Origin and early spread of HIV-1 in Kinshasa
Origen y primera expansión del VIH-1 en Kinshasa
- Date
- 2008-2014 · confidence medium
- Place
- Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Credited to
- Michael Worobey, Nuno Faria, Philippe Lemey and colleagues
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Genetic sequences from old samples (1959-60) placed the origin of group M in Léopoldville (Kinshasa) around 1900-1920. In 2014 it was explained that railways, population and sex work ignited the epidemic in the city around 1920-1950.
The date of the zoonotic jump (1908, Worobey 2008; c. 1920, Faria 2014) depends on the molecular clock and varies; the proposal has been criticised for blaming colonial cities without nuance.
What it led to
- molecular history of epidemics
- studies of ancient viral DNA
- public health on the origin of pandemics