Although an interesting and informative article regarding this virus and its impact, it never once address HOW the virus came from the mummy to the people—which is the expectation of how its worded. If they meant how it spread to each other or that it has spread is another. But they never get from mummy to how it was transmitted and even acquired in present day.
So 1500 years ago somebody had sex with the mummy to be in the Andes and then made their way to the remote Australian region and had promiscuous sex with the aborigines?
The article was very poorly written by someone that is medically ignorant.
Although the virus has been found in mummies it continues into the present due to normal transmission routes of viruses and the present is not infected from mummies of the past.
A more interesting question is why such a large percentage of the aboriginal population is infected. Also, if this virus is genetically related to HIV it would be very interesting to know the susceptibility of this infected population to HIV. Medically this is very interesting.