HEALTH with ABALA

Main article: AIDS origin

HIV is thought to have originated in non-human primates in sub-Saharan Africa and transferred to humans early in the 20th century.^[16] The first paper recognizing a pattern of opportunistic infections was published on 4 June 1981.^[17]

Two species of HIV infect humans: HIV-1 and HIV-2. Both species of the virus are believed to have originated in West-Central Africa and jumped species (zoonosis) from a non-human primate to humans. HIV-1 is thought to have originated in southern Cameroon after jumping from wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) to humans during the twentieth century.^[18][19] It evolved from a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV_cpz)^[20] HIV-2, on the other hand, may have originated from the Sooty Mangabey (Cercocebus atys), an Old World monkey of Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, and Cameroon.^[15]

New World Monkeys are an interesting exception to the transmission of HIV. Their immunity is believed to be caused by retrotransposition of the Cyclophilin gene into an intron of TRIM5. The result is fusion gene that provides the owl monkey with resistance to HIV-1 infection. ^[21]

Early history

See History of known cases and spread for early cases of HIV / AIDS

Discovery

Controversy surrounding the discovery of HIV was intense after French scientist Luc Montagnier and American researcher Robert Gallo both claimed to have discovered it, in 1983 and 1984 respectively.^[22] In 1987 the dispute was initially settled on a political level with both teams receiving equal credit.^[22] In 1991 a study confirmed that the samples in Gallo's laboratory had in fact originated in Montagnier's.^[22] In 1994 the US Government conceded that the French should receive the lion's share of the credit.^[23]

The Karolinska Institute awarded half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Montagnier and his colleague Françoise Barré-Sinoussi 'for their discovery of "human immunodeficiency virus"'. The other half went to Harald zur Hausen for unrelated work on Human Papilloma Virus.^[24] Gallo was reported to have said that it was "a disappointment" not to have been included, but that all three of the award's recipients deserved the honor. ^[25] The Karolinska Institute's press release stated "Soon after the discovery of the virus, several groups contributed to the definitive demonstration of HIV as the cause of acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)."^[24]

^{BY: WIKI}