# Hasn't AIDS always been around **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412 "2004-05-04T03:42:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/21 "2004-05-05T01:21:59Z")
The story that I have heard that seems the most credible about the explosion of AIDS is as follows: 1. AIDS gets into the human population from ingesting infected monkey brains in Africa. 2. Disease begins to spread among Africans including wealthy Africans. 3. Haiti is a popular vacation spot for wealty Africans. 4. Disease begins to spread among Haitians 5. Haiti is a popular vacation spot for American gay men. 6. Disease begins to spread among American gay men. 7. One of the first American gay men to get AIDS was a very promiscuous airline steward who has men he sees in many major US cities. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/22 "2004-05-05T03:17:12Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > 1. One of the first American gay men to get AIDS was a very promiscuous airline steward who has men he sees in many major US cities. The story that Gaetan Dugas (hope I’m remembering the spelling right) was “patient zero” in North America was probably not true. It is true that he was a fairly early AIDS case, and what’s more, he passed it on - knowingly - likely to dozens of men. But the idea that his visits introduced HIV to many major cities came about early on, before it was known how long HIV could incubate prior to symptoms appearing. He was actually years too late to be the source of AIDS in the cities he visited. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/23 "2004-05-05T03:45:35Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > 1. Disease begins to spread among Africans including wealthy Africans. > > 2. Haiti is a popular vacation spot for wealty Africans. These two sound dubious to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/24 "2004-05-05T12:15:02Z")
> [@monica](#): > > I’ve heard that AIDS was first transferred from monkeys to humans when humans ate the brain of a diseased monkey.\* > Note: I do not have a cite for this. I’m not positive it’s true. It’s just something I heard that _might_ be true. I think you got your HIV mixed up with your Ebola. ---
**Author:** ![Blackdragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Blackdragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackdragon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/25 "2004-05-05T15:07:48Z")
I hope this helps. I am at work ☹ , so I could not devote more time to research the subject. [Open](http://www.aegis.com/topics/timeline/) ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/26 "2004-05-05T16:57:43Z")
stupid question: _if everyone_ practised safe sex, would such diseases die off or something? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/27 "2004-05-05T17:18:59Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > stupid question: _if everyone_ practised safe sex, would such diseases die off or something? If sexual transmission were the only way, then yes. Keep in mind none of the precautions are completely safe, but proper precautions provide a high degree of safety. But it also is transmitted through sharing needles and the blood supply, as well as occasionally in a medical environment through needle sticks. All those vectors would have to be taken care of as well. ---
**Author:** ![Blackdragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Blackdragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackdragon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/28 "2004-05-05T17:23:25Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > stupid question: _if everyone_ practised safe sex, would such diseases die off or something? No comment on the OP. Sex is not the only way AIDS is transmitted (drug use / medical procedures.) ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/29 "2004-05-05T17:42:04Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > If sexual transmission were the only way, then yes. Keep in mind none of the precautions are completely safe, but proper precautions provide a high degree of safety. > > But it also is transmitted through sharing needles and the blood supply, as well as occasionally in a medical environment through needle sticks. All those vectors would have to be taken care of as well. Nitpick: yes, you can’t say that completely eliminating non-safe-sex would stop HIV spreading. However, it might do - if transmission rates through other methods were sufficiently slow or localised, it could die off. I don’t have any figures, just thought it was worth explaining. Complete hijack: is it ok to describe sharing needles as a ‘vector’, I’d previously only used that to describe an animal which transfered a disease. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/30 "2004-05-05T17:56:10Z")
> [@START](#): > > …and has been around since ancient times… Just wondering: to someone of your age, does “ancient times” mean the '50s or '60s? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/31 "2004-05-05T18:30:58Z")
> [@Shade](#): > > Complete hijack: is it ok to describe sharing needles as a ‘vector’, I’d previously only used that to describe an animal which transfered a disease. That was a completely non-scientific use of the term “vector”. I’d be amazed if I even spelled it correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/32 "2004-05-05T20:11:36Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > That was a completely non-scientific use of the term “vector”. I’d be amazed if I even spelled it correctly. Sorry, never mind. I understood it, that’s the main thing. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/33 "2004-05-05T23:39:03Z")
> [@The\_Llama](#): > > … > > And I’ll be the one to ask… so now do we know whether or not it came into being due to sex with a monkey? I know that was touted for a long time, and I’m curious if that was one of the things to come out because of how politicised the spread of AIDS became. > > … I don’t think that hypothesis was ever “touted” by anything resembling a reputable authority. If I recall correctly it was the subject of some sniggering speculation by standup comedians at the time, which is not the same thing. I never understood why people made the connection: AIDS is spread by sexual contact in humans—\>AIDS came from monkeys (or apes)–\>therefore a human must have had sex with a monkey. The transfer could have happened a number of other ways, including people eating meat from apes or monkeys, or being bitten by one. Either one seems infinitely more likely to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/34 "2004-05-06T02:40:08Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > The transfer could have happened a number of other ways, including people eating meat from apes or monkeys, or being bitten by one. Either one seems infinitely more likely to me. Yes, but neither one is nearly as perversely funny. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/35 "2004-05-06T04:28:34Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > The fact that there are prostitutes in Kinshasa who’ve survived HIV infection for an extremely long time, longer than any other patients on record (IIRC again), suggests that there may be some immunity in parts of the population to the disease, again indicating that it may have been present for quite a long period of time. Of course, this immunity is clearly not widespread. I saw a documentary that followed some researchers studying the apparent immunity of some African prostitutes who were practicing unsafe sex. The purpose of the study was, of course, to determine what was conferring the immunity to HIV. Turns out the prostitutes ended up contracting HIV, they were just ‘lucky’ not to have contracted it earlier. Dont ask me why the researchers didnt just give them a box of condoms. ---
**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412/36 "2004-05-06T13:39:46Z")
> [@antechinus](#): > > I saw a documentary that followed some researchers studying the apparent immunity of some African prostitutes who were practicing unsafe sex. The purpose of the study was, of course, to determine what was conferring the immunity to HIV. > > Turns out the prostitutes ended up contracting HIV, they were just ‘lucky’ not to have contracted it earlier. > > Dont ask me why the researchers didnt just give them a box of condoms. I saw that report to, and it was a nice feel good story at the end of the news. Too bad it didnt turn out to be true; that could have been a huge break through. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hasnt-aids-always-been-around/243412.md?page=1)