Aids: Origin of pandemic 'was 1920s Kinshasa'

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Jodell88

Jodell88

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
8,762
30
91
The origin of the Aids pandemic has been traced to the 1920s in the city of Kinshasa, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, scientists say.

An international team of scientists say a "perfect storm" of population growth, sex and railways allowed HIV to spread.

A feat of viral archaeology was used to find the pandemic's origin, the team report in the journal Science.

They used archived samples of HIV's genetic code to trace its source, with evidence pointing to 1920s Kinshasa.

Their report says a roaring sex trade, rapid population growth and unsterilised needles used in health clinics probably spread the virus.
Click to expand...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29442642?ocid=socialflow_twitter

Damn it Congo! First AIDS, now Ebola? :hmm:
 
norseamd

norseamd

Lifer
Dec 13, 2013
13,990
180
106
Despite most outbreaks of Ebola happening in East Central Africa the current outbreak is in West Africa not Central Africa which includes countries the DRC. The Congo was a colonial territory of Belgium at the time and considering their terrible colonial conduct I am wondering how much of this was caused by the Belgians.
 
Markbnj

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
14
81
www.markbetz.net
Why is it always Africa that seems to be the crucible of infectious disease innovation? I would think much of South America and South Asia have as hospitable a climate for bugs. I assume it is the way people live, but then I expect even that is duplicated in other warm parts of the world. It's a puzzlement. South Asia did give us bird flue, if I recall correctly, but that was sort of the Andy Kaufman of pandemics, and so not much to brag about.
 
Ns1

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,420
1,600
126
norseamd said:
Despite most outbreaks of Ebola happening in East Central Africa the current outbreak is in West Africa not Central Africa which includes countries the DRC. The Congo was a colonial territory of Belgium at the time and considering their terrible colonial conduct I am wondering how much of this was caused by the Belgians.
Click to expand...

Per the articles, a pretty decent %:

Meanwhile Belgium-backed railways had one million people flowing through the city each year, taking the virus to neighbouring regions.
Click to expand...
 
norseamd

norseamd

Lifer
Dec 13, 2013
13,990
180
106
Markbnj said:
Why is it always Africa that seems to be the crucible of infectious disease innovation? I would think much of South America and South Asia have as hospitable a climate for bugs. I assume it is the way people live, but then I expect even that is duplicated in other warm parts of the world. It's a puzzlement. South Asia did give us bird flue, if I recall correctly, but that was sort of the Andy Kaufman of pandemics, and so not much to brag about.
Click to expand...

South and East Asia are considered even worse than Africa when it comes to pandemics. Never heard of the South Asian superbugs?
 
Markbnj

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
14
81
www.markbetz.net
norseamd said:
South and East Asia are considered even worse than Africa when it comes to pandemics. Never heard of the South Asian superbugs?
Click to expand...

I never heard of one that was as glob-trotting as AIDs, or as feared as Ebola, no. At least not since... I don't know, the 1920's or whenever that last bad flu epidemic was.
 
norseamd

norseamd

Lifer
Dec 13, 2013
13,990
180
106
You know I have brought this up a few times on this forum but the Belgian colonialism of the Congo eventually led to the murdering of the UN Secretary General and the Congolese Prime Minister. Eisenhower was involved along with the King of Belgium, MI5 and the British government, and also the CIA.
 
T

T9D

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2001
5,320
6
0
http://www.rense.com/general68/gayex.htm

Whether you think the government involvement was known or unknown the information is still very interesting and should be included in any research. Except the government would never ever confess to even knowing of AIDS back then and it's possible relation to this program. But you know they must have known about it for some time. They had to have. I wonder if they were trying to actually get samples and learn how it spreads by studying the blood of the gay community. And that's really why they had that program and collected their blood. Or maybe even something more insidious. Perhaps they knew the epidemic was coming and were really trying to make a vaccine for it and using these people as guinea pigs. And things went horribly wrong. Maybe they had no idea it would blow up like it did so fast (possibly because of this vaccine project). But interesting that the vaccine came from monkeys, and they were released into the wild again too.
 
Last edited:
Ruptga

Ruptga

Lifer
Aug 3, 2006
10,246
207
106
afaik, nobody knows where MRSA came from, geographically speaking.

Africa is much larger geographically, and has 3x the human population of South America. Also I think the interior of Africa is more civilized than the interior of SA, so we have more exposure to exotic stuff.
 
S

Strk

Lifer
Nov 23, 2003
10,197
4
76
Markbnj said:
Why is it always Africa that seems to be the crucible of infectious disease innovation? I would think much of South America and South Asia have as hospitable a climate for bugs. I assume it is the way people live, but then I expect even that is duplicated in other warm parts of the world. It's a puzzlement. South Asia did give us bird flue, if I recall correctly, but that was sort of the Andy Kaufman of pandemics, and so not much to brag about.
Click to expand...

Well, it's not the only reason, but since a lot of monkeys and apes are indigenous and are either eaten or kept as pets, it doesn't really help. Their DNA is so close to ours it doesn't take much of a mutation for them to infect us.
 
MongGrel

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
38,466
3,067
121
AIDS really doesn't seem too related to me atm.

Can you get AIDS from touching someone when they are active or touching something they may have touched 3 days later ?

I'm guessing the thread was started over the Ebola thing.

OK, it's not an Ebola thread, but seems the viral things do originate there a lot.

Bush meat much ? :oops:
 
Last edited:
Jodell88

Jodell88

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
8,762
30
91
norseamd said:
Despite most outbreaks of Ebola happening in East Central Africa the current outbreak is in West Africa not Central Africa which includes countries the DRC. The Congo was a colonial territory of Belgium at the time and considering their terrible colonial conduct I am wondering how much of this was caused by the Belgians.
Click to expand...
The first cases of Ebola in humans were recorded in the Congo in 1976.
 
Grooveriding

Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
9,147
1,330
126
Ruptga said:
afaik, nobody knows where MRSA came from, geographically speaking.

Africa is much larger geographically, and has 3x the human population of South America. Also I think the interior of Africa is more civilized than the interior of SA, so we have more exposure to exotic stuff.
Click to expand...

MRSA describes a bacteria that has developed the ability to resist common antibiotics. It's in no small part a result of physicians over-prescribing antibiotics. There was a period where many people who contracted the cold or the flu thought it warranted a doctor visit with the expectation of an antibiotic prescription, a completely unwarranted and ineffective treatment.

I work in several hospitals here and was infected with MRSA once about ten years ago, have a good scar on my arm where the infection took hold. It's a challenge to deal with as there are limited antibiotics that are able to combat it, once infected it can reside in the nasal passages or anus with no symptoms and there is a responsibility on general practitioners to greatly limit prescriptions of the remaining effective antibiotics to preserve their efficacy. Newly developed novel antibiotics are in short supply.

TLDR: MRSA is not like HIV in that it emerged from a geographic region. It's a byproduct of irresponsible use of antibiotics and the bacteria's adaptation.
 
C

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
350
126
We still have overprescription of anti-biotics. Did you notice the person with ebola who went to the hospital in Texas was sent home with anti-biotics - to treat a virus?
 
Hayabusa Rider

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126
Craig234 said:
We still have overprescription of anti-biotics. Did you notice the person with ebola who went to the hospital in Texas was sent home with anti-biotics - to treat a virus?
Click to expand...

I see bacterial infections secondary to viral ones every single day. What information do you have that shows that this wasn't the case in Texas?
 
KeithTalent

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,231
118
116
I thought this was already known and that is why the Kinshasa Highway is often referred to as the AIDS highway.

KT
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom