HIV/AIDS
As data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shown, the virus that causes AIDS is originated from a type of chimpanzee found in Central Africa. SIV, or otherwise known as simian immunodeficiency virus, has been identified in chimpanzees and likely spread through humans by hunting.
With humans being exposed to the virus, SIV mutated into HIV, resulting in a disease that affects the immune system, paving the way to other deadly diseases or cancers. Moreover, a quarter of a million people living with HIV die from tuberculosis (TB) each year.
The first identified HIV-infected patient leads back to the 1800s, according to the CDC. In 2018 only there have been more than 1.7 million people infected with HIV, while 770,000 died because of it. The World Health Organization showed that 37.8 million people lived with this infection at the end of 2018.
According to WHO, a very large part of infections have been found in Africa. HIV spreads through an exchange of body fluids, such as blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. And once you contract this virus, you have to live with it forever, as there’s no cure for it, just treatment to keep it under control.
Read also: This Animal Is in Danger of Extinction Thanks to COVID-19.
