articleScienceOct 2, 2014Closed access

The early spread and epidemic ignition of HIV-1 in human populations

Rega Institute for Medical Research · University of Oxford · +13 more institutions

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefpubmed

Abstract

Thirty years after the discovery of HIV-1, the early transmission, dissemination, and establishment of the virus in human populations remain unclear. Using statistical approaches applied to HIV-1 sequence data from central Africa, we show that from the 1920s Kinshasa (in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo) was the focus of early transmission and the source of pre-1960 pandemic viruses elsewhere. Location and dating estimates were validated using the earliest HIV-1 archival sample, also from Kinshasa. The epidemic histories of HIV-1 group M and nonpandemic group O were similar until ~1960, after which group M underwent an epidemiological transition and outpaced regional population growth. Our results…

Citation impact

721
total citations
FWCI
33.49
Percentile
100%
References
93
Citations per year

Authors

14

Topics & keywords

Keywords
  • Transmission (telecommunications)
  • Pandemic
  • Population
  • Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
  • Demography
  • Geography
  • Epidemiological transition
  • Epidemiology
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Good health and well-being
No related works found for this paper.

Funding