October 26, 2016
By Beth Mole
...In the end, (click here) they were able to reconstruct the genomes of three HIV viruses from San Francisco and five from the Big Apple. Comparing those eight sequences to a database of others, the researchers found that they were most similar to strains circulating in the Caribbean. By clocking the evolution of the genetic sequences and the virus’ geographic spread, the researchers estimate that HIV arrived in the Caribbean from Africa around 1967, hopped from the Caribbean to New York City around 1971 (between 1969 and 1973), and landed in San Francisco by about 1976.
By Beth Mole
...In the end, (click here) they were able to reconstruct the genomes of three HIV viruses from San Francisco and five from the Big Apple. Comparing those eight sequences to a database of others, the researchers found that they were most similar to strains circulating in the Caribbean. By clocking the evolution of the genetic sequences and the virus’ geographic spread, the researchers estimate that HIV arrived in the Caribbean from Africa around 1967, hopped from the Caribbean to New York City around 1971 (between 1969 and 1973), and landed in San Francisco by about 1976.
With that timeline, Dugas would have just been a teenager at the time HIV first arrived in the US, not yet a globe-trotting airline steward. The researchers added Dugas’ HIV genome sequence into their analysis and found it was typical of the viruses circulating in the US in the 1970s—not the root of strains that spread through the country.
“This individual was simply one of thousands infected before HIV/AIDs was recognized,” McKay said in a press conference. The study highlights how challenging—both ethically and scientifically—it is to pinpoint “Patient Zero.”
