Now known as the subtype HIV-1, the virus begins circulating in Léopoldville, now Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo-believed to be the first zoonotic transmission of HIV.ġ959 - A man dies in the Congo-tests of his blood samples later establish this is the earliest confirmed HIV-related death.ġ960s - HIV-2 is believed to have jumped to humans from monkeys in West Africa, likely Guinea-Bisseau, around this time.
Early 20th Century - At some point in the first few decades of the 20 th century, Simian Immunodeficiency Virus makes the jump from chimpanzees to humans in Central Africa.
