The origin of the HIV has lead to many uncomfortable questions on a certain race of people, nature of humanity, the correctness of colonialism, of the exploitation of one race by the other, human rights, etc. The over reaction of society lead to even more suffering for the same group of people exploited previously. Yet the scientists remain keen on seeking the origin of HIV to fight it.
The same team of scientists who propounded that the Pan troglodytes carried the strain of SIVcpz, furthered their research in 2006 and narrowed the location of the epicenter to the chimpanzees of Southern Cameroon. 599 droppings of these Chimpanzees were tested, they obtained 34 specimens that reacted to a standard HIV DNA test, 12 were tested positive and similar to the reactions created by the HIV. This lead to the conclusion that the origin of Group M and the rarer N group of HIV1 were these animals. However the origin of the group O is still mysterious.
The HIV - N affects the people of South Cameroon but the Group M, the reason of the pandemic was first identified at Kinshasa, Congo. It is possible that an infected individual from Cameroon could have traveled down the Sangha river to Congo river and then to Kinshasa, where the epidemic spread due to interaction within the population.
The first cases in Haiti were reported in 1980s around the same time as in the USA. Several Haitians with Kaposi's Sarcoma and other symptoms of AIDS were reported. Many medical journals began to claim that AIDS originated in Haiti. This blame lead to many Haitians losing their jobs, being evicted from their homes and excommunicated from the country. The 4-H club was formed with Homosexuals, Heroin Users, Hemophiliacs and Haitians - the discrimination and stigmatization resulted in emotional reactions. The ethnic link lead to prejudice and political difficulty in the objective presentation of the epidemiological findings - hence it was dropped form mention at all.
Nevertheless in March 2007, a group if scientists suggested in the Fourteenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Los Angeles; that the infection could have been brought into the USA via Haiti by a single carrier around 1966, while returning from work in Congo - the analysis from 122 samples found HIV 1 Group M, subtype B (commonly found in Haiti and USA). It spread slowly on the island before coming to the USA, again through an infected individual between 1969 and '72. Worobey and colleagues presented a 99.7% certainty that HIV subtype B originated in Haiti before coming into USA - which would explain the teenager from St Louis case in 1969. As anal intercourse carried extremely high risk of transmission - it spread rapidly in the gay community and then to the rest through bisexuals. The paper also clarified that the carriers were innocent and were not aware of being carriers. Yet it remains a politically sensitive issue between the Haitians and the Americans.