Scientists discover place of origin of HIV

In a major breakthrough, scientists have found out the place of origin of HIV. 

According to sciencealert.com, the most common type of HIV that caused infections in the world today, originated in Kinshasha, the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1920s. The area was called the Belgian colony of Leopoldville in those days where young men would come to the region aspiring to make a lot of money. 

The colony became the capital of Belgium. Soon railroads were constructed in the area. This facilitated the movement of people including sex workers . 

Better infrastructure and bustling population owing to the development of the city enabled not only the transportation of people but also the transmission of the infection. 

The HIV type which originated from Kinshasha, is called the HIV-1 group M, which is behind 90% of all infections. 

Scientist Nuno Faria from University of Oxford, UK told BBC that ecology, rather than, evolution, led to the devastatingly fast spread of the infection.

He said that he and his colleagues made the discovery after creating a family tree of HIV by studying HIV genomes of 800 infected people from Central Africa.