AIDS in Africa

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“It all started as a rumour...Then we found we were dealing with a disease. Then we realised that it was an epidemic. And, now we have accepted it as a tragedy”- Chief Epidemiologist in Kampala, Uganda. Aids has been a tragic epidemic throughout Africa since 1982. More than one million adults and children die every year from HIV/AIDS in Africa alone. Although a cure for the problem has yet to be discovered, an abundant amount of organizations are helping to alleviate the problem of aids today all over the world in hopes to develop an aids free future.
Scientists identified a type of chimpanzee in West Africa as the primary source of HIV in humans. The earliest known case of HIV infection within a human was detected in a blood sample collected in 1959 from a man in Kinsasha, democratic republic of Congo. How he became infected remains unknown. Scientists know that the virus existed in the United States since mid-to late 1970s. Two types of HIV exist : HIV-1 and HIV-2. The first evolved from a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) found in chimpanzees, while the second came from an SIV ...

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