From where did AIDS originate?
102358
AIDS is a syndrome associated with the HIV virus, which has been isolated to a population of chimps in Africa. How it transferred from chimps to humans is anyone's guess, but my assumption would be that it was not through Homo-Pan sexual relations. I suppose the virus could pass through eating raw infected meat.
1103892
No.  It started in Africa.  I mean, anything is possible, but why the government would want to play around with diseases is beyond me.  Realistically, no.
841447
Aids is the most common condition.
667367
I believe the first ever AIDS that happend... Was in West Africa, where a man was bitten (in 1959), I think a chimp (not %100 sure) well they have a SIDS, which is exacly like AIDS, but it affects them... He didn't know he had it, and had unprotective sex, and that is the first thing that got it started to spread back then...
39684
there is no way to know who the first person who had it was. the first cases where not in africa, however, they were in Los Angeles in 1981. the people experienced flu like symptoms, but died within days. here is the article that tells about the first reorts of aids:
529672
It came from some sick bugger who had sex with an animal in Africa.  I think it was an African Ape/Monkey
879448
he happens to be wrong. Scientists and archeaologists have traced the origin of the homo spp. to the area of africa known as the great rift. Modern humans first apeared in one of three places: North Africa, Central Asia/Middle East, or Eastern Europe.
1008945
The AIDS epidemic was discovered June 5, 1981, when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a cluster of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (now classified as Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia) in five homosexual men in Los Angeles.[96] Originally dubbed GRID, or Gay-Related Immune Deficiency, health authorities soon realized that nearly half of the people identified with the syndrome were not homosexual men. In 1982, the CDC introduced the term AIDS to describe the newly recognized syndrome.\n\nThree of the earliest known instances of HIV infection are as follows:\n\nA plasma sample taken in 1959 from an adult male living in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.[97] \nHIV found in tissue samples from a 15 year old Africa-American teenager who died in St. Louis in 1969.[98] \nHIV found in tissue samples from a Norwegian sailor who died around 1976.[99] \nTwo species of HIV infect humans: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is more virulent and more easily transmitted. HIV-1 is the source of the majority of HIV infections throughout the world, while HIV-2 is less easily transmitted and is largely confined to West Africa.[100] Both HIV-1 and HIV-2 are of primate origin. The origin of HIV-1 is the Central Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) found in southern Cameroon.[101] It is established that HIV-2 originated from the Sooty Mangabey (Cercocebus atys), an Old World monkey of Guinea Bissau, Gabon, and Cameroon.\n\nAlthough a variety of theories exist explaining the transfer of HIV to humans, there is no widely accepted scientific consensus of any single hypothesis and the topic remains controversial. Freelance journalist Tom Curtis discussed one currently controversial possibility for the origin of HIV/AIDS in a 1992 Rolling Stone magazine article. He put forward what is now known as the OPV AIDS hypothesis, which suggests that AIDS was inadvertently caused in the late 1950s in the Belgian Congo by Hilary Koprowski's research into a polio vaccine.Although subsequently retracted due to libel issues surrounding its claims, the Rolling Stone article motivated another freelance journalist, Edward Hooper, to probe more deeply into this subject. Hooper's research resulted in his publishing a 1999 book, The River, in which he alleged that an experimental oral polio vaccine prepared using chimpanzee kidney tissue was the route through which simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) crossed into humans to become HIV, thus starting the human AIDS pandemic.
423897
Science pretty much backs up the theory that HIV evolved from SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency virus.)  SIV has been present in the ape population for probably thousands or millions of years.  \n\nSomeone may have become infected through a blood transfer - either by a bite, or by preparing a chimp for food.\n\nThe virus probably hung around in the human population for several years to maybe hundreds of years until it mutated into what we now know as HIV.  A virus is a great mutater and evolver.\n\nImmunodefiecency viruses are common in animals - there is FIV (feline), Bovine (cows,) etc.  None of them are transmittable to humans and HIV is not transferrable to them.  Because humans and apes are so similar, it makes sense that a virus that affects them would eventually be able to mutate into something that could infect us.\n\nThe idea that it was transferred by people having sex with chimps is ridiculous.
