AIDS pandemic may be a century old

AIDS pandemic may be a century old

Oct. 1, 2008
Courtesy NIH/National Institute of 
Allergy and Infectious Diseases
and World Science staff

A new study sug gests the most per va sive strain of HIV be gan spread ing among hu ma ns be tween 1884 and 1924, not dur ing the 1930s, as pre vi ously re ported, re search ers say.

HIV is the vi rus ac cept ed by sci en tists to cause AIDS.

The earlier period of origin coincides with the establishment of cities in the west-central African region where the epidemic of this HIV strain—HIV-1 group M—emerged, researchers said./.../