There was a program on the origin of Aids on PBS TV last night. A two hour program and it will be finished tonight. It is a must watch!
From the program, it is true that aids was first discovered among gay folks in San fransisco. One by one, gays in miami and other large cities began showing symptoms of aids. Then came larger numbers of gays suffering from this mysterious disease. By then, it hadnt been known. Doctors didnt even know it was a virus. This was discovered a year or so later on. Most people at the onset didnt pay attention to the disease because apparently, it was killing the 'right people'. Then heterosexual couples began trickling into hospitals! Americans didnt believe it was that a serious disease until a famous actor died from it.
Anyway, research was done, and the disease was traced all the way to Kinshasa. From here, Belgians had gotten the disease, took it to europe, then to the US. Also, at this time, after the departure of Belgians from Zaire, Zaire recruited Haitian professionals to fill the positions left vacant. The haitians brought it to haiti, then to the US. Even up to date, the haitian community is fighting the stigma.
Anyway, the question is why africans and why did it show up in 1982. Well, the answer is simple. As Chotadipo said, there was blood contact between this PARTICULAR SPECIES of chimpanzees. This apparently had been going on for years. Those people DID DIE! It only wasnt known because they were in the village where there was no mobility and social structures ensured people werent so promiscous( no brainer here). however, with the advent of modernization, men began migrating from villages to Kinshasa for jobs. Here, they got their sex from prostitutes. They passed it onto prostitutes who passed it to more men including the belgians and french. These men went back to the village and passed it onto their wives. The europeans took it to europe. From there on, it was a rollercoaster. So aids did exist before 1982. Only that immobility confined it to the village where nobody knew and the infection rate was so small and the people thought it was a regular disease.
That's the best I could do to renarrate the story. It is true however that gays, prostitutes and drug addicts immensely contributed to the spread of aids. They really did.
Watch the program tonite or go to
www.pbs.org for more information.