HIV may have come to the U.S. from Haiti, according to a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (medicalnewstoday.com, 10/30).
Lead researcher Michael Worobey, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, analyzed blood samples from five people living with HIV-1 (group M, subtype B)—all of whom recently emigrated from Haiti. By comparing this data with that of 117 other positive people around the globe infected with the same strain of the virus, Worobey and his team were able to construct a genetic family tree.
The study suggests that the virus traveled from Africa to Haiti and entered the U.S. in 1969; according to the study, there is a 99.8 percent probability that this scenario is true. The likelihood of HIV traveling from Africa directly to the U.S. is nearly zero, according to Dr. Worobey.
“Haiti was the stepping stone the virus took when it left central Africa and started its sweep around the world. Once the virus got to the U.S., then it just moved explosively around the world,” says Worobey.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
