The secret behind the emergence of the AIDS virus
Where did the AIDS virus come from?
Everyone has heard of HIV or AIDS.
According to the studies of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS, the number of people infected with this virus around the world is estimated at 34 million people, according to the 2010 report.
Globally, about 6000 people die every day from HIV-related illnesses.
However, the virus was only recognized a few decades ago.
How did all this happen? When did the AIDS virus begin to spread in humans, triggering one of the most devastating epidemics in history?
In this article, we will discuss several opinions about the main theories proposed about the emergence of this virus, to provide insight into this complex and interesting topic as well.
What is HIV?
HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is the causative agent of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
There are two types of virus: The first is HIV-1 and the second is HIV-2.
The first type of virus is the dominant one in most cases of infection in the world, while the second type is spread in West African countries, and countries geographically related to it, such as France and Portugal.
HIV-2 is divided into 8 groups, from A to H. Group A is the most common in the world.
Only A and B have successfully passed between humans, the rest being separate cases.
(HIV-1) is subdivided into 4 groups: M, N and O, and P.
Group M, which is responsible for most infections around the world, is divided into 9 different types that dominate in different countries.
HIV and Conspiracy Theory
Some circulate several "strange" ideas about the origin of the virus that causes AIDS. Some believe that the government was the reason for its spread, and others believe that it spread among humans as a result of a human mating with monkeys.
There are many conspiracy theories about the AIDS virus, some do not originally believe that the virus causes AIDS, and there are those who believe that it is man-made, but in fact; There is no indication to support any of this.
According to a study conducted in 2005, it targeted African Americans, approximately 50% of them believe that the virus is manufactured in the laboratory by scientists, and 25% believe that this has been funded by the government, and a good percentage believes that the virus is an attempt by the government to determine who Increase the number of black or gay citizens.
There is no evidence to support these claims.
It should be noted that among the early documents that talked about the virus (HIV) that were issued in the late 1950s, it is naive to believe that scientists at the time had the technology to manufacture viruses.
We only managed to find out the DNA structure of vital cells in 1953.
And only recently have we been able to create the genome of a bacterium in the laboratory, let alone manufacture a virus.
Trace the origin of the virus (HIV)
There is a large amount of evidence that says that HIV arose as a result of interspecies transmission of viruses close to each other naturally present from many of the host primates in Africa.
By looking at the genome of these viruses, which together are known as SIV, and comparing them with the different types of HIV, we find that the virus that causes SIV is closest to the virus that causes AIDS, and; There is uniformity in the geographical distribution between SIV in different host organisms and HIV.
HIV-1 and HIV-2 have different origins as they originate from independent transmission events.
SIV species have been found close together in West African monkeys called "Sooty Mungbeys" in an area that is the only endemic to HIV-2.
With this, the scientists concluded that HIV-2 had its origins in the sooty mongrel monkeys.
The HIV-1 story is more complex, but each separate group (M, N, O, P) arose from a particular transmission event.
The M and N are due to SIV-infected chimpanzees, but the closest relatives of O and P are to gorillas.
When did the AIDS virus begin to spread in the public?
By looking at the genomic sequences of different types of AIDS viruses, scientists were able to calibrate a molecular clock depending on the rate at which the genetic sequences changed or mutations.
Using this tool, scientists were able to infer the rate of evolution and thus determine when the most common ancestors of the virus were present.
Using this technique, researchers were able to estimate that type M of the virus (HIV-1) arose in 1908 and group O in 1920.
Types A and B of the virus (HIV-2) appeared approximately between 1940 and 1945, respectively.
We now know when it appeared, but how did it appear?
There are several theories about how the virus spreads among people.
The idea that humans intermarried with great apes and thus transmitted infection to him is a common story among some people, but it has not been taken seriously by specialists.
The simpler explanation of the issue is that the infection occurred through direct contact between infected blood or fluid samples from these primates and then adapted to the new host, and this interpretation is widely accepted.
Another theory about the cause of infection is an infection by humans through polio vaccines contaminated with the virus, as the vaccine requires live tissue to be produced.
The idea is that some chimpanzees infected with the virus were injected, and when the vaccine was extracted, it became contaminated with the virus.
But this idea was rejected, as the evolutionary sequence of the virus did not come from chimpanzees alone, in addition to the fact that the human mouth is a strong barrier to infection with the virus.
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