The Rise of the Killer Virus (2014) Movie Script
Narrator:
WHAT IF EVERYTHING YOU KNEW
ABOUT ONE OF THE GREATESKILLERS IN HUMAN HISTORY
WAS WRONG?
WHERE IT CAME FROM?
ITS AGE?
ITS FIRST VICTIMS?
IT'S THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE.
Man: WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW
DID THIS THING COME TO BE?
Narrator: NOW, JOIN US
ON A SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION
TO UNCOVER A TRAIL
OF FORGOTTEN CLUES
THAT IS REWRITING THE STORY
OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME...
Man: HALLELUJAH!
Narrator: AGAINST CHAOS...
TO FIND THE FRAGILE EVIDENCE:
A HIDDEN EPIDEMIC
NO ONE NOTICED,
A LOST HISTORY,
AND A DISCOVERY
THAT COULD SAVE US
FROM THE NEXT DEADLY VIRUS.
Tom Brokaw:
SCIENTISTS AT THE NATIONAL
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL
IN ATLANTA TODAY RELEASED
THE RESULTS OF A STUDY,
WHICH SHOWS THAT THE LIFESTYLE
OF SOME MALE HOMOSEXUALS
HAS TRIGGERED AN EPIDEMIC
OF A RARE FORM OF CANCER.
Man: HERE THE KILLER DISEASE
HAS TAKEN ITS GREATEST TOLL
OF DEATH.
Narrator: IN THE BEGINNING,
THERE WERE A FEW
BUT HORRIBLE DEATHS.
THE INVISIBLE KILLER
APPEARS TO STRIKE GAY MEN ONLY,
WITH A ZERO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL.
Man: I KNOW MY LIFE
WILL END VERY SOON.
Narrator: THERE IS
CONFUSION AND PANIC,
AND NO MEDICAL EXPLANATION.
Man: IF IT IS CONTAGIOUS,
WHICH WE DON'T KNOW,
THEN IT IS TRANSMITTED BY VERY,
VERY CLOSE PERSONAL CONTACT.
Narrator: TO COMFORAN INCREASINGLY WORRIED PUBLIC,
A LIFESTYLE IS MADE RESPONSIBLE
AND THE AGONY GIVEN A NAME.
Man: THIS CONDITION
IS CALLED A-I-D-S. AIDS.
Narrator: MILLIONS OF LIVES
HANG IN THE BALANCE,
WITH NO CLEAR CAUSE IDENTIFIED
AND NO TREATMENT.
DOCTORS AND PATIENTS
ARE EQUALLY HELPLESS.
ONLY RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISTS
SEEM TO HAVE ANSWERS.
Man: WHAT YOU'RE DOING
IS YOU'RE BELIEVING THE DEVIL,
AND YOU'RE BELIEVING A LIE!
Narrator: VICTIMS ARE
TURNED INTO PERPETRATORS.
FEAR, FUELED BY PREJUDICE,
ENGULFS AMERICA.
THE STRANGE NEW PLAGUE WILL SOON
DEVOUR MILLIONS OF LIVES.
BUT WHERE DID THIS
UNKNOWN KILLER COME FROM?
IT IS A MYSTERY THAT'S TAKEN
SCIENCE DECADES TO UNRAVEL.
THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE
COULD BE THE KEY
TO FINDING A VACCINE
THAT COULD END AIDS FOREVER.
WORKING AROUND THE GLOBE,
A TEAM OF DEDICATED SCIENTISTS
IS NOW DETERMINED TO DISCOVER
THE TRUTH ABOUT HIV,
WORKING LIKE DETECTIVES
ON THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE.
Michael Worobey: IT'S ONE
OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PANDEMICS
IN HUMAN HISTORY,
AND I JUST BECAME
REALLY INTERESTED
IN THIS SORT OF DEEP HISTORY
THAT YOU CAN GET AWHEN YOU COMPARE
THEIR GENE SEQUENCES.
IT'S LIKE BUILDING
A FAMILY TREE OF HUMANS,
AND IT TAKES YOU BACK
TO THE TIME
WHEN THE PANDEMIC FIRST EMERGED,
AND THAT'S ALWAYS BEEN
A FASCINATING QUESTION:
WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW
DID THIS THING COME TO BE
THAT ENTERED THE SCENE SEEMINGLY
OUT OF NOWHERE IN THE 1980s?
Narrator: FOR SCIENTISTS
LIKE MIKE WOROBEY,
THE FIRST CLUES
TO THE VIRUS'S ORIGINS
WERE THERE
RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING,
IN THE EARLIEST DAYS
OF THE DISEASE,
BACK WHEN FEAR AND SPECULATION
CLOUDED THE AIR.
WHILE THE FIRST CASES OF AIDS
GOT NOTICED IN THE U.S.,
3,000 MILES ACROSS THE ATLANTIC,
IN BELGIUM,
DR. PETER PIOSAW A STRIKINGLY SIMILAR DISEASE
QUIETLY APPEAR IN HIS COUNTRY.
Peter Piot: WE STARTED SEEING
AT OUR HOSPITAL
FOR TROPICAL DISEASES IN ANTWERP
PEOPLE COMING
FROM CENTRAL AFRICA--
AFRICANS BUT ALSO EUROPEANS
LIVING THERE.
AND THEY ALL DIED
IN OUR HOSPITAL
WITH A VERY COMPLEX SEOF WHAT WE CALL NOW
OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS.
Narrator: ALL HIS PATIENTS,
WITH THE SAME SYMPTOMS AS AIDS,
WEREN'T CONNECTED TO AMERICA...
BUT TO CENTRAL AFRICA,
TO THE FORMER BELGIAN COLONY,
THE CONGO.
TO PETER IT WAS A SMOKING GUN.
WHILE AIDS WAS GRABBING
THE HEADLINES IN AMERICA,
DID THE DISEASE IN FACT BEGIN
IN THE HEART OF AFRICA?
Piot: IF WE SEE A HUNDRED
PATIENTS HERE IN BELGIUM,
THERE MUST BE THOUSANDS OF THEM
IN CENTRAL AFRICA,
IN THEIR COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN,
BECAUSE WHO CAN AFFORD TO COME
TO EUROPE FOR MEDICAL CARE?
Narrator: IN 1983,
PETER HEADED OUT TO THE CONGO
TO SEE IF HE WAS RIGHT.
KINSHASA,
THE CAPITAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO.
Piot: WHEN I ENTERED
MAMA YEMO HOSPITAL
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN '83,
I COULD SEE THAT THE WARDS
WERE FULL WITH AIDS PATIENTS.
Narrator: AND AT LEASHALF OF THEM WERE WOMEN.
PETER RECOGNIZED IMMEDIATELY
THAT AIDS WAS NOT A GAY DISEASE.
HERE IT WAS SPREADING
BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE.
Piot: AND THEN
I TOOK A DEEP BREATH,
AND I SAID
THAT THIS WAS AN EPIDEMIC,
A HETEROSEXUAL EPIDEMIC.
THIS IS A REAL, REAL PROBLEM.
WE ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE.
Narrator: TO PETER, IT WAS
OBVIOUS THAT HERE IN AFRICA,
AIDS WAS NOT A NEW DISEASE
BUT HAD BEEN SPREADING
UNNOTICED FOR A LONG TIME--
A TERRIFYING TRUTH THE WORLD
WAS NOT READY TO HEAR.
Piot: WE WROTE A PAPER,
AND THAT WAS REJECTED,
AND THE COMMENOF THE REFEREE WAS,
"IT'S A WELL-KNOWN FACTHAT AIDS CANNOT BE TRANSMITTED
FROM WOMEN TO MEN,"
QUOTE, UNQUOTE,
WHICH IS SHOCKING
RETROSPECTIVELY.
BUT EVEN IN THESE DAYS,
THE INFORMATION
WAS ALREADY CLEAR.
Narrator:
EVEN AFTER THE DISCOVERY
THAT AIDS WAS CAUSED BY A VIRUS
THAT COULD BE TRANSMITTED
BETWEEN ANYONE,
SPECULATION ABOUWHERE IT CAME FROM
CONTINUED TO GROW.
CONSPIRACY THEORISTS BELIEVED
THE CIA CREATED IT--
A BIOWEAPON DESIGNED
TO ELIMINATE MINORITY GROUPS.
THE SEARCH FOR THE KILLER
BECAME A WITCH HUNT.
WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE?
Woman: IT WAS THE WHODUNIOF THE CENTURY.
Harry Reasoner: PATIENT ZERO
IS A MEDICAL
AND POLITICAL DETECTIVE STORY.
Narrator: A RUMOR EMERGED
THAT IN THE LATE 1970s
A CANADIAN FLIGHT ATTENDANHAD SPREAD IT TO GAY MEN
IN THE PROMISCUOUS
BATHHOUSE SCENE
ON THE WEST COAST OF THE U.S.
THE RUMOR WAS PART OF
A RIGHT-WING SMEAR CAMPAIGN.