635614
This is a pet topic of mine...\n\nThe origin of AIDS and HIV has puzzled scientists ever since the illness first came to light in the early 1980s. For over twenty years it has been the subject of fierce debate and the cause of countless arguments, with everything from a promiscuous flight attendant to a suspect vaccine program being blamed. So what it the truth? Just where did AIDS come from?\n\nThe first 'officially recognized' cases of "AIDS" occurred in the USA in the early 1980s (the real origin was later recognized to be Africa and a lot earlier than 1980). 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.\n\nOne theory of the origin of AIDS is that it developed in the Belgian Congo from contaminated vaccines used in the world's first mass immunization for polio. There are a number of reasons why this theory is plausible enough to be worthy of further investigation.\n\n1. The location coincides dramatically. The earliest known cases of AIDS occurred in central Africa, in the same regions where Koprowski's polio vaccine was given to over a million people in 1957-1960.\n\n2. The timing coincides. There is no documented case of HIV infection or AIDS before 1959. Centuries of the slave trade and European exploitation of Africa exposed Africans and others to all other diseases then known; it is implausible that HIV could have been present and spreading in Africa without being recognized.\n\n3. Polio vaccines are grown (cultured) on monkey kidneys which could have been contaminated by SIVs. Polio vaccines could not be screened for SIV contamination before 1985.\n\n4. Another monkey virus, SV-40, is known to have been passed to humans through polio vaccines. A specific pool of Koprowski's vaccine was later shown to have been contaminated by an unknown virus.\n\n5. In order for a virus to infect a different species, it is helpful to reduce the resistance of the new host's immune system. Koprowski's polio vaccine was given to many children less than one month old, before their immune systems were fully developed. Indeed, in one trial, infants were given 15 times the standard dose in order to ensure effective immunization.\n\nIf this theory is correct, it has serious ethical, health and policy implications. In particular, it points to the danger of interspecies transfer of material through vaccinations, organ transplants, etc., which could lead to new variants of AIDS as well as other new diseases. As well, studying the theory may lead to insights about responding to AIDS and preventing new diseases.\n\nHowever, there has been no sustained attempt to test the theory. This could be done, for example, by testing stocks of polio vaccine for the presence of SIV. An offer to undertake tests was made as early as 1991; only in 2000 were some samples tested, and then only US-made vaccine. Another possibility would be to test stored blood samples in Africa from before 1950. If HIV is found, this would undermine the theory.\n\nAlthough the theory has not been properly examined, many people seem to believe it has been refuted. Hilary Koprowski published a letter in Science in 1992 attacking the theory. In 1993, Rolling Stone, which had published a widely publicized article by Tom Curtis about the theory, published an "update", interpreted by Science as a
240197
http://www.avert.org/aids-countries.htm
419405
I know that in 1984 AIDS still wasn't something the general public was aware of because I had to have a surgery and the only reason my mom knew to ask for the blood to be tested was because of a chance encounter with a woman at the mall who knew about AIDS.  \n\nWhen they first discovered it, I don't know.  I would guess that they probably started noticing simularites between people's symptoms during the late 70s or so then started doing testing which usually takes a while and it became known as AIDS in the medical community by the late70s or early80s.  You could probably google it.  \n\nI did know someone (my dad's friend) that was diagnosed, he died about 5 years ago.  Treatment methods to keep HIV from progressing to full blown AIDS have improved substantially since then, but it's still debilitating and incurable.
83314
*Pondering awhile* The official date for the beginning of the AIDS epidemic is marked as June 18, 1981, when the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported a cluster of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (now classified as Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia) in five gay men in Los Angeles. Originally dubbed GRID, or Gay-Related Immune Deficiency, health authorities soon realized that nearly half of the people identified with the syndrome were not gay. In 1982, the CDC introduced the term AIDS to describe the newly recognized syndrome.\nThree of the earliest known instances of HIV infection are as follows:\n   1. A plasma sample taken in 1959 from an adult male living in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.\n   2. HIV found in tissue samples from an American teenager who died in St. Louis in 1969.\n   3. HIV found in tissue samples from a Norwegian sailor who died around 1976.\nTwo species of HIV infect humans: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is more virulent and more easily transmitted. HIV-1 is the source of the majority of HIV infections throughout the world, while HIV-2 is less easily transmitted and is largely confined to West Africa. Both HIV-1 and HIV-2 are of primate origin. The origin of HIV-1 is the Central Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes). The origin of HIV-2 has been established to be the Sooty Mangabey (Cercocebus atys), an Old World monkey of Guinea Bissau, Gabon, and Cameroon.\n\nOne currently controversial possibility for the origin of HIV/AIDS was discussed in a 1992 Rolling Stone magazine article by freelance journalist Tom Curtis. He put forward the theory that AIDS was inadvertantly caused in the late 1950's in the Belgian Congo by Hilary Koprowski's research into a polio vaccine. Although subsequently retracted due to libel issues surrounding its claims, the Rolling Stone article encouraged another freelance journalist, Edward Hooper, to travel to Africa for 7 years of research into this subject. Hooper's research resulted in his publishing a 1999 book, The River, in which he alleged that an experimental oral polio vaccine prepared using chimpanzee kidney tissue was the route through which SIV mutated into HIV and started the human AIDS epidemic, some time between 1957 to 1959.\nFor quite a bit more see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aids#Origin_of_HIV.2FAIDS
1121124
Apparently the human version of AIDS came from handling infected animals, though the infection doesn't have the same effect on the animals that it has on humans.
992292
Aids is a disease that is spread through intercourse with different partners during sexual acts, or sharing dirty infected needles for drug useage, or even from bodily fluids being exchanged... \n\nSource(s):\nHIV is transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid or breast milk. This transmission can come in the form of: (anal or vaginal) sex; blood transfusion; contaminated needles; exchange between mother and infant during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding; or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/aids...
1004545
it all started when God created the heavens and the earth.  He didnt want people to have sex between species so he made the aids virus.  well some genius in africa thought it would be fun to have sex with a monkey.  he got aids, then he went and spread it to others. now it is a Pandemic
1070077
AIDS originated in monkeys that's why. people didn't have sex with monkeys then.