New Research: The Origin of the HIV-1 Virus

No, this has nothing to do with digital marketing. But it is fascinating, and that's good enough for me to write about it.

There's been a great deal of research done on both the origin and the spread of HIV. Years ago I remember a CBS 60 Minutes report that appeared to trace the spread of the disease in the US to an Air Canada Flight Attendant, Gaetan Dugas, who was believed to be...Patient Zero, the first person in North America with the disease, who proceeded to spread the disease to a variety of very sexually active partners, who subsequently spread it. And so on. The evidence came in part from the fact that over 40 of the first 240 patients in 1982 were known to have been with Dugas, or have been with people who had.


Gaetan Dugas

Dugas was vilified by the press for years. And not without reason. Toward the end Dugas was fully aware that he had a deadly disease and could be infecting others. But he continued to infect new partners.

Later, and decidedly more quietly, a rival piece of research traced the origin of HIV to Africa, and posited that an immigrant brought it to North America.

Whatever the origin of the virus in the US, the fact remains that this is a global disease, with tens of millions infected. There are a variety of theories as to the origin of the condition, but new evidence points to an origin place and time of the strains of the virus that infect most people.

This article on Ars Technica reports on an upcoming piece in the magazine Nature that traces the common strains of HIV to Kinshasa Congo, and the turn of the century. The means by which this conclusion is reached are fascinating in and of itself, and I urge you to give the Ars Technica piece a read.

But in short, the belief is that urbanization in Africa contributed to the spread of the disease. The roots of the virus appear to lie in the consumption of bush meat -- people eating primates, especially the organs of primates. The virus is believed to have jumped from primate snacks to living man, and spread from there. Now, in all likelihood, HIV didn't just pick a year in early 1900 to arise and to make the species hop. Rather, it is believed that AIDS had affected small African populations -- villages -- in the past. But because of the limited mobility of people prior to 1900, the outbreaks were ultimately confined to small populations.

Urbanization by definition smashes thousands or even millions of people in one place, and the inevitable human kanoodling thus has the potential to expose far larger number of people. From there, trade and travel likely took the disease to other locales.

Here's an excerpt:

This possibility raised a couple of additional questions. First, chimpanzees infected with SIV that are most similar to group M strains live about 435 miles away from Kinshasa, in the southeast corner of Cameroon. So, why did the virus originate in Kinshasa? Second, what made the early 1900s particularly favorable for the start of an infection spread?

The researchers point to the rise of cities as the reason. Kinshasa was known as Léopoldville at the time, and its location near the mouth of the Congo River made it a key transportation spot. When populations grew in the early 1900s, Léopoldville became the largest city in the area. Infected chimpanzees and/or their handlers could have easily arrived there, and the sufficient population density allowed the virus to take hold.


Anyway. The Ars Technica piece is a great read. check it out!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.