ONE CONSPIRACY THEORY
EVEN TOOK ROOAMONG SOME SCIENTISTS:
THAT THE VIRUS WAS INTRODUCED
INTO HUMANS VIA A VACCINE.
IN THE LATE 1950s,
SCIENTISTS DEVELOPED
AN ORAL POLIO VACCINE
THAT WAS TESTED
IN CENTRAL AFRICA.
IT WAS CLAIMED
THAT IN THE PROCESS,
THEY SOMEHOW USED
CHIMPANZEE CELLS
UNKNOWINGLY INFECTED WITH
A PRECURSOR TO THE AIDS VIRUS,
AND THAT WHEN THE VACCINE
WAS LATER GIVEN
TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE,
IT ACCIDENTALLY INTRODUCED HIV.
ALTHOUGH LATER STUDIES
FOUND NO TRACE OF HIV
AND NO TRACE OF CHIMP CELLS
IN THE VACCINE,
THE CONSPIRACY THEORY
PERSISTS TO THIS DAY.
Dirk Teuwen: CONSPIRACY THEORIES
NEVER DIE ALONE.
AND SCIENTIFIC PROOF
WAS THE ONLY WAY
TO, ONCE AND FOR ALL,
GET THIS OVER WITH.
Narrator: DIRK TEUWEN
IS A MEDICAL RESEARCHER
WHO HAS TEAMED WITH MIKE WOROBEY
BECAUSE THEY SHARE
A LONGSTANDING INTERESIN UNCOVERING
THE REAL HISTORY OF HIV.
THEY WANTED TO DISPROVE
ALL THE RUMORS.
THE PLAN: RETURN TO THE CONGO
AND FOLLOW UP ON THE LEADS.
Dirk: THAT WAS
A LUDICROUS IDEA.
DIRK, YOU MUST BE
COMPLETELY CRAZY.
CONGO HAS HAD
SO MANY REVOLUTIONS,
AND NOTHING WILL HAVE BEEN
PRESERVED FROM THE PAST.
BUT, OKAY, I MEAN,
I'M STUBBORN,
AND I PERSISTED,
SO THERE WE GO.
Narrator: BUT FINDING
FORGOTTEN EVIDENCE IN THE CONGO
IS NOT EASY.
THE COUNTRY WENT THROUGH
DECADES OF DECLINE.
THINGS GOT LOST.
BUT DIRK KEPT AT IT.
A FEW YEARS BACK, HE AND MIKE
DISCOVERED SOMETHING CURIOUS:
A BIOPSY SAMPLE THAT CONTAINED
TRACES OF THE VIRUS.
IT CAME FROM A PATIENWHO DIED IN THE 1960s.
TO PROVE THAT THIS
WAS NOT AN ISOLATED CASE,
HE NEEDS TO FIND MORE EVIDENCE.
Narrator: DIRK HAS BROUGHA COMMODITY THAT IS SCARCE HERE,
BUT CENTRAL TO HIS RESEARCH:
PARAFFIN.
THIS IS THE PATHOLOGY LAB
WHERE THE FIRSTANTALIZING CLUE WAS FOUND.
FOR DECADES,
CLINICIANS HERE HAVE BEEN
PREPARING TISSUE SAMPLES
FROM THE SICK AND THE DEAD:
SLICES OF SPLEEN, LIVER,
AND LYMPH NODES.
THE TISSUE SAMPLES ARE EMBEDDED
IN BLOCKS OF PARAFFIN
TO SHIELD THEM FROM DECAY.
THE TUMOR IN THIS BREAST TISSUE
WILL BE ARCHIVED
AND PRESERVED FOR FUTURE STUDY.
SINCE THE 1940s, THIS HAS BEEN
STANDARD MEDICAL PROCEDURE.
EVEN HERE,
WHERE FREEZERS ARE A LUXURY,
IT MEANS THAT IN THEORY,
DECADES-OLD TISSUES
COULD REMAIN PRESERVED.
EACH OF THESE BLOCKS
IS LIKE A MEDICAL FOSSIL.
THEY PRESERVE
NOT JUST HUMAN TISSUE,
BUT POTENTIALLY
ALSO ANY VIRUS INFECTING IT.
DIRK AND MIKE'S TEAM
HOPE TO FIND ARCHIVES
OF THESE TISSUE SAMPLES
AND USE THEM LIKE A TIME MACHINE
TO TRAVEL BACK TO THE VERY
BEGINNING OF THE EPIDEMIC,
BEFORE ANYONE KNEW THAT AIDS
AND HIV EVEN EXISTED.
BUT THEIR JOURNEY WON'T BE EASY.
THIS IS CONGO'S
ONLY HIGH-SECURITY LAB.
HIV, EBOLA, AND MONKEY POX
HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATED HERE,
ALL UNDER THE OVERSIGHOF DR. JEAN-JACQUES
MUYEMBE-TAMFUM,
THE COUNTRY'S MOST DISTINGUISHED
MEDICAL RESEARCHER.
DIRK HAS COME TO ASK
JEAN-JACQUES FOR HELP
IN GAINING ACCESS
TO A LOCAL HOSPITAL
WHERE HE HOPES TO FIND CLUES
THAT MAY HELP THEM DETERMINE
WHEN AND HOW AIDS FIRST BEGAN.
Narrator: BUT GETTING HIS HANDS
ON THE SAMPLES WON'T BE EASY.
IT TAKES DIRK
A LOT OF NEGOTIATING
TO CONVINCE
A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS
TO ALLOW HIM TO ENTER
THE HOSPITAL'S BASEMENT.
Narrator: LOCATING OLD
TISSUE SAMPLES IN THIS CHAOS
WILL BE DIFFICULT.
Narrator: AMONG ALL THE JUNK,
THEY FIND A METAL CONTAINER.
THESE ARE SAMPLES IN THEIR
ORIGINAL CARDBOARD BOXES.
AND THEN, THE MOTHER LODE:
PAY DIRT.
THIS CORNER OF THE BASEMENT IS
STUFFED WITH ARCHIVAL DRAWERS.
Narrator: SORTING OUHOW OLD THESE SAMPLES ARE
ISN'T EASY.
DELPHINE MAVINGA PHANZU,
THE TECHNICIAN
FROM THE PATHOLOGY LAB,
MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP.
DIRK HOPES THESE SAMPLES
WILL DATE TO THE 1960s
OR EVEN EARLIER,
TO WHEN HE BELIEVES
THE HOSPITAL HERE
MIGHT HAVE SEEN ITS FIRSUNIDENTIFIED CASES OF AIDS.
THE DOCTORS PERHAPS
PERFORMED AN AUTOPSY
AND PRESERVED THE TISSUE.
COULD AN ANCIENT FORM OF HIV BE
LURKING IN THESE BLOCKS OF WAX?
Dirk:
WE SEE BLOCKS FROM 1974,
AND THEY ARE IN
A REMARKABLE GOOD CONDITION.
IF YOU OPEN THIS BOX
AND YOU SEE THIS,
AGAIN, IF YOU LOOK AT IT,
THIS IS BRILLIANT.
THIS IS SIMPLY BRILLIANT.
Narrator:
HE'LL HAVE TO KEEP DIGGING.
ONLY OLDER SAMPLES WILL SHOW
WHETHER AN EPIDEMIC EXISTED
LONG BEFORE AIDS BEGAN KILLING
PEOPLE IN NORTH AMERICA.
IN 1985,
AMERICA GETS A WAKE-UP CALL.
MOVIE STAR ROCK HUDSON
DIES OF AIDS.
BUT DESPITE
THE SHOCKING HEADLINE,
THE DISEASE IS IGNORED.
UNCHECKED,
THE VIRUS IS SPREADING
INTO HETEROSEXUALS
IN INNER-CITY AREAS.
WITHOUT INTERVENTION,
IT INVADES OTHER POPULATIONS
THE MAINSTREAM IGNORES:
SEX WORKERS
AND INTRAVENOUS DRUG USERS.
AND SOON THE VIRUS INFILTRATES
THE HEARTLAND OF AMERICA.
QUIETLY IT SLIPS INTO
THE NATION'S BLOOD SUPPLY.
IN 1990, IT TAKES THE LIFE OF
AN ADOLESCENT TEENAGER IN OHIO,
A HEMOPHILIAC INFECTED
BY A TAINTED BLOOD TRANSFUSION.
Reporter:
THE GOVERNMENT PREDICTS
THAT WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS
165,000 AMERICANS--
MEN AND WOMEN--
WILL DIE FROM
THIS MYSTERIOUS DISEASE.
C. Everett Koop:
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DEATH HERE.
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DEATH.
Narrator:
POLITICIANS ARE THE LASTO AWAKE TO THE REALITY.
President Bush:
THIS IS A TRAGIC DISEASE.
I'D LIKE TO FIND WAYS
TO BE HELPFUL AS PRESIDENT.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENWILL SOON REQUIRE TESTING
FOR PRISONERS, IMMIGRANTS,
AND ALIENS SEEKING
PERMANENT RESIDENCE.
