Origins of the HIVs and the AIDS Outbreaks

Abstract

The AIDS pandemic was caused by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 group M (HIV-1M). It is not widely appreciated that there are three other HIV outbreaks that emerged independently in different regions of Africa during the last century. To date, 13 HIVs have been discovered, but only four of which became major outbreaks to varying degrees. HIV-1M is responsible for 90% of over 35 million deaths, and the other three epidemic HIVs are estimated to have infected from 25,000 to 750,000 people each. A handful of key determinants explain how and why this happened, including human interaction with the simian sources from which the HIVs emerged, but much more important were new ways that people spread the viruses to one another. The latter included population movement and urbanization, changes in sexual relations, war, and above all new medical procedures (unsterile injections and inadequately tested blood transfusions). The emergence of the viruses and their epidemic spread were not the result of a random mutation, but rather depended upon the combination of specific circumstances at different places and times. The AIDS pandemic was not a chance, natural occurrence; it is much more accurately described as a (hu)man-made disaster.