History+of+HIV+AIDS

The Origin of HIV:

The story of AIDS and HIV is a recent one, and did not begin until the 1980s. Although it had existed before, the first recorded cases of the AIDS virus was in the United States in the early 1980s. Many gay men in New York and California were developing rare infections that were resistant to any form of treatment given to them by medical practitioners. When this occurred, AIDS, of course, had not yet been 'discovered', but it was clear that the men were suffering from a related syndrome. Later, the discovery of HIV was made, and although it took many years for a connection to be made between AIDS and HIV, it is now known that HIV causes AIDS. To learn more about where AIDS came from, it is important to know the history of HIV. Different aspects of HIV history will be addressed under topic or question headlines. Find what you're looking for with these headlines or read all of this extremely interesting evolution of one of the deadliest diseases to mankind.

Lentiviruses and SIV The HIV virus is a lentivirus, which means that it directly affects the immune system. Lentivirus literally translates to slow virus because it can take many years for the HIV virus to have adverse effects on the human body or become full blown AIDS. Lentiviruses have affected different species other than humans before, such as cats, cattle and horses, but perhaps the most well-known lentivirus other than HIV is SIV, or Simian Immunodeficiency Virus. This is the virus that is thought to be the origins of HIV, transferred from monkeys who have already had it for an estimated 32 000 years. Now this concept is widely accepted amongst scientists; the HIV virus is a 'descendant' of the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, proved because certain strains of the SIV virus closely resemble HIV-1 and HIV-2. In 1999, researchers from the University of Alabama discovered that there had previously existed two strains of the SIV virus which wild chimps were infected with. Over time, these strains developed into a third strain that was able to be passed on to humans. There are, of course, many theories as to how the virus passed on from chimpanzees to humans, some of them which are explored further down this page. However, to learn a little more about the origin of HIV AIDS, take a look at the ten minute video below. It does have a scientific basis to it, but it covers the origin of HIV thoroughly, and even talks about the theories behind the spread of HIV from chimps. See 'The Science Behind it ALL' page for more scientific knowledge on the HIV virus.

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THEORIES OF THE SPREAD OF HIV:

The Hunter Theory : this theory is one of the most accepted theories of how the SIV virus from chimps infected humans to create the HIV human strain. It is speculated that as humans hunted chimps as a source of food, the blood of the chimp and the human intermingled during the kill, or the skinning of the chimp. In most circumstances, the SIV virus would not affect the human, but in certain strains of the SIV that humans were not immune to, a strain of HIV was developed. For more on this theory, check out the following article: [|The Hunter Theory] The Oral-Polio Vaccine (OPV) Theory : a common and popular idea is that the HIV virus was spread through medical interventions. Journalist Edward Hooper began this theory by suggesting in his book, //The River//, that it came from an oral polio vaccine called Chat that was administered to about one million people in the 1950s in various African countries. To create the polio vaccine, it must be cultivated in living tissue, and Hooper stated that this cultivation came from the kidney tissue of chimps carrying the SIV virus. This theory is not widely accepted, though, as the creators of 'Chat' analyzed the vaccine and found no trace of SIV in it. In addition, the species of monkey used to cultivate the vaccine was not one that was infected with SIV. This article talks more about the OPV theory, and why it is not valid: [|The OPV Theory] The Contaminated Needle Theory : This theory is an extension of the Hunter theory. In the late 1950s, the use of plastic disposable syringes became popular in medicine around the world. However, in Africa, the huge amount of syringes needed would be very costly. It is thought that one syringe would have been used to administer drugs to multiple patients without sterilization between use. If one of these patients was a hunter, the HIV virus could spread with the sharing of blood, creating an evolution of the HIV virus. The Colonialism Theory : this theory is again an extension of the original hunter theory, but is one of the newest debates to the origin of AIDS, and describes how the infection of just a few people could have become such a large pandemic. This theory was created in 2000 by American specialist in primate behaviour, Jim Moore. In the late 19th cantury and early 20th century, much of Africa was colonized by European powers; many Africans were forced to harsh labour in poorly sanitized and crowded camps. Food was scarce, and with the weakened immune systems of the Africans, the development and infection of HIV was advantageous to the vulnerable Africans. After all, a stray chimp infected with SIV would have been welcomed as an extra food source. To support this theory, Moore brought up evidence of prostitutes being present at the camps for the workers' pleasures. In addition, the use of unsterile needles was common, and in such disease-stricken areas, no one would have noticed a person infected with AIDS. This next article introduces AIDS and touches upon the Colonialism Theory: [|The Colonialism Theory] The Conspiracy Theory : Last but not least is the conspiracy theory (there's always at least one of these!) It was shown that a large number of African Americans in America believed that HIV was a man-made virus by the United States government with the help of the CIA, created to wipe out a significant amount of the black or homosexual population. This theory does not account for the existence of SIV, or the fact that the first case of HIV was found in 1959. Although not labelled as HIV at this time yet, there were some pretty early cases...  Four of the earliest known instances of HIV infection are as follows:
 * 1) A plasma sample taken in 1959 from an adult male living in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 * 2) A lymph node sample taken in 1960 from an adult female, also from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 * 3) HIV found in tissue samples from an American teenager who died in St. Louis in 1969.
 * 4) HIV found in tissue samples from a Norwegian sailor who died around 1976.