[CROWD BOOS]
Narrator: CLOSING BORDERS
IS A FUTILE GESTURE.
THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC
IS ALREADY OUT OF CONTROL.
HIV WILL EVENTUALLY CLAIM
30 MILLION LIVES.
BUT WHAT'S UNKNOWN
IS WHAT THE VIRUS WAS DOING
BEFORE THE FIRST CASE OF AIDS
SURFACED IN 1981.
COULD THERE HAVE BEEN AN EARLIER
HIDDEN EPIDEMIC NO ONE NOTICED?
THAT'S WHY DIRK
HAS RETURNED TO THE LAB
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KINSHASA.
HE AND DELPHINE HAVE LOCATED
OLD MEDICAL RECORDS.
THEY GIVE
VERY DETAILED INFORMATION
ABOUT THE CONDITION
OF THE PATIENT.
IN THEORY, EACH FILE HAS
A CORRESPONDING TISSUE SAMPLE.
DIRK HOPES THAT THESE ARCHIVES
MIGHT CONTAIN CLUES
ABOUT MORE EARLY PATIENTS
OF HIV.
Narrator: THE DOCUMENTS DETAIL
THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF PATIENTS
DATING BACK TO 1954.
AS A TRAINED PROFESSIONAL,
DIRK MIGHT BE ABLE TO SPOT CASES
THAT SUGGEST AIDS-LIKE SYMPTOMS.
BUT TO CONFIRM
ANY EARLY HIV PATIENTS,
THEY WILL HAVE TO
FIND TISSUE SAMPLES
AND TEST THEM FOR THE VIRUS.
Narrator: THE SAMPLES HAVE BEEN
MOVED TO A DIFFERENT LOCATION.
Narrator: EVERYTHING HAS TO BE
CLEANED OUT AND CLASSIFIED.
IT IS A TREASURE TROVE
OF THOUSANDS OF OLD SAMPLES.
BUT FIGURING OUHOW OLD THEY ARE
AND IF THE TISSUE SAMPLES
FROM THE 1950s
ARE AMONG THE JUMBLED CHAOS
WILL TAKE WORK.
LOTS OF WORK.
WHILE DELPHINE
SORTS OUT THE MESS,
DIRK HITS THE ROAD.
TOGETHER WITH HIS FRIEND
JEAN-JACQUES
HE IS HEADING TO A TOWN
100 MILES OUTSIDE KINSHASA
THAT MANY DECADES AGO
WAS THE CENTER
OF A GIGANTIC RAILWAY PROJECT.
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WORKED
UNDER VERY HARSH CONDITIONS,
AND COUNTLESS WERE TREATED
IN THE LOCAL HOSPITAL.
SO, THE TWO HOPE TO FIND
OLD TISSUE SAMPLES
IN THIS PLACE CALLED
MBANZA-NGUNGU,
WHICH COULD POINTO HIV'S EARLY VICTIMS.
TODAY, RUINS AND WRECKS
ARE ALL THAT'S LEFOF THE RAILWAY.
[HORN BLOWS]
DIRK'S BEEN TOLD THATHERE'S AN EYEWITNESS HERE
WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP HIM
FIND THE KILLER'S TRACKS.
A 92-YEAR-OLD
FORMER LAB TECHNICIAN
AT A NEARBY HOSPITAL.
Narrator: THE TISSUE SAMPLES
WERE THERE IN 1996
WHEN THE MAN RETIRED,
BUT WHERE THEY ARE TODAY
IS ANYONE'S GUESS.
THE OLD MAN REMEMBERS
THAT THERE IS AN ARCHIVE
WITH PATIENT RECORDS
GOING BACK DECADES.
MAYBE THEY WILL POINTO THE SAMPLES.
[DIRK GASPS]
Dirk: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!
LOOK AT THIS!
'85...
'84. SO, '84...
Narrator: COULD THIS
TREASURE TROVE OF FILES
LEAD DIRK TO MORE
ANCIENT SAMPLES OF HIV
AND TO ANSWERS ABOUTHE PREHISTORY OF THE PANDEMIC?
AFTER HAVING SEARCHED
THE WHOLE ARCHIVE,
THEY FIND
AN OLD AND DUSTY SUITCASE.
[MEN SPEAKING FRENCH]
[LAUGHING]
Narrator: THE OLD TISSUE SAMPLES
THAT WERE STILL THERE IN 1996
ARE GONE.
IT IS A REMINDER FOR DIRK
AND HIS FRIEND JEAN-JACQUES
THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS BEEN
GOING THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES.
A LACK OF FUNDS HAS FORCED
THE DOCTORS TO IMPROVISE.
PROBABLY, THE BLOCKS
HAVE BEEN MELTED DOWN
BECAUSE THE PARAFFIN WAS NEEDED
TO MANUFACTURE NEW BLOCKS.
ALL HIS HOPES
NOW REST WITH THE LAB
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KINSHASA.
[PEOPLE SINGING]
Narrator: DELPHINE HAS FINISHED
CLEANING OUT THE CLOSET.
AT FIRST SIGHT, THIS DOESN'LOOK LIKE A MEDICAL GOLD MINE.
Dirk: OH!
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
Narrator:
BUT THE SEARCH HAS PAID OFF.
DELPHINE HAS FOUND THOUSANDS
OF SAMPLES FROM THE 1960s.
DIRK'S HOPING SOME MAY EVEN BE
FROM THE MID-1950s.
BUT DELPHINE IS CAUTIOUS.
SHE DOUBLE-CHECKS WITH SLIDES
THAT CONTAIN A COPY
OF EACH TISSUE SAMPLE.
Narrator:
THE SAMPLES FROM THE 1950s
THAT DIRK HAD HOPED TO FIND
AREN'T AMONG THEM.
THEY, TOO, MAY HAVE BEEN
RECYCLED OR DESTROYED.
Dirk: IN OUR JOURNEY
TO 1956 AND EARLIER
I THINK WE MAY HERE BE
AT A DEAD END.
Narrator:
BUT DESPITE THE DISAPPOINTMENT,
THEY HAVE FOUND THOUSANDS OF
TISSUE SAMPLES FROM THE 1960s.
Dirk: AND THEY MAY BE
EQUALLY IMPORTANBECAUSE THE MORE INFORMATION
WE HAVE FROM THIS PERIOD,
THE BETTER WE CAN
OBVIOUSLY POSITION
EARLY HIV POSITIVE SAMPLES.
Narrator: ARE ANCIENT PARTICLES
OF THE VIRUS LURKING INSIDE?
PIECE BY PIECE,
BATCHES OF THESE PRECIOUS BLOCKS
ARE SHIPPED OUT TO ARIZONA
FOR ANALYSIS.
IF THE LAB CAN I.D. THE VIRUS
IN THE 70-YEAR-OLD HUMAN TISSUE,
IT WILL REWRITE
THE LOST HISTORY OF AIDS.
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA,
MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST MIKE WOROBEY
IS WRESTLING WITH THE
HALF-CENTURY-OLD TISSUE SAMPLES
FROM AFRICA.
Worobey: THE TRICK NOW
IS TO FIND THE TINY LITTLE BIOF HIV GENETIC MATERIAL
THAT MIGHT BE IN THERE,
AND IT'S KIND OF LIKE LOOKING
FOR A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK,
BUT THE NEEDLES ARE BROKEN
BECAUSE OF THE CHEMICALS
THAT WE USE,
SO IT'S LIKE LOOKING FOR A TINY
FRAGMENT OF A BROKEN NEEDLE
IN A FIELD OF HAYSTACKS.
Narrator: MIKE IS LOOKING FOR
GENETIC MATERIAL FROM THE VIRUS
AND MUST MAKE SURE
THAT THERE IS NO CONTAMINATION.
Worobey: OK, WHAT HAVE WE GOT?
Man: WELL, WE GOT A BAND HERE.
LOOKS DECENT.
HERE, HERE.
AND THOSE TWO
ALL LOOK PROMISING.
Worobey:
SO THOSE ARE ALL LOOKING--
Narrator: THERE ARE SIGNALS
THAT SOME OF THE SAMPLES
FROM THE 1960s
ARE INDEED HIV-POSITIVE.
Man: WE'LL CLONE
AND SEQUENCE IT.
Worobey: BEAUTIFUL.
Narrator:
THIS COULD MEAN THAT AIDS
WAS WREAKING HAVOC IN AFRICA
DECADES BEFORE
ANYONE EVER NOTICED.
Worobey: THESE SORTS OF
OLD SEQUENCES, IF WE GET THEM,
ALLOW US TO STEP BACK IN TIME
SEVERAL DECADES
AND KIND OF HAVE A SNAPSHOOF WHAT HIV LOOKED LIKE
IN 1966 OR 1960.
IT'S KIND OF LIKE THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN A STILL PHOTOGRAPH
AND FILM.
