Origin of HIV, or Where Does HIV Come From?

Where does HIV come from?

For some of us who remember the sudden emergence of HIV into the popular culture and awareness of the US in the early 1980's, HIV appears to have come from nowhere. Rumor swirled about where it came from, how it came to infect people from all walks of life around the world.

It's only now, after over 25 years of research and discovery that we can finally start to say with some confidence where HIV came from.

Science. 2000 Jun 9;288(5472):1789-96. Timing the ancestor of the HIV-1 pandemic strains.

Science 313, pp 523-526, 28 July 2006. Keele, B.F. et al., "Chimpanzee Reservoirs of Pandemic and Nonpandemic HIV-1"

Nature 397, 385-6 (1999). RA Weis and RW Wrangham. From Pan to pandemic.

Nature 428, 820 (22 April 2004) Origin of AIDS: Contaminated polio vaccine theory refuted

Nature 460, 515-519 (23 July 2009) Increased mortality and AIDS-like immunopathology in wild chimpanzees infected with SIVcpz.

Nature 397, 436-441 (4 February 1999) Origin of HIV-1 in the chimpanzee Pan troglodytes troglodytes

Nature 455, 661-664 (2 October 2008) Direct evidence of extensive diversity of HIV-1 in Kinshasa by 1960

Michael Smith, MedPageToday, "Growth of African Cities Fueled Early Rise of HIV"

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Origin
• of
• HIV
• AIDS
• chimpanzee
• evolution
• denialism
• Africa
• OPV
• green
• monkey
• sootey
• mangabey
• c0nc0rdance

[Berelore]

Isn't saying "don't take medical advice from the internet" on youtube medical advice on the internet?

[C0nc0rdance]

@Berelore

There's a certain tongue-in-cheek irony, but if a certified, competent health care professional disputes ANYTHING that I say, you are much safer going with their advice. Please, ask a doctor if what I'm saying is accurate.

I'm just some random Internet guy. For all you know, I wear my underwear on my head and smell like poo. Licensed medical professionals are always more reliable than random Internet strangers, like me.

[luketa666]

People have been butchering and eating chimps since the beginning of time in Africa, so why did HIV come in existence in the late 20th century? Polio Vacccination campaigns in the exact same areas where HIV was first detected? Polio Vaccines developed from Chimpanzee kidneys? I don't believe in conspiracy theories, i look into conspiracy facts

[coolhandkook]

@rich0292 It seems to come from male anal sex. That was were it started here in the US in the 70's. As a virus in the blood it can be spread by mosquitos and anyone who has it and has gum disease can spread it through saliva. The US blood supply is tainted because of negative test results. That's been the experience of many.

[USCUSCTrojan1]

The main point of this video is that if we were to drop a few atomic bombs on Africa and entire world would benefit by slashing the spread of HIV by at least half. The truth hurts but someone has to say it.

[rich0292]

@coolhandkook ...an irrational 80's throwback not based on real scientific evidence and it was just waiting to be repealed.

[rich0292]

@coolhandkook Well it certainly doesn't 'spontaneously' generate as a result of anal sex but perhaps it's more likely to spread by that vector than by conventional sex, either because men in that position feel less need to wear condoms than a conventional couple with the added impetus of possible impregantion or wether there is something unique to anal sex that makes it more likely to transmit. It would explain why gay men arn't allowed to give blood, though I thought that was...

[coolhandkook]

@allesscheisse88 Unfortunately, your father was correct.

[coolhandkook]

@rich0292 Sorry to inform you your friends are much smarter than you think. Your the one who was misled somewhere. I can attest to the fact it's a nasty result of unprotected anal sex. Men are too embarrassed to talk about the truth, I'm not. Count your lucky stars!

[coolhandkook]

It seemed to have come from nowhere, except gay men where contracting it right and left back in the late 70"s. I remember it well. Rock Hudson the gay actor who contracted it from a homo-sexual relationship. He died in 1985, but more than likely lived with it for many years, as many do, and was diagnosed at the time with just a virus. The genital pimples, the swollen glands and lymph nodes, eventually tooth loss, liver parasites and then AIDS. Plenty of reason to refrain from risky behavior.

[savvageorge]

"Ask a licensed qualified doctor what the best plan is for your health". In medieval times a qualified doctor would have drilled a hole in your head to release evil spirits.

What if HIV has been with humans for millions of years? What if all this scientific research is just a waste of resources so government bureaucrats can have high paid jobs?

The deadliest disease in the world is starvation, 15 million people die every year. The cure is very simple but I guess doctors don't like simplicity.

[vsenderov]

Please can you do a video on the so called ketogenic diets? My fitness instructor keeps telling me that carbohydrates cause cancer and that one should eat primarily meat and saturated animal fats in an aproximately 1:2 ratio with as little carbohydrate as possible. This does seem a very dangerous claim to me, but at least on the surface there seems to be a little evolutionary logic behind it, or is there?

[SarethZhukov314]

@C0nc0rdance Was this a school project of yours? If so, you did well.