Scientists have pinpointed where HIV originated have pinpointed where HIV originated

A team of scientists led by Oxford University in the UK and the University of Leuven in Belgium has reconstructed the genetic history of the HIV-1 group M pandemic, which is the strain that affects the world today.

The research has revealed that the common ancestor of the group M strain originated in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between 1909 and 1930, and also explained some of the circumstances that led to it becoming the pandemic that’s now infected almost 75 million people to date. Their research is published in the journal Science.

&c &c &c

“Our research suggests that following the original animal to human transmission of the virus (probably through the hunting or handling of bush meat) there was only a small ‘window’ during the Belgian colonial era for this particular strain of HIV to emerge and spread into a pandemic,” said Pybus. “By the 1960s transport systems, such as the railways, that enabled the virus to spread vast distances were less active, but by that time the seeds of the pandemic were already sown across Africa and beyond.”

// Scientists have pinpointed where HIV originated have pinpointed where HIV originated

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20140310-26279.html

I blame MZL.

All these cool things always seem to come out of this Congo,

IKR.

SCIENCE said:

All these cool things always seem to come out of this Congo,

yeap, it’s not just rubber and ivory.

heart of darkness indeed.

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

All these cool things always seem to come out of this Congo,

yeap, it’s not just rubber and ivory.

heart of darkness indeed.

Black magic stuff

voodoo etc

Is Ebola worse than aids or is aids worse, or around the same?

CrazyNeutrino said:

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

All these cool things always seem to come out of this Congo,

yeap, it’s not just rubber and ivory.

heart of darkness indeed.

Black magic stuff

voodoo etc

Is Ebola worse than aids or is aids worse, or around the same?

Ebola kills more quickly, and you can still catch it from an infected person even if you’re wearing a condom.

I don’t think you can compare the two. Ebola symptoms are rapid and either kill or not. Those that survive can go on to lead normal lives.

HIV/AIDS is much slower, is chronic and considered incurable.

Speedy said:

I don’t think you can compare the two. Ebola symptoms are rapid and either kill or not. Those that survive can go on to lead normal lives.

HIV/AIDS is much slower, is chronic and considered incurable.

Yes, true about the AIDS, but with the new drug regimes many can lead fairly normal lives as well.

Not that that is the case in the vast majority of Africa, I will grant you that.

See, if we’d just provided our bank account details to those emailing bods, all of this could have been avoided.

Besides, Wookie Man will tell us it was created by the CIA

Neophyte said:

Besides, Wookie Man will tell us it was created by the CIA

Well bang goes that theory – CIA was formed after WW2 in the late 40s or early 50s.

HIV is now considered a chronic disease rather than a fatal one. With good antiretrovirals, most people who contract it these days won’t die from it / an AIDS-defining illness (these are diseases which are very rare otherwise, and it was an increase in one of those that led to the discovery of HIV).

So an AIDS-defining illness is not a single disease, but a number of illnesses stemming usually from HIV?

Phil has a list of AIDS-defining illnesses.. They’re basically diseases that you don’t get if you have a functional immune system.

That is amazing reading.

SCIENCE said:

All these cool things always seem to come out of this Congo,

Like the great movie set in the Congo based on the Michael Crichton novel Congo about these killer Congo gorillas. I think it was called “The Planet of the Apes”.