how did HIV/AIDs start?

Question

who was the 1st person to get HIV/AIDs and how did he or she get it?

Answer 1

I have always bought into the idea and the global rumour that HIV/AIDS is a first world experiment which went awry. The very persons/entities with the resources to shed light on the origins of the disease are those very ones in the first world who, if the theory was correct, we would have to rely on feeding us that information. By virtue of that, it would be almost assured that they would debunk that theory.

Washingtonpost.com in an article by David Brown offers the following convoluted theory on the origins of the disease: 'Sometime deep in prehistory, a team of European and American scientists say, a chimpanzee killed and consumed two monkeys -- a red-capped mangabey and a greater spot-nosed monkey -- each infected with its own particular strain of SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus). Both viruses got into the chimp's bloodstream, probably through an open wound.'

Note the wild generalisations, especially in the time period (deep in prehistory). If that, however, is not enough to tickle your funny bone, read what is said about the link between monkeys, man and the disease. 'The prevailing theory about how the first humans got AIDS is that about 75 years ago, someone in central Africa cut himself while butchering a chimpanzee for food. The animal was infected with SIV, which after a few adaptive mutations evolved into human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in its new host. This is known in AIDS research circles as the "cut hunter hypothesis".'

Answer 2

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RE:
how did HIV/AIDs start?
who was the 1st person to get HIV/AIDs and how did he or she get it?

Answer 3

It started in Africa and actually did come from monkeys. It is believed it was contracted because hunters ate an infected monkey. It is not 100% certain, but that is the most plausible belief. The Pymy tribes (BAKA and EFE) in central Africa seem a likely source.

Answer 4

The first recognised cases of AIDS occurred in the USA in the early 1980s (more about this period can be found on our history page). A number of gay men in New York and San Francisco suddenly began to develop rare opportunistic infections and cancers that seemed stubbornly resistant to any treatment. At this time, AIDS did not yet have a name, but it quickly became obvious that all the men were suffering from a common syndrome. The discovery of HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS was made soon after. While some were initially resistant to the connection (and indeed remain so today), there is now clear evidence to prove that HIV does cause AIDS. So, in order to find the source of AIDS, it is necessary to look for the origin of HIV, and find out How, When and Where HIV first began to cause disease in humans.

HOW?
What type of virus is HIV?
HIV is a lentivirus, and like all viruses of this type, it attacks the immune system. Lentiviruses are in turn part of a larger group of viruses known as retroviruses. The name 'lentivirus' literally means 'slow virus' because they take such a long time to produce any adverse effects in the body. They have been found in a number of different animals, including cats, sheep, horses and cattle. However, the most interesting lentivirus in terms of the investigation into the origins of HIV is the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) that affects monkeys.

So did HIV come from an SIV?

It is now thought that HIV came from a similar virus found in chimpanzees.
It is now generally accepted that HIV is a descendant of a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus because certain strains of SIVs bear a very close resemblance to HIV-1 and HIV-2, the two types of HIV.

HIV-2 for example corresponds to SIVsm, a strain of the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus found in the sooty mangabey (also known as the green monkey), which is indigenous to western Africa.

The more virulent, pandemic strain of HIV, namely HIV-1, was until recently more difficult to place. Until 1999, the closest counterpart that had been identified was SIVcpz, the SIV found in chimpanzees. However, this virus still had certain significant differences from HIV.

What happened in 1999?
In February 1999 a group of researchers from the University of Alabama1 announced that they had found a type of SIVcpz that was almost identical to HIV-1. This particular strain was identified in a frozen sample taken from a captive member of the sub-group of chimpanzees known as Pan troglodytes troglodytes (P. t. troglodytes), which were once common in west-central Africa.

The researchers (lead by Paul Sharp of Nottingham University and Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama) made the discovery during the course of a 10-year long study into the origins of the virus. They claimed that this sample proved that chimpanzees were the source of HIV-1, and that the virus had at some point crossed species from chimps to humans.

Their final findings were published two years later in Nature magazine2. In this article, they concluded that wild chimps had been infected simultaneously with two different simian immunodeficiency viruses which had "viral sex" to form a third virus that could be passed on to other chimps and, more significantly, was capable of infecting humans and causing AIDS.

These two different viruses were traced back to a SIV that infected red-capped mangabeys and one found in greater spot-nosed monkeys. They believe that the hybridisation took place inside chimps that had become infected with both strains of SIV after they hunted and killed the two smaller species of monkey.

They also concluded that all three 'groups' of HIV-1 - namely Group M, N and O (see our strains and subtypes page for more information on these) - came from the SIV found in P. t. troglodytes, and that each group represented a separate crossover 'event' from chimps to humans.


How could HIV have crossed species?
It has been known for a long time that certain viruses can pass between species. Indeed, the very fact that chimpanzees obtained SIV from two other species of ape shows just how easily this crossover can occur. As animals ourselves, we are just as susceptible. When a viral transfer between animals and humans takes place, it is known as zoonosis.

Below are some of the most common theories about how this 'zoonosis' took place, and how SIV became HIV in humans:

Answer 5

I believe it was first detected in an ape species in Africa. Obviously it had to be transmitted to humans through blood or saliva. The rest is history.

Answer 6

how did hiv start

Answer 7

They were first in Animals then like the Avion flew transmitted to Humans.

Answer 8

I heard it was from eating the raw brains of animals. "monkeys" now they don't know if a straight or gay person contracted it first but they pinned it on the gays because the lifestyle was more of a conductor to the spread.

Answer 9

This may be an urban myth, but I heard someone once had sexual intercourse with a monkey. I doubt it's true...but thats just what I heard.

Answer 10

Monkeys in Africa