Until now scientists had had access to a singleHIV sample older than 25 years. Dated from1959 and had been obtained from a man who lived inKinshasa, in the Republic of the Congo. Their genetic analysis led to the conclusion that the jump from simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) to humans had occurred in the 1930s.
But the date has just been questioned after analyzing a new sample from a biopsy of tissue from the lymph node preserved in paraffin from a woman who also lived in Kinshasa in 1960. According to biologist Michael Worobey and his collaborators from the University of Arizona atNature, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) first appeared sometimebetween 1884 and 1924. And it has been circulating among human beings for the last hundred years, although only in the last few decades has it spread massively.
The discovery of the two historical samples inKinshasaIt is not the result of chance, according to experts. The city, formerly calledLéopoldville, was founded in 1881 as a commercial exchange point. There the first navigable port north of Livingstone Falls was located and a railroad was built in 1898. And, unfortunately, it also appears to have been the world’s first epicenter for the spread of AIDS.
On the other hand, a study by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences that is also published this week inNaturereveals that the pandemic in the Asian giant has spread beyond risk groups such as blood donors and intravenous drug users.
