Direct evidence of extensive diversity of HIV-1 in Kinshasa by 1960

Michael Worobey (), Marlea Gemmel, Dirk E. Teuwen, Tamara Haselkorn, Kevin Kunstman, Michael Bunce, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, Jean-Marie M. Kabongo, Raphaël M. Kalengayi, Eric Van Marck, M. Thomas P. Gilbert and Steven M. Wolinsky
Additional contact information
Michael Worobey: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
Marlea Gemmel: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
Dirk E. Teuwen: Sanofi Pasteur
Tamara Haselkorn: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
Kevin Kunstman: The Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA
Michael Bunce: Ancient DNA Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia 6150, Australia
Jean-Jacques Muyembe: University of Kinshasa
Jean-Marie M. Kabongo: University of Kinshasa
Raphaël M. Kalengayi: University of Kinshasa
Eric Van Marck: University Hospital, University of Antwerp
M. Thomas P. Gilbert: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
Steven M. Wolinsky: The Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 455, issue 7213, 661-664

Abstract: HIV/AIDS then and now A histological specimen from the University of Kinshasa archives has been used to obtain HIV gene sequences dating back to the pre-AIDS era. From a lymph node biopsy taken in 1960 from an adult female in Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo (now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo), sample 'DRC60' makes possible the first evolutionary analysis of pre-AIDS 'fossil' HIV-1 sequences, via comparison with the one other viral sequence from the period, from a plasma sample taken in 1959, also in Kinshasa. The analysis supports the idea that diversification of HIV-1 in west-central Africa occurred long before the recognized AIDS pandemic. Almost fifty years on, a major concern in HIV epidemiology is China. Here, HIV-1 infection was largely confined to high-risk groups but it is now breaking out into the general population. Lin Lu et al. report on efforts to contain the epidemic in Yunnan Province, where there has been a dramatic increase in sexual transmission of HIV.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07390

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