Where did AIDS come from?
Scientists have determined the place and time of HIV birth
<url>Scientists have learned the place and time of the birth of HIV.
A team of researchers led by Nuno R. Faria from Oxford University obtained these results by examining a sample of the human immunodeficiency virus obtained from blood samples taken in Kinshasa (the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1959.
(Article by Faria et al. The early spread and epidemic ignition of HIV-1 in human populations is published in the journal Science, and the work was led by Oliver Pybus from Oxford and Philippe Lemey from the University of Leuven, Belgium. The article by Zhu et al. "An African HIV-1 Sequence from 1959 and Implications for the Origin of the Epidemic" was published in Nature in 1998.)
After conducting a phylogeographic analysis of this and other virus samples, the researchers determined: Kinshasa of the 1920s is this very place. From here, HIV began its journey to other countries and continents.
Despite the fact that the first description of the human immunodeficiency virus appeared in 1983, it was clear to scientists that it originated much earlier. One of the study participants, Professor Jacques Pepin (University of Sherbrooke, Canada), told "Lenta.<url>": "Studying the history of the origin and spread of the virus, of course, can in no way affect the current situation and the further spread of HIV infection. Nevertheless, it was important for us to find out exactly how 75 million people around the world, half of whom are already dead, contracted HIV infection."
(Most likely, he did not inform the Tape personally, but the author of the HIV pandemic's origins located press release published on EurekAlert! - VM.)
Phylogeographic analysis of the virus from Kinshasa half a century ago, as well as its comparison with viruses from other countries (Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Gabon), allowed scientists to draw a number of important conclusions.
The researchers confirmed the hypothesis that HIV arose due to the transmission of the Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) to humans. It is this virus, carried by chimpanzees from the southeastern part of Cameroon, that is closest to HIV group M - the cause of more than 90 percent of cases of infection. In 1920, the virus got to the capital of the Belgian Congo – the city of Leopoldville (modern Kinshasa), and from there, 17 years later, to Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo (then the central city of French Equatorial Africa). By the early 1940s, the virus had spread to the cities of Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi (Democratic Republic of the Congo). His main "means of transportation" were rivers and railways.
The spread of HIV-1 group M in Africa – VM
The reason for the outbreak of the HIV pandemic in the 1960s, according to scientists, was the active development of prostitution in the region, as well as, oddly enough, attempts by the authorities to fight against other diseases: people were vaccinated and injected, not paying attention to the condition of syringes.
Professor Pepan says that the research group plans to continue working in this area and the next publication is expected next year.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru03.10.2014