--- title: HIV/AIDS: Origins Traced to African City of Kinshasa in 1920s description: A study says the disease, which came to global prominence in the 1980s, has origins as far back as 1920s Central Africa. canonical: https://time.com/3458868/aids-hiv-kinshasa-1920s-origins-drc-congo/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-03T08:09:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:34:05.286Z article:section: Health og:title: AIDS Originated in 1920s Africa og:description: Archived samples of HIV’s genetic code allow researchers to pinpoint its beginnings to the 1920s og:url: https://time.com/3458868/aids-hiv-kinshasa-1920s-origins-drc-congo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: AIDS Originated in 1920s Africa twitter:description: Archived samples of HIV’s genetic code allow researchers to pinpoint its beginnings to the 1920s twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Origins of AIDS Traced Back to Central African City of Kinshasa by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Oct 3, 2014 8:09 AM UTC by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Oct 3, 2014 8:09 AM UTC HIV/AIDS originated in Kinshasa in 1920, long before it was officially recognized in the 1980s, according to a [study](http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6205/56.abstract) published on Friday in the journal _Science_. The authors of the study traced the origin of the disease to Kinshasa, which is now part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, using archived samples of HIV’s genetic code. HIV is a mutation of simian immunodeficiency virus, a virus found in chimpanzees, and the researchers think it probably entered the human species through infected blood from bush meat. The report then attributes the spread of the disease to a rapid population expansion, a booming sex trade and unsterilized needles used in health clinics. “The second really interesting aspect is the transport networks that enabled people to move around a huge country,” Oliver Pybus, one of the authors of the study, [told](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29442642) the BBC, which reports that over 1 million people were using Kinshasa’s railways by the end of 1940, allowing the disease to spread even more rapidly. HIV first came to global attention around 1980, and has since affected over 75 million people. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3458868/aids-hiv-kinshasa-1920s-origins-drc-congo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3458868/aids-hiv-kinshasa-1920s-origins-drc-congo/"},"headline":"Origins of AIDS Traced Back to Central African City of Kinshasa","datePublished":"2014-10-03T08:09:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:34:05.286Z","description":"Archived samples of HIV’s genetic code allow researchers to pinpoint its beginnings to the 1920s","url":"https://time.com/3458868/aids-hiv-kinshasa-1920s-origins-drc-congo/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","Africa","HIV","Aids"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3458868/aids-hiv-kinshasa-1920s-origins-drc-congo/","name":"Origins of AIDS Traced Back to Central African City of Kinshasa"}}]}] ```