A STILL PHOTOGRAPH CAN BE GREAT,
BUT IF YOU CAN HAVE A SERIES
OF THESE THINGS OVER TIME,
YOU PUT THEM TOGETHER
AND ALL OF A SUDDEN
YOU GET A SENSE OF THE MOTION,
THE SPEED AT WHICH THIS THING
CHANGES OVER TIME,
AND THAT ALLOWS YOU
TO GO BACK EVEN DEEPER
TO THE EARLIEST TIME POINTS
IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE VIRUS.
Narrator: THESE OLD SEQUENCES
MAY EVEN HOLD
VALUABLE INTELLIGENCE
ABOUT THE VIRUS'S WEAKNESSES
SCIENTISTS MIGHT ONE DAY EXPLOIIN THEIR QUEST FOR A VACCINE.
DEFEATING THE VIRUS
HAS PROVEN IMPOSSIBLY HARD.
HIV MUTATES FASTER
THAN SCIENTISTS CAN INVENWEAPONS AGAINST IT.
BUT WHILE WE STILL HAVE NO CURE
AND NO VACCINE,
WE DID DISCOVER A WAY
TO PROLONG LIFE WITH HIV,
WITH SO CALLED
ANTI-RETROVIRAL DRUGS.
Magic Johnson: BECAUSE OF
THE HIV VIRUS THAT I HAVE
I WILL HAVE TO RETIRE
FROM THE LAKERS.
Narrator: IN 1992,
MAGIC JOHNSON
BECAME THE NEW FACE
FOR AMERICANS LIVING WITH AIDS.
Johnson: SOMETIMES WE THINK,
WELL, ONLY GAY PEOPLE
CAN GET IT...ONLY...
IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME.
AND HERE I AM SAYING
THAT IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYBODY.
EVEN ME, MAGIC JOHNSON,
IT CAN HAPPEN TO.
Narrator: NEARLY A DECADE
AFTER THE VIRUS WAS DISCOVERED,
AIDS WAS FINALLY ACCEPTED
BY MAINSTREAM AMERICA.
Woman: AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...
TOM HANKS IN "PHILADELPHIA."
Tom Hanks: I KNOW THAT MY WORK
IN THIS CASE
IS MAGNIFIED BY THE FACTHAT THE STREETS OF HEAVEN
ARE TOO CROWDED WITH ANGELS.
THEY NUMBER A THOUSAND
FOR EACH ONE OF THE RED RIBBONS
THAT WE WEAR HERE TONIGHT.
Narrator: BUT DESPITE
THE WORLD'S ACCEPTANCE
AND THE DEVELOPMENOF TREATMENT DRUGS,
THE VIRUS CONTINUES TO CLAIM
MILLIONS OF LIVES EACH YEAR.
30 YEARS AFTER HIV
WAS FIRST DISCOVERED,
WE MAY BE ON THE CUSP
OF A NEW DISCOVERY...
IF THE TEAM CAN PROVE THATHERE WAS AN EPIDEMIC IN AFRICA
AS EARLY AS THE 1960s.
MIKE HAS BEEN BUSY WORKING
THROUGH A LOT OF THE SAMPLES
HE AND DIRK HAVE RECEIVED
FROM KINSHASA.
AND EVEN WITH THOUSANDS
STILL TO GO,
THE RESULTS HE GOEXCEEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS.
Mike: BON APPETIT.
Dirk: BON APPETIT.
Worobey: I THINK WE'RE GOING
TO GET A LOT OF JOY
OUT OF THESE 1960s SAMPLES,
SO LET ME SHOW YOU.
IT'S DEFINITELY
A GENUINE POSITIVE.
Narrator:
THE TEAM HAS FOUND HIV
IN THREE MORE SAMPLES
FROM THE 1960s.
AND FOR THE FIRST TIME,
MIKE HAS BEEN ABLE
TO STITCH TOGETHER
A NEAR-COMPLETE GENOME
OF AN ANCIENT VIRUS,
NOT JUST TINY FRAGMENTS OF IT.
Worobey: ANOTHER INDICATION
THAT BY THE 1960s
THIS WAS ALREADY
A VERY WELL-ESTABLISHED
OUTBREAK IN KINSHASA.
AND IT'S GETTING TO THE POINNOW WHERE, YOU KNOW,
I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE,
WHEN WE STARTED DOING THIS,
THOUGHT THE MOST LIKELY OUTCOME
WAS WE WOULD GET ZERO SAMPLES
THAT WERE POSITIVE.
BUT WE NOW HAVE
AT LEAST THREE FROM THIS TIME.
IT'S GIVING US A SNAPSHOT OF
KINSHASA IN THE 1950s AND '60s,
WHERE IT'S ALREADY
A FAIRLY MATURE EPIDEMIC.
Narrator: 1960 SHOULD HAVE BEEN
A YEAR OF CELEBRATIONS
IN THE CONGO.
Announcer: ON JUNE 30, 1960,
KING BAUDOUIN OF BELGIUM
JOURNEYED TO LEOPOLDVILLE
TO PROCLAIM THE INDEPENDENCE
OF THE BELGIAN CONGO.
Narrator: WHILE THE PEOPLE
IN THE CONGO CELEBRATED,
THE VIRUS SPREAD.
NO ONE KNOWS THE EXACT NUMBERS,
BUT THERE MUST ALREADY HAVE BEEN
MANY PEOPLE INFECTED WITH HIV
IN KINSHASA.
HUNDREDS, MAYBE THOUSANDS.
THEN, CONGO DESCENDED
INTO CHAOS.
Announcer:
THEIR JOY WAS SHORT-LIVED.
Narrator: CIVIL WAR ERUPTED,
HOSPITALS CLOSED DOWN,
AND SOLDIERS ROAMED THE COUNTRY.
FOR HIV,
THESE WERE IDEAL CONDITIONS
TO SPREAD AND KILL, UNNOTICED.
OVER TWO DECADES WOULD GO BY
BEFORE ANYONE WOULD REALIZE
WHAT WAS HAPPENING.
Mike: IT FIRST CAME INTO PUBLIC
CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE 1980s,
BUT WE'VE NOW GODIRECT EVIDENCE FROM KINSHASA
IN THE 1950s AND '60s
THAT IT WAS ALREADY
A DIVERSIFIED EPIDEMIC.
THERE WERE LOTS OF PEOPLE
IN KINSHASA WITH THAT VIRUS
EVEN AT THAT EARLY TIME POINT.
Narrator: THE EVIDENCE
THAT AIDS WAS WIDESPREAD
IN THE 1960s CONGO
IS IRREFUTABLE.
WHILE THIS IS
A SHOCKING DISCOVERY,
IT STILL DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHATHE VIRUS WAS DOING BEFORE 1960,
HOW IT GOT INTO SO MANY PEOPLE,
AND WHERE IT CAME FROM.
DIRK SUSPECTS
THERE IS ANOTHER CHAPTER
TO THE HISTORY OF THE VIRUS.
KNOWING THE EXACT LOCATION
OF HIV'S FIRST VICTIM
COULD REVEAL THE MISSING PAROF THE STORY.
FOR THAT,
HE'S COME TO PHILADELPHIA.
HERE, MEDICAL RESEARCHER
BEATRICE HAHN
HAS BEEN TRYING TO IDENTIFY
WHERE EXACTLY
THE VIRUS WAS BORN.
Beatrice Hahn: THE REASON WE
WANTED TO GO BACK TO THE SOURCE
IS TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT HAD HAPPENED.
I STARTED OUT CHARACTERIZING
THE MOLECULAR FINGERPRINTS
OF THE VIRUS.
ONE WAY TO DO THAIS TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST ITO THE NEXT CLOSEST RELATIVES.
AND IT WAS CLEAR
FROM THE VERY EARLY DAYS
THAT THESE WOULD BE VIRUSES
INFECTING PRIMATES.
AND IN FACT, ONE OF THE EARLIESVIRUS ISOLATES
THAT WAS IDENTIFIED
WAS FROM A CAPTIVE CHIMPANZEE.
Narrator: IN RURAL AFRICA,
PEOPLE HUNT AND EAMONKEYS AND CHIMPS.
WHAT NO ONE KNEW
IS THAT THEY DIE
OF THEIR OWN VERSION OF AIDS,
CAUSED BY A VIRUS THAT IS VERY
SIMILAR TO THE HUMAN VERSION.
A SINGLE SLIP OF THE KNIFE,
A DROP OF BLOOD IN A WOUND,
AND THE KILLER HAS JUMPED
MONKEY TO MAN.
BUT WHERE DID THAACCIDENTAL TRANSMISSION HAPPEN?
CHIMPANZEES
LIVE IN RAINFOREST AREAS
IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA
TO THE NORTH OF THE CONGO RIVER.
FOR DECADES,
BEATRICE HAHN'S FIELD WORKERS
HAVE SEARCHED
THIS REMOTE CORNER OF THE WORLD
FOR EVIDENCE THEY CAN
SEND BACK TO THE LAB.
Men: OOH! OOH! HEE HEE HEE!
WHOA! WHOA!
HEE HEE HEE HEE!
Narrator: ONLY THE INDIGENOUS
PYGMY PEOPLE,
WHO LIVE IN THESE
IMPENETRABLE FORESTS,
KNOW HOW TO FIND
THE ELUSIVE CHIMPANZEES.
ARMY MEDIC
COLONEL MPOUDI-NGOLE
HEADS UP A TEAM
DURING RESEARCH IN CAMEROON.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
Eitel Mpoudi-Ngole, translated:
SOMETIMES THERE ARE DAYS
WITHOUT FINDING ANY SAMPLES,
NOTHING AT ALL.
THIS IS VERY DIFFICULT WORK.
IT TOOK YEARS
BEFORE WE OBTAINED ANY RESULTS.
Narrator: THEY PICK UP A TRACK.
Narrator: BUT GETTING
A BLOOD SAMPLE FROM A WILD CHIMP
IS IMPOSSIBLE.
SO INSTEAD, THE RESEARCHERS
ARE LOOKING FOR FECES
BECAUSE THE DROPPINGS THAT ARE
SCATTERED UNDER THE NESTS
ALSO CONTAIN
THE FINGERPRINTS OF THE VIRUS.
Narrator: ONLY NESTS
FROM THE PREVIOUS NIGHPROMISE FRESH FECES.
Narrator: THE RESEARCHERS
PUT THE DUNG IN A SPECIAL LIQUID
SO THAT ANY VIRAL MATERIAL
IS PRESERVED.
THEY TAKE THE COORDINATES
WHERE THE DROPPINGS WERE FOUND.
BY METHODICALLY
SEARCHING A VAST AREA
IN THE CENTRAL
AFRICAN RAINFOREST,
THE HOPE IS TO FIND OUT WHERE
EXACTLY HIV WAS TRANSMITTED
FROM CHIMPANZEES TO HUMANS.
BACK IN PHILADELPHIA,
THOUSANDS OF FECAL SAMPLES
FROM WILD LIVING CHIMPANZEES
ARE BEING ANALYZED.
ARE THEY INFECTED WITH A VIRUS
SIMILAR TO HIV?
AND IF SO,
HOW DOES THE GENOME SEQUENCE
OF THEIR VIRUS
RESEMBLE THE HUMAN FORM?
BY IDENTIFYING THE CLOSESRELATIVE OF CHIMP HIV
TO HUMAN HIV,
THE SCIENTISTS CAN FIND OUWHERE THE TRANSMISSION
MUST HAVE TAKEN PLACE.
Beatrice: CHIMPANZEE COMMUNITIES
ARE RELATIVELY STATIONARY
DUE TO NATURAL BOUNDARIES,
LIKE RIVERS,
OR TO HABITAT FRAGMENTATION
THROUGH HUNTING.
THEY STAY PUT,
AND SO THE VIRUSES STAY PUT.
AND SO YOU CAN
COME BACK AND SAY,
THIS IS THE AREA
WITH THE CLOSEST RELATIVE,
HENCE THIS IS THE CRADLE
OF THE PANDEMIC HIV-1.
Narrator: AFTER YEARS
OF DATA COLLECTION,
BEATRICE
HAS NARROWED DOWN THE AREA
WHERE HIV MADE THE JUMP
FROM CHIMPS TO PEOPLE
TO JUST A FEW SQUARE MILES
IN A REMOTE CORNER OF CAMEROON.
GROUND ZERO,
THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE KILLER,
IS MORE THAN A THOUSAND MILES
AWAY FROM KINSHASA.
Dirk: HOW WOULD
THE VIRUS FROM HERE
THEN GOTTEN DOWN TO KINSHASA?
Narrator: THE REMOTE LOCATION
OF GROUND ZERO IS A BIG CLUE.
BUT ALONE IT RAISES
MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS.
IT'S A PLACE
SO CUT OFF FROM THE WORLD
THAT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE
HOW HIV EVER GOT FROM THERE
TO A BIG CITY LIKE KINSHASA.
DIRK WILL RETURN TO ARIZONA
BECAUSE MIKE
HAS DEVELOPED A METHOD
THAT COULD BE CRITICAL
TO SOLVING THE RIDDLE.
MIKE HAS RECEIVED DATA FROM
AN HIV POSITIVE BLOOD SAMPLE
DATING FROM 1959,
WHICH WAS TAKEN FROM THE CONGO
AND SURVIVED IN A FREEZER
IN THE U.S.
IF HE CAN SQUEEZE MORE DATA
OUT OF THE TISSUE BLOCKS,
HE WILL BE ABLE TO HOME IN
ON THE COMMON ANCESTOR
FOR ALL THESE VIRUSES
AND THE TIME
WHEN IT MUST HAVE CIRCULATED--
THE FIRST PATIENOF MORE THAN 70 MILLION
WHO'VE BEEN INFECTED TO DATE.
Worobey:
I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO,
IF WE CAN GET SEQUENCE
FROM SEVERAL MORE OF THESE,
TO PLUG THEM INTO
THE DATING ANALYSES.
Narrator: MIKE ALWAYS FOUND
THE DESERT AROUND TUCSON
INSPIRING.
HE IS NOW CONVINCED
THAT HE CAN PINPOINTHE TIME WHEN HIV EMERGED
TO WITHIN A FEW YEARS.
Worobey: YOU LOOK AT THAT CACTUS
AND YOU ASK, HOW OLD IS IT?
NOTHING LEAPS OUT IMMEDIATELY.
BUT IF WE HAD A PHOTO
FROM TEN YEARS AGO
AND WE COULD COMPARE HOW QUICKLY
THE BRANCHES HAVE GROWN
OVER THAT TEN-YEAR PERIOD,
THAT GIVES US A RATE.
IF IT GROWS AT, SAY,
15, 20 CENTIMETERS PER YEAR,
YOU CAN THEN EXTRAPOLATE BACK
AND SAY, WELL, THAT THING'S
PROBABLY 120 YEARS OLD.
WITH HIV, THOSE FOUR BRANCHES
MIGHT BE SAMPLES FROM THE 1960s.
THE TALL BRANCH MIGHT BE
A RECENT SAMPLE FROM 2013.
THE DIFFERENCE IN HEIGHBETWEEN THOSE
GIVES YOU THE RATE OF EVOLUTION,
WHICH THEN ALLOWS YOU
TO ASSUME THAT SAME RATE
AND GO BACK DOWN
THE COLUMN OF THE CACTUS
BEFORE YOUR EARLIEST SAMPLE
AND ESTIMATE WHEN IT GERMINATED.
Narrator:
THE SEED OF THE EPIDEMIC,
THE VIRUS THAT INFECTED
THE FIRST HUMAN,
THE FIRSOF 70 MILLION VICTIMS,
THE ANCESTOR FROM WHICH
ALL LATER STRAINS OF HIV EVOLVED
IS OVER 100 YEARS OLD.
1908 IS MIKE'S BEST ESTIMATE
FOR THE ORIGIN OF AIDS--
A DISCOVERY THAT RE-WRITES
EVERYTHING WE BELIEVED TO KNOW
ABOUT THE PANDEMIC.
THAT'S SEVEN DECADES
BEFORE PEOPLE STARTED
TO DIE IN THE U.S.,
FIVE DECADES BEFORE KINSHASA
WAS IN THE GRIPS OF AN EPIDEMIC.
BUT WHY EXACTLY THEN?
WHAT ALLOWED A VIRUS
TO LEAP FROM THE JUNGLE
INTO THE WORLD?
CATHERINE COQUERY-VIDROVITCH
IS A HISTORIAN WHO HAS SPENHER WHOLE ACADEMIC CAREER
STUDYING THE REGION
IN CENTRAL AFRICA
WHERE HIV EMERGED.
MAYBE SHE WILL HAVE
ANSWERS FOR DIRK.
BY 1908, EUROPEAN NATIONS HAD
DIVIDED UP THE AFRICAN CONTINENFOR ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION.
FRANCE AND BELGIUM
HAD CARVED OUT CHUNKS
OF THE RESOURCE-RICH TERRITORIES
IN CENTRAL AFRICA.
THE BIRTHPLACE OF HIV
FALLS INTO AN AREA
THAT WAS TAKEN OVER BY FRANCE.
TODAY, THIS IS
THE REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO,
BORDERING CAMEROON.
Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch,
translated: THE FIRST WHITES
ARRIVED IN THE AREA
AT THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY.
Narrator: THEY CAME
FOR THE RICHES OF THE FOREST.
Coquery-Vidrovitch: WHAT COULD
BE EXPLOITED AT THAT TIME
WAS IVORY.
AND THEY CAME
FOR TAPPING RUBBER.
Narrator: AND THEY ALSO
CAME FOR PRECIOUS WOOD,
WORTH A FORTUNE.
Coquery-Vidrovitch: SO, HOW
WOULD THEY EXPLOIT ALL THIS?
HOW WOULD THEY TRANSPORT IWITH NO MONEY?
WITH NO PUBLIC MONEY?
THERE WAS ONLY ONE SOLUTION,
AND THAT WAS TO USE LOCALS
AS PORTERS.
Narrator:
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
WERE FORCED TO WORK AS PORTERS.
AMONG THEM, A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL
RIPPED FROM HIS ISOLATED LIFE
IN THE DEEP JUNGLE,
WHERE HE OR A CLOSE CONTACHAD BUTCHERED AN APE.
IN HIS BLOOD SWIRLED
ONE OF THE FIRST STRAINS OF HIV.
SURROUNDED
BY THOUSANDS OF LABORERS,
THE VIRUS WAS READY TO SPREAD.
AND IT DIDN'T NEED TO WAIT LONG.
HIV SOON GOT HELP
FROM ANOTHER DISEASE.
Coquery-Vidrovitch:
SLEEPING SICKNESS
APPEARED BETWEEN 1900 AND 1910,
WHEN THE SYSTEM
OF FORCED PORTERAGE
REACHED ITS HEIGHT.
Narrator: SLEEPING SICKNESS
IS A HIGHLY INFECTIOUS DISEASE
TRANSMITTED BY THE TSETSE FLY,
AND IT SPREAD LIKE WILD FIRE
AMONG THE FORCED LABORERS.
THE COLONIALISTS RESPONDED WITH
AGGRESSIVE MEDICAL CAMPAIGNS
TO CONTROL
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS.
THEY USED NON-DISPOSABLE
STEEL NEEDLES
TO DIAGNOSE
AND TREAT THE DISEASE.
OFTEN, CLOSE TO 10,000 PEOPLE
WERE TREATED AT A TIME,
WITHOUT PROPER STERILIZATION
OF THE NEEDLES.
IT SEEMS LIKELY THAT EARLY HIV
SPREAD IN PARTHROUGH DIRTY NEEDLES.
NEXT, HIV HITCHES A RIDE THROUGH
A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE
LIKELY BROUGHT TO THE COUNTRY
BY EUROPEANS:
SYPHILIS.
Coquery-Vidrovitch:
WOMEN WERE SEEN AS OBJECTS
TO BE EXPLOITED
FOR LABOR AND FOR SEX,
WITHIN THE FAMILIES,
AND OF COURSE
BY THE FIRST COLONIALISTS.
SO, IF MEN WERE INFECTED,
THEY'D PASS IT ON.
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
SPREAD EXPONENTIALLY.
Narrator: SYPHILIS DECIMATED
THE LOCAL POPULATION.
HAVING OPEN SORES
MAKES TRANSMITTING HIV
400 TIMES MORE LIKELY.
THE CHAOS
OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION
CREATED THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENFOR THE VIRUS TO EXPLODE
FROM AN ISOLATED CORNER
OF THE JUNGLE
TO A LARGER POPULATION.
BY 1930,
IT WAS WELL ON ITS WAY.
ALL IT NEEDED NOW
WAS A TICKET OUT OF AFRICA.
Dirk:
THE VIRUS WAS VERY FORTUNATE
TO HAVE REACHED KINSHASA,
TO HAVE COME
AT A CROSSROAD OF TURMOIL.
ONE AFTER THE OTHER,
A SUCCESSION OF DISASTERS,
AND THAT DEFINITELY GAVE IA PASSPORT TO TRAVEL THE WORLD.
Narrator: WE HAVE AT LASTRACED THE AIDS PANDEMIC
BACK TO ITS VERY BEGINNINGS.
THE SANGHA RIVER IN CAMEROON.
THIS IS THE VERY SPOWHERE DIRK BELIEVES
HIV BEGAN ITS FATEFUL JOURNEY
OUT OF THE JUNGLE.
JUST LIKE A CENTURY AGO,
FOREIGN COMPANIES STILL PILLAGE
THE RICHES OF THE RAINFOREST,
PRECIOUS WOODS
SHIPPED OFF TO THE U.S.,
TO EUROPE, AND CHINA,
WITH LITTLE IN RETURN.
THOUSANDS OF MIGRANT LABORERS
STILL TOIL
FOR THE LOGGING COMPANIES.
AND WITH NO OTHER
FOOD AVAILABLE,
SLAUGHTERING BUSH MEAT IS STILL
AN IMPORTANT WAY TO SURVIVE.
IT'S THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENT FOR
ANOTHER KILLER VIRUS TO EMERGE--
AGAIN, ONE WE MIGHT NOT NOTICE
BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
A RESEARCH TEAM
MAKES THE TWO-DAY TREK
TO THIS REMOTE OUTPOSAS OFTEN AS THEY CAN.
ARMY MEDIC
DR. EITEL MPOUDI-NGOLE
HAS COME TO DRAW BLOOD
FROM PEOPLE
THAT LIVE IN THE EXACT SPOWHERE 100 YEARS AGO
THE AIDS VIRUS FIRST APPEARED...
BECAUSE HE SUSPECTS
ANOTHER DEADLY VIRUS
MAY BE BREEDING HERE.
Mpoudi-Ngole, translated:
EMERGING DISEASES
THAT SPREAD
FROM ANIMALS TO HUMANS
ARE A MAJOR THREAT TO HUMANITY.
IT'S A MAJOR
PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM.
THERE ARE MANY NEW DISEASES.
INTER-SPECIES TRANSMISSIONS
ARE ON THE RISE--
GERMS PASSING BETWEEN
HUMANS AND ANIMALS.
THESE INTER-SPECIES
TRANSMISSIONS
CAN CAUSE NEW EPIDEMICS.
THEY THREATEN PRACTICALLY
THE WHOLE POPULATION
BECAUSE HUNTING
IS A MAJOR ACTIVITY HERE.
Narrator:
UP TO 10% OF THE PEOPLE HERE
SHOW SIGNS OF VIRUSES
IN THEIR BLOODSTREAMS
THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN SEEN
IN HUMANS BEFORE.
THIS COULD BE THE BEGINNING
OF THE NEXT PANDEMIC.
Beatrice: YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT WE DO TO NATURE
AND WHAT THE RESULTS
AND CONSEQUENCES ARE.
AND ONE ASPECT OF THAIS THAT WE, THROUGH OUR ACTIONS,
OPEN UP NEW NICHES AND AVENUES
AND NEW WAYS OF EXPOSURE
TO PATHOGENS THAWE WERE NOT EXPOSED TO BEFORE.
Narrator: HIV EXPLOITED THE
CHAOS OF COLONIALISM IN AFRICA
TO SPREAD UNNOTICED
FOR ALMOST A CENTURY.
AND WHEN WE FINALLY
WOKE UP IN THE 1980s,
MORE PRECIOUS TIME WAS LOSBY BLAMING THE WRONG PEOPLE
FOR THE WRONG REASONS.
Piot: WE WASTED SO MUCH TIME
IN DEALING WITH HIV,
AND WE COULD HAVE DONE
SO MUCH MORE--
FIRST OF ALL BY RECOGNIZING
THAT WE HAD A PROBLEM.
IF, IN THE '80s,
AT THE BEGINNING
OF THE EPIDEMIC,
WE WOULD HAVE HAD A MASSIVE
EFFORT OF THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY,
EVEN IN THE ABSENCE OF DRUGS,
WE WOULD HAVE SAVED
MILLIONS OF LIVES.
Narrator: UNDERSTANDING
WHERE AIDS CAME FROM,
HOW AND WHY IT SPREAD
IS CRITICAL
FOR OUR FUTURE SURVIVAL.
WHEN THE NEXT PANDEMIC
BREAKS OUT,
KNOWING ITS TACTICS
COULD BE THE BEST CHANCE
WE HAVE TO DEFEAT IT.
Worobey:
HIV IS JUST ONE EVENT,
ONE THING THAT'S HAPPENED.
IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THE LASVIRUS THAT JUMPS INTO HUMANS.
THERE MAY BE SOMETHING ELSE
THAT'S CIRCULATING
IN A FEW PEOPLE RIGHT NOW
THAT MIGHT BE THE NEXT HIV.
Narrator: THIS IS WHY DIRK
KEEPS THE TISSUE SAMPLES
LIKE THE ONES THAT HAVE GIVEN US
SUCH AN INTIMATE INSIGHINTO ONE OF THE BIGGESKILLERS OF OUR TIMES, HIV,
LOCKED UP IN A BANK SAFE
IN BELGIUM--
SO FUTURE GENERATIONS CAN
ONCE AGAIN TURN TO THESE SAMPLES
IN THEIR FIGHT AGAINSTHE UNKNOWN ENEMY.
Dirk: WELL, IT IS SOMETHING
OF THE FUTURE,
BECAUSE VIRUSES NOW HAVE
NOT ONLY THE OPPORTUNITY
TO JUMP SPECIES VERY EASILY
BECAUSE WE CONTINUOUSLY
INTRUDE IN THEIR HABITAT.
BUT ON TOP, VIRUSES
TRAVEL THE WORLD IN 24 HOURS.
WE SHOULD BE VERY HUMBLE
TOWARDS NATURE.
AND I THINK THAT'S
THE MAJOR LESSON.
IF WE FORGET THIS,
THAT WOULD BE SO DEVASTATING FOR
OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.
WHAT IF EVERYTHING YOU KNEW
ABOUT ONE OF THE GREATESKILLERS IN HUMAN HISTORY
WAS WRONG?
WHERE IT CAME FROM?
ITS AGE?
ITS FIRST VICTIMS?
IT'S THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE.
Man: WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW
DID THIS THING COME TO BE?
Narrator: NOW, JOIN US
ON A SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION
TO UNCOVER A TRAIL
OF FORGOTTEN CLUES
THAT IS REWRITING THE STORY
OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
IT'S A RACE AGAINST TIME...
Man: HALLELUJAH!
Narrator: AGAINST CHAOS...
TO FIND THE FRAGILE EVIDENCE:
A HIDDEN EPIDEMIC
NO ONE NOTICED,
A LOST HISTORY,
AND A DISCOVERY
THAT COULD SAVE US
FROM THE NEXT DEADLY VIRUS.
Tom Brokaw:
SCIENTISTS AT THE NATIONAL
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL
IN ATLANTA TODAY RELEASED
THE RESULTS OF A STUDY,
WHICH SHOWS THAT THE LIFESTYLE
OF SOME MALE HOMOSEXUALS
HAS TRIGGERED AN EPIDEMIC
OF A RARE FORM OF CANCER.
Man: HERE THE KILLER DISEASE
HAS TAKEN ITS GREATEST TOLL
OF DEATH.
Narrator: IN THE BEGINNING,
THERE WERE A FEW
BUT HORRIBLE DEATHS.
THE INVISIBLE KILLER
APPEARS TO STRIKE GAY MEN ONLY,
WITH A ZERO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL.
Man: I KNOW MY LIFE
WILL END VERY SOON.
Narrator: THERE IS
CONFUSION AND PANIC,
AND NO MEDICAL EXPLANATION.
Man: IF IT IS CONTAGIOUS,
WHICH WE DON'T KNOW,
THEN IT IS TRANSMITTED BY VERY,
VERY CLOSE PERSONAL CONTACT.
Narrator: TO COMFORAN INCREASINGLY WORRIED PUBLIC,
A LIFESTYLE IS MADE RESPONSIBLE
AND THE AGONY GIVEN A NAME.
Man: THIS CONDITION
IS CALLED A-I-D-S. AIDS.
Narrator: MILLIONS OF LIVES
HANG IN THE BALANCE,
WITH NO CLEAR CAUSE IDENTIFIED
AND NO TREATMENT.
DOCTORS AND PATIENTS
ARE EQUALLY HELPLESS.
ONLY RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISTS
SEEM TO HAVE ANSWERS.
Man: WHAT YOU'RE DOING
IS YOU'RE BELIEVING THE DEVIL,
AND YOU'RE BELIEVING A LIE!
Narrator: VICTIMS ARE
TURNED INTO PERPETRATORS.
FEAR, FUELED BY PREJUDICE,
ENGULFS AMERICA.
THE STRANGE NEW PLAGUE WILL SOON
DEVOUR MILLIONS OF LIVES.
BUT WHERE DID THIS
UNKNOWN KILLER COME FROM?
IT IS A MYSTERY THAT'S TAKEN
SCIENCE DECADES TO UNRAVEL.
THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE
COULD BE THE KEY
TO FINDING A VACCINE
THAT COULD END AIDS FOREVER.
WORKING AROUND THE GLOBE,
A TEAM OF DEDICATED SCIENTISTS
IS NOW DETERMINED TO DISCOVER
THE TRUTH ABOUT HIV,
WORKING LIKE DETECTIVES
ON THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE.
Michael Worobey: IT'S ONE
OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PANDEMICS
IN HUMAN HISTORY,
AND I JUST BECAME
REALLY INTERESTED
IN THIS SORT OF DEEP HISTORY
THAT YOU CAN GET AWHEN YOU COMPARE
THEIR GENE SEQUENCES.
IT'S LIKE BUILDING
A FAMILY TREE OF HUMANS,
AND IT TAKES YOU BACK
TO THE TIME
WHEN THE PANDEMIC FIRST EMERGED,
AND THAT'S ALWAYS BEEN
A FASCINATING QUESTION:
WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW
DID THIS THING COME TO BE
THAT ENTERED THE SCENE SEEMINGLY
OUT OF NOWHERE IN THE 1980s?
Narrator: FOR SCIENTISTS
LIKE MIKE WOROBEY,
THE FIRST CLUES
TO THE VIRUS'S ORIGINS
WERE THERE
RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING,
IN THE EARLIEST DAYS
OF THE DISEASE,
BACK WHEN FEAR AND SPECULATION
CLOUDED THE AIR.
WHILE THE FIRST CASES OF AIDS
GOT NOTICED IN THE U.S.,
3,000 MILES ACROSS THE ATLANTIC,
IN BELGIUM,
DR. PETER PIOSAW A STRIKINGLY SIMILAR DISEASE
QUIETLY APPEAR IN HIS COUNTRY.
Peter Piot: WE STARTED SEEING
AT OUR HOSPITAL
FOR TROPICAL DISEASES IN ANTWERP
PEOPLE COMING
FROM CENTRAL AFRICA--
AFRICANS BUT ALSO EUROPEANS
LIVING THERE.
AND THEY ALL DIED
IN OUR HOSPITAL
WITH A VERY COMPLEX SEOF WHAT WE CALL NOW
OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS.
Narrator: ALL HIS PATIENTS,
WITH THE SAME SYMPTOMS AS AIDS,
WEREN'T CONNECTED TO AMERICA...
BUT TO CENTRAL AFRICA,
TO THE FORMER BELGIAN COLONY,
THE CONGO.
TO PETER IT WAS A SMOKING GUN.
WHILE AIDS WAS GRABBING
THE HEADLINES IN AMERICA,
DID THE DISEASE IN FACT BEGIN
IN THE HEART OF AFRICA?
Piot: IF WE SEE A HUNDRED
PATIENTS HERE IN BELGIUM,
THERE MUST BE THOUSANDS OF THEM
IN CENTRAL AFRICA,
IN THEIR COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN,
BECAUSE WHO CAN AFFORD TO COME
TO EUROPE FOR MEDICAL CARE?
Narrator: IN 1983,
PETER HEADED OUT TO THE CONGO
TO SEE IF HE WAS RIGHT.
KINSHASA,
THE CAPITAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO.
Piot: WHEN I ENTERED
MAMA YEMO HOSPITAL
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN '83,
I COULD SEE THAT THE WARDS
WERE FULL WITH AIDS PATIENTS.
Narrator: AND AT LEASHALF OF THEM WERE WOMEN.
PETER RECOGNIZED IMMEDIATELY
THAT AIDS WAS NOT A GAY DISEASE.
HERE IT WAS SPREADING
BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE.
Piot: AND THEN
I TOOK A DEEP BREATH,
AND I SAID
THAT THIS WAS AN EPIDEMIC,
A HETEROSEXUAL EPIDEMIC.
THIS IS A REAL, REAL PROBLEM.
WE ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE.
Narrator: TO PETER, IT WAS
OBVIOUS THAT HERE IN AFRICA,
AIDS WAS NOT A NEW DISEASE
BUT HAD BEEN SPREADING
UNNOTICED FOR A LONG TIME--
A TERRIFYING TRUTH THE WORLD
WAS NOT READY TO HEAR.
Piot: WE WROTE A PAPER,
AND THAT WAS REJECTED,
AND THE COMMENOF THE REFEREE WAS,
"IT'S A WELL-KNOWN FACTHAT AIDS CANNOT BE TRANSMITTED
FROM WOMEN TO MEN,"
QUOTE, UNQUOTE,
WHICH IS SHOCKING
RETROSPECTIVELY.
BUT EVEN IN THESE DAYS,
THE INFORMATION
WAS ALREADY CLEAR.
Narrator:
EVEN AFTER THE DISCOVERY
THAT AIDS WAS CAUSED BY A VIRUS
THAT COULD BE TRANSMITTED
BETWEEN ANYONE,
SPECULATION ABOUWHERE IT CAME FROM
CONTINUED TO GROW.
CONSPIRACY THEORISTS BELIEVED
THE CIA CREATED IT--
A BIOWEAPON DESIGNED
TO ELIMINATE MINORITY GROUPS.
THE SEARCH FOR THE KILLER
BECAME A WITCH HUNT.
WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE?
Woman: IT WAS THE WHODUNIOF THE CENTURY.
Harry Reasoner: PATIENT ZERO
IS A MEDICAL
AND POLITICAL DETECTIVE STORY.
Narrator: A RUMOR EMERGED
THAT IN THE LATE 1970s
A CANADIAN FLIGHT ATTENDANHAD SPREAD IT TO GAY MEN
IN THE PROMISCUOUS
BATHHOUSE SCENE
ON THE WEST COAST OF THE U.S.
THE RUMOR WAS PART OF
A RIGHT-WING SMEAR CAMPAIGN.
ONE CONSPIRACY THEORY
EVEN TOOK ROOAMONG SOME SCIENTISTS:
THAT THE VIRUS WAS INTRODUCED
INTO HUMANS VIA A VACCINE.
IN THE LATE 1950s,
SCIENTISTS DEVELOPED
AN ORAL POLIO VACCINE
THAT WAS TESTED
IN CENTRAL AFRICA.
IT WAS CLAIMED
THAT IN THE PROCESS,
THEY SOMEHOW USED
CHIMPANZEE CELLS
UNKNOWINGLY INFECTED WITH
A PRECURSOR TO THE AIDS VIRUS,
AND THAT WHEN THE VACCINE
WAS LATER GIVEN
TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE,
IT ACCIDENTALLY INTRODUCED HIV.
ALTHOUGH LATER STUDIES
FOUND NO TRACE OF HIV
AND NO TRACE OF CHIMP CELLS
IN THE VACCINE,
THE CONSPIRACY THEORY
PERSISTS TO THIS DAY.
Dirk Teuwen: CONSPIRACY THEORIES
NEVER DIE ALONE.
AND SCIENTIFIC PROOF
WAS THE ONLY WAY
TO, ONCE AND FOR ALL,
GET THIS OVER WITH.
Narrator: DIRK TEUWEN
IS A MEDICAL RESEARCHER
WHO HAS TEAMED WITH MIKE WOROBEY
BECAUSE THEY SHARE
A LONGSTANDING INTERESIN UNCOVERING
THE REAL HISTORY OF HIV.
THEY WANTED TO DISPROVE
ALL THE RUMORS.
THE PLAN: RETURN TO THE CONGO
AND FOLLOW UP ON THE LEADS.
Dirk: THAT WAS
A LUDICROUS IDEA.
DIRK, YOU MUST BE
COMPLETELY CRAZY.
CONGO HAS HAD
SO MANY REVOLUTIONS,
AND NOTHING WILL HAVE BEEN
PRESERVED FROM THE PAST.
BUT, OKAY, I MEAN,
I'M STUBBORN,
AND I PERSISTED,
SO THERE WE GO.
Narrator: BUT FINDING
FORGOTTEN EVIDENCE IN THE CONGO
IS NOT EASY.
THE COUNTRY WENT THROUGH
DECADES OF DECLINE.
THINGS GOT LOST.
BUT DIRK KEPT AT IT.
A FEW YEARS BACK, HE AND MIKE
DISCOVERED SOMETHING CURIOUS:
A BIOPSY SAMPLE THAT CONTAINED
TRACES OF THE VIRUS.
IT CAME FROM A PATIENWHO DIED IN THE 1960s.
TO PROVE THAT THIS
WAS NOT AN ISOLATED CASE,
HE NEEDS TO FIND MORE EVIDENCE.
Narrator: DIRK HAS BROUGHA COMMODITY THAT IS SCARCE HERE,
BUT CENTRAL TO HIS RESEARCH:
PARAFFIN.
THIS IS THE PATHOLOGY LAB
WHERE THE FIRSTANTALIZING CLUE WAS FOUND.
FOR DECADES,
CLINICIANS HERE HAVE BEEN
PREPARING TISSUE SAMPLES
FROM THE SICK AND THE DEAD:
SLICES OF SPLEEN, LIVER,
AND LYMPH NODES.
THE TISSUE SAMPLES ARE EMBEDDED
IN BLOCKS OF PARAFFIN
TO SHIELD THEM FROM DECAY.
THE TUMOR IN THIS BREAST TISSUE
WILL BE ARCHIVED
AND PRESERVED FOR FUTURE STUDY.
SINCE THE 1940s, THIS HAS BEEN
STANDARD MEDICAL PROCEDURE.
EVEN HERE,
WHERE FREEZERS ARE A LUXURY,
IT MEANS THAT IN THEORY,
DECADES-OLD TISSUES
COULD REMAIN PRESERVED.
EACH OF THESE BLOCKS
IS LIKE A MEDICAL FOSSIL.
THEY PRESERVE
NOT JUST HUMAN TISSUE,
BUT POTENTIALLY
ALSO ANY VIRUS INFECTING IT.
DIRK AND MIKE'S TEAM
HOPE TO FIND ARCHIVES
OF THESE TISSUE SAMPLES
AND USE THEM LIKE A TIME MACHINE
TO TRAVEL BACK TO THE VERY
BEGINNING OF THE EPIDEMIC,
BEFORE ANYONE KNEW THAT AIDS
AND HIV EVEN EXISTED.
BUT THEIR JOURNEY WON'T BE EASY.
THIS IS CONGO'S
ONLY HIGH-SECURITY LAB.
HIV, EBOLA, AND MONKEY POX
HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATED HERE,
ALL UNDER THE OVERSIGHOF DR. JEAN-JACQUES
MUYEMBE-TAMFUM,
THE COUNTRY'S MOST DISTINGUISHED
MEDICAL RESEARCHER.
DIRK HAS COME TO ASK
JEAN-JACQUES FOR HELP
IN GAINING ACCESS
TO A LOCAL HOSPITAL
WHERE HE HOPES TO FIND CLUES
THAT MAY HELP THEM DETERMINE
WHEN AND HOW AIDS FIRST BEGAN.
Narrator: BUT GETTING HIS HANDS
ON THE SAMPLES WON'T BE EASY.
IT TAKES DIRK
A LOT OF NEGOTIATING
TO CONVINCE
A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS
TO ALLOW HIM TO ENTER
THE HOSPITAL'S BASEMENT.
Narrator: LOCATING OLD
TISSUE SAMPLES IN THIS CHAOS
WILL BE DIFFICULT.
Narrator: AMONG ALL THE JUNK,
THEY FIND A METAL CONTAINER.
THESE ARE SAMPLES IN THEIR
ORIGINAL CARDBOARD BOXES.
AND THEN, THE MOTHER LODE:
PAY DIRT.
THIS CORNER OF THE BASEMENT IS
STUFFED WITH ARCHIVAL DRAWERS.
Narrator: SORTING OUHOW OLD THESE SAMPLES ARE
ISN'T EASY.
DELPHINE MAVINGA PHANZU,
THE TECHNICIAN
FROM THE PATHOLOGY LAB,
MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP.
DIRK HOPES THESE SAMPLES
WILL DATE TO THE 1960s
OR EVEN EARLIER,
TO WHEN HE BELIEVES
THE HOSPITAL HERE
MIGHT HAVE SEEN ITS FIRSUNIDENTIFIED CASES OF AIDS.
THE DOCTORS PERHAPS
PERFORMED AN AUTOPSY
AND PRESERVED THE TISSUE.
COULD AN ANCIENT FORM OF HIV BE
LURKING IN THESE BLOCKS OF WAX?
Dirk:
WE SEE BLOCKS FROM 1974,
AND THEY ARE IN
A REMARKABLE GOOD CONDITION.
IF YOU OPEN THIS BOX
AND YOU SEE THIS,
AGAIN, IF YOU LOOK AT IT,
THIS IS BRILLIANT.
THIS IS SIMPLY BRILLIANT.
Narrator:
HE'LL HAVE TO KEEP DIGGING.
ONLY OLDER SAMPLES WILL SHOW
WHETHER AN EPIDEMIC EXISTED
LONG BEFORE AIDS BEGAN KILLING
PEOPLE IN NORTH AMERICA.
IN 1985,
AMERICA GETS A WAKE-UP CALL.
MOVIE STAR ROCK HUDSON
DIES OF AIDS.
BUT DESPITE
THE SHOCKING HEADLINE,
THE DISEASE IS IGNORED.
UNCHECKED,
THE VIRUS IS SPREADING
INTO HETEROSEXUALS
IN INNER-CITY AREAS.
WITHOUT INTERVENTION,
IT INVADES OTHER POPULATIONS
THE MAINSTREAM IGNORES:
SEX WORKERS
AND INTRAVENOUS DRUG USERS.
AND SOON THE VIRUS INFILTRATES
THE HEARTLAND OF AMERICA.
QUIETLY IT SLIPS INTO
THE NATION'S BLOOD SUPPLY.
IN 1990, IT TAKES THE LIFE OF
AN ADOLESCENT TEENAGER IN OHIO,
A HEMOPHILIAC INFECTED
BY A TAINTED BLOOD TRANSFUSION.
Reporter:
THE GOVERNMENT PREDICTS
THAT WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS
165,000 AMERICANS--
MEN AND WOMEN--
WILL DIE FROM
THIS MYSTERIOUS DISEASE.
C. Everett Koop:
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DEATH HERE.
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DEATH.
Narrator:
POLITICIANS ