TUCSON, Oct. 30 (UPI)

A new study suggested the human immunodeficiency virus that leads to AIDS probably entered the United States about 1969 — earlier than has been believed. An international team of researchers led by the University of Arizona-Tucson determined HIV originated in Africa, traveled to Haiti and then the United States before spreading around the planet. Assistant Professor Michael Worobey, the study’s senior author, said the research is the first to definitively pinpoint when and from where HIV-1 entered the United States and shows most HIV/AIDS viruses in the U.S. descended from a single common ancestor. Worobey and colleagues determined when HIV reached the United States by conducting genetic analyses of archived blood samples from early AIDS patients. The research that included scientists from the University of Copenhagen, the University of Edinburgh, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Miami in Florida is reported in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International