HIV/AIDS in Africa - Origins of AIDS in Africa

Origins of AIDS in Africa

Recent theories have linked the earliest known cases of AIDS to west Africa. The predominant feature of this first period was silence. Hypotheses include linking the disease to the preparation for consumption of bushmeat in Cameroon, or sexual contact with monkeys, with this last hypothesis being met with skepticism, as this is an extremely uncommon practice in African countries. Current hypotheses also include colonial medical practices of mid-20th-century which, once the virus made the jump from chimpanzees or other apes to humans, may have helped HIV become established in human populations around 1930. It is highly probable that this is where the disease originated since early cases of it have been traced back to colonial Africa in the rubber plantations but no scientific evidence has been found.

Read more about this topic:  HIV/AIDS In Africa

Famous quotes containing the words origins of, origins, aids and/or africa:

    Grown onto every inch of plate, except
    Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
    Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
    Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
    The origins of art.
    Howard Moss (b. 1922)

    The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.
    Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)

    Nothing aids which may not also injure us.
    Fire serves us well, but he who plots to burn
    His neighbor’s roof arms his hands with fire.
    Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)

    I who have cursed
    The drunken officer of British rule, how choose
    Between this Africa and the English tongue I love?
    Betray them both, or give back what they give?
    How can I face such slaughter and be cool?
    How can I turn from Africa and live?
    Derek Walcott (b. 1930)