Aids traced back 100 years

An HIV positive woman who was in Kinshasa in 1960 has provided scientists with a vital clue to the history of Aids.

Originally Aids was believed to have originated in 1930 when the virus was thought to have been transferred to humans from butchered chimpanzees, CNN reported.

It was thought to have travelled downstream from Kinshasa, the capital of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kinshasa was recorded to have a population of more than seven million people in 2004.

The virus was only formally recognised by public health officials in 1981 in the US.

This sample along with another has helped researchers build a family tree for the virus, which has taken the origin back to between 1884 and 1924, CNN said.

At this time cities were rising in Africa, which would have sparked prostitution and new infections.

HIV/Aids had proved difficult to diagnose because infected people can go years without showing any obvious symptoms.

The woman's was only the second sample found from before 1976; the other was also from 1959 also in Kinshasa, read the report.

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