About HIV : Where did HIV Disease Come From?

After the recognition of this disease in the early 1980s, scientists sought evidence of its origins to better understand its transmission characteristics, as well as gain insight into potential treatments and containment measures. As information came in increasing amounts to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, it became apparent that the United States was not the only country struggling with this newly discovered disease. Cases in Europe were soon identified and traced mainly to Central Africa. Today most experts believe that in all likelihood the HIV virus originated in Africa and may have existed, localized, for a number of decades. The actual region of the virus's origins may never be known.

As a result of urbanization and international travel, as well as expanded land and air communication links within developing countries, people infected with the virus had great mobility and were able to spread it not only within national borders, but from nation to nation, and from continent to continent.

Today, the HIV pandemic has reached every continent around the world, with more than 47 million people infected with HIV. As of December 1999, over 34 million people were estimated to be living with HIV worldwide, approximately 5.4 million of them infected during 1999. Globally, there are an estimated 15,000 new HIV infections daily. While sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the hardest-hit region, the pandemic is surging in the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and, most recently, in China.

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