HIV AIDS: Difference between revisions

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AIDS was first described as a new disease in 1981 (MILESTONE 1), and the causative lentivirus that came to be known as HIV-1 was identified a couple of years later (MILESTONE 2). However, the origins of HIV-1 and the reasons for its explosive appearance and rapid transformation into a global epidemic remained a mystery.

The inklings of an answer began to emerge from two West African patients presenting with an antigenically distinct AIDS-causing virus that subsequently came to be known as HIV-2 (MILESTONE 6). Genetically distant from HIV-1, HIV-2 was instead shown to be closely related to a lentivirus infecting an African monkey—the sooty mangabey. Subsequent studies confirmed that lentiviruses are endemic to many species of African monkeys and some apes—and these have collectively become known as simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs). Sooty mangabeys in particular were found to be naturally infected with a lentivirus known as SIVsmm (with the subscript indicating the name of the infected species), and genetic evidence showed that this virus was transmitted to humans, generating the HIV-2 epidemic.

=====HIV before the Age of AIDS=====

[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/virus/origins.html by Mary Carmichael FRONTLINE]

As soon as HIV was identified in 1983, scientists started trying to understand where it had come from, when it had arisen, and why it had spread. Were they too late? To answer most of their questions, they would have had to witness the virus's evolution. Scientists can track new pathogens such as SARS and avian flu because they produce obvious symptoms almost immediately. But HIV is a stealth virus that takes as many as 10 years to present symptoms; by the time researchers knew enough to wonder about its origins, those origins were in the distant past.

HIV AIDS: Difference between revisions

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@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
   AIDS was first described as a new disease in 1981 (MILESTONE 1), and the causative lentivirus that came to be known as HIV-1 was identified a couple of years later (MILESTONE 2). However, the origins of HIV-1 and the reasons for its explosive appearance and rapid transformation into a global epidemic remained a mystery.
   The inklings of an answer began to emerge from two West African patients presenting with an antigenically distinct AIDS-causing virus that subsequently came to be known as HIV-2 (MILESTONE 6). Genetically distant from HIV-1, HIV-2 was instead shown to be closely related to a lentivirus infecting an African monkey—the sooty mangabey. Subsequent studies confirmed that lentiviruses are endemic to many species of African monkeys and some apes—and these have collectively become known as simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs). Sooty mangabeys in particular were found to be naturally infected with a lentivirus known as SIVsmm (with the subscript indicating the name of the infected species), and genetic evidence showed that this virus was transmitted to humans, generating the HIV-2 epidemic.
+=====HIV before the Age of AIDS=====
+[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/virus/origins.html by Mary Carmichael FRONTLINE]
+ As soon as HIV was identified in 1983, scientists started trying to understand where it had come from, when it had arisen, and why it had spread. Were they too late? To answer most of their questions, they would have had to witness the virus's evolution. Scientists can track new pathogens such as SARS and avian flu because they produce obvious symptoms almost immediately. But HIV is a stealth virus that takes as many as 10 years to present symptoms; by the time researchers knew enough to wonder about its origins, those origins were in the distant past.