spilled over in that part of Africa and become the virus known as HIV. How? Researchers believe a chimp somehow passed the virus on to a person.

Some scientists suspect that a hunter killed an infected chimp for food . In the process, the hunter could have come into contact with the animals infected blood. Perhaps the hunter had a cut or open sore. After jumping to people, Quammen writes, the virus then likely simmered for decades in nearby villages and slowly spread from one villager to another. If people died from other causes or from a second infection that overwhelmed their damaged immune systems, no one would have known they had HIV.

The Evolution Of Research And Treatment

In September 1985, President Ronald Reagan called AIDS research a top priority for his administration. This came amidst criticism that government funding was inadequate and not enough had been done to find a treatment or cure. This was Reagans first public statement about AIDS.

Zidovudine, commonly known as AZT, was introduced in 1987 as the first treatment for HIV. Scientists also developed treatments to reduce transmission during pregnancy.

In 1995, President Bill Clinton hosted the first White House Conference on HIV and AIDS, and called for a vaccine research center. This center later opened in 1999.

Throughout the years, the government has continued to fund HIV- and AIDS-related:

• systems of care
• treatment
• studies and research

In 1996, in Vancouver, researchers at the 11th International Conference on AIDS introduced the concept of highly active antiretroviral therapy . This regimen requires people with HIV to take a combination of at least three medications daily. HAART, which is commonly known as antiretroviral therapy, became the new treatment standard in 1997.

Between 1996 and 1997, deaths from HIV in the United States, largely as a result of HAART.

Also in 1997, the FDA approved Combivir. Combivir combines the drugs zidovudine and lamivudine into a single medication, making HIV medications easier to take.

The FDA continues to approve HIV medical products, regulating:

• product approval

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Aids: Origin Of Pandemic ‘was 1920s Kinshasa’

Health editor, BBC News website

The origin of the Aids pandemic has been traced to the 1920s in the city of Kinshasa, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, scientists say.

An international team of scientists say a “perfect storm” of population growth, sex and railways allowed HIV to spread.

A feat of viral archaeology was used to find the pandemic’s origin, the team report in the journal Science.

They used archived samples of HIV’s genetic code to trace its source, with evidence pointing to 1920s Kinshasa.

Their report says a roaring sex trade, rapid population growth and unsterilised needles used in health clinics probably spread the virus.

Meanwhile Belgium-backed railways had one million people flowing through the city each year, taking the virus to neighbouring regions.

Experts said it was a fascinating insight into the start of the pandemic.

HIV came to global attention in the 1980s and has infected nearly 75 million people.

It has a much longer history in Africa, but where the pandemic started has remained the source of considerable debate.

What Are T Cells

T cells are a type of lymphocyte , which circulate in the blood and play a critical role in the immune response. While there are many kinds of T cells, the two main types are killer T cells and helper T cells. Killer T cells destroy cells that are infected or cancerous, while helper T cells are involved in signaling to coordinate the immune response.

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Spread To The Western Hemisphere

Further isolated occurrences of this infection may have been emerging as early as 1966. The virus eventually entered gay male communities in large United States cities, where a combination of casual, multi-partner sexual activity and relatively high transmission rates associated with anal intercourse allowed it to spread explosively enough to finally be noticed.

Because of the long incubation period of HIV before symptoms of AIDS appear, and because of the initially low incidence, HIV was not noticed at first. By the time the first reported cases of AIDS were found in large United States cities, the prevalence of HIV infection in some communities had passed 5%. Worldwide, HIV infection has spread from urban to rural areas, and has appeared in regions such as China and India.

History Of Hiv And Aids Overview

KEY POINTS:

The history of the HIV and AIDS epidemic began in illness, fear and death as the world faced a new and unknown virus. However, scientific advances, such as the development of antiretroviral drugs, have enabled people with access to treatment to live long and healthy lives with HIV.

Here, we go through the key historical moments that have defined the HIV epidemic over the past 30 years.

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Opportunistic Infections Are More Frequent And More Severe In People With Hiv

Opportunistic infections occur in people whose immune systems do not function well these infections would often not cause problems for healthy individuals. Opportunistic infections are more common in people with HIV, but they are less common now than in the early days of the HIV epidemic due to improved treatment protocols.

Genetic Sequencing Confirms Geographical Origin

In order to determine this, the scientists compared the genetic diversity of viruses found in the Congo Basin, including the DRC and Cameroon. What they were able to determine was that, using the genetic clues and historical data, the outbreak did not start in Cameroon as previously thought, but was a result of the spread of the virus between Kinshasa and Cameroon as a result of river trade.

The investigators ultimately confirmed that the virus found in Kinshasa exhibited more HIV-1 genetic diversity than anywhere elseresulting from the spread of the rapidly mutating virus from person to personas well as the oldest known HIV-1 genetic sequences.

From the 1920s to the 1950s, rapid urbanization and the development of railways made Kinshasa a transport capital, thereby allowing the spread of HIV-1 throughout the country and soon after to East and Southern Africa. The genetic footprint left during this period illustrated dissemination of the virus throughout the DRC as people traveled on railways and along waterways to the cities of Mbuji-Mayi and Lubumbashi in the south and Kisangani in the north.

Between the 1950s and 1960s, the use of unsterilized hypodermic needles in sexually transmissible diseases clinics and the growth of commercial sex trade were among the factors for the rapid spread of the viruses, particularly in mining communities where there was a high migratory workforce.

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Origin And Distribution Of Sivcpz

Of the many primate lentiviruses that have been identified, SIVcpz has been of particular interest because of its close genetic relationship to HIV-1 . However, studies of this virus have proven to be challenging because of the endangered status of chimpanzees. The first isolates of SIVcpz were all derived from animals housed in primate centers or sanctuaries, although infection was rare in these populations. Collective analyses of nearly 2,000 wild-caught or captive-born apes identified fewer than a dozen SIVcpz positive individuals . Because other primate species, such as sooty mangabeys and African green monkeys, are much more commonly infected, both in captivity and in the wild , this finding raised doubts about whether chimpanzees represented a true SIV reservoir. To resolve this conundrum, our laboratory developed noninvasive diagnostic methods that detect SIVcpz specific antibodies and nucleic acids in chimpanzee fecal and urine samples with high sensitivity and specificity . These technical innovations, combined with genotyping methods for species and subspecies confirmation as well as individual identification, permitted a comprehensive analysis of wild-living chimpanzee populations throughout central Africa.

Groups And Subtypes Of Hiv

Genetic studies have led to a general classification system for HIV that is primarily based on the degree of similarity in viral gene sequence. The two major classes of HIV are HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is divided into three groups, known as group M , group O , and group N . Worldwide, HIV-1 group M causes the majority of HIV infections, and it is further subdivided into subtypes A through K, which differ in expression of viral genes, virulence, and mechanisms of transmission. In addition, some subtypes combine with one another to create recombinant subtypes. HIV-1 group M subtype B is the virus that spread from Africa to Haiti and eventually to the United States. Pandemic forms of subtype B are found in North and South America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. Subtypes A, C, and D are found in sub-Saharan Africa, although subtypes A and C are also found in Asia and some other parts of the world. Most other subtypes of group M are generally located in specific regions of Africa, South America, or Central America.

In 2009 a new strain of HIV-1 was discovered in a woman from Cameroon. The virus was closely related to a strain of SIV found in wild gorillas. Researchers placed the new virus into its own group, HIV-1 group P, because it was unique from all other types of HIV-1. It was unclear whether the newly identified virus causes disease in humans.

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