Posted on 10/01/2008 5:53:13 PM PDT by Lorianne
The arrival of colonial cities in sub-Saharan Africa at the dawn of the 20th Century may have sparked the spread of HIV.
US experts analysed one of the earliest samples of the virus ever found, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1959.
The study, published in the journal Nature, suggests the virus may have crossed from apes to humans between 1884 and 1924.
They believe newly-built cities may have allowed the virus to thrive.
Aids, the illness caused by HIV, was first reported by doctors in 1981, but the virus had been around for many decades before that.
Scientists believe that these "founder events" may have involved eating monkeys infected with a similar virus.
Research published last year found the viral ancestor of a subtype of HIV responsible for most modern cases in the US and Europe in a blood sample taken in Leopoldville, the capital of Belgian Congo - now Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Now the same team, from the University of Arizona at Tucson, has found another sample containing a different subtype in a 1960 sample from a different patient in the same city.
By analysing the genetic differences between the two viruses, and calculating the amount of time these differences would take to evolve, they now say that the two probably have a common ancestor dating from at least 50 years earlier.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
thanks, bfl
Very good to see you as well, Gabz.
Tissue sample suggests HIV has been infecting humans for a century
more info
|
|||
Gods |
Europe owes them Reparations! /sarc |
||
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
Maybee theyate it raw? :)
I mean, really raw.
I got a little trouble with the prohibition against pork. Ham, bacon, ribs, sausage, ribs, ribs, ribs, pulled pork, ribs.
Also I like shellfish, too. Shrimp, crab, lobster, crayfish, calamari.
Thank goodness the NT did away with all that.
Why?
Just how desperate the poor schmuck who enabled the crossover must have been. Perhaps one of the left over Muslim men who would be wife was taken by some rich dude for his 3rd or 4th wife instead.
'The Odyssey' and 'The Iliad' are giving up new secrets about the ancient world
Hidden Roman coastline unearthed by archaeologists in Kent
Earliest reference describes Christ as 'magician'
Mitochondrial DNA Evidence for a Diversified Origin of Workers Building Mausoleum for First Emperor of China [i.e., heads we win, tails you lose]
Polygamy left its mark on the human genome
Kangaroo Bones Could Solve Aussie Aborigine Mystery
Ancient whalers leave their mark on the north
Machu Picchu's far-flung residents
The Green Sahara, A Desert In Bloom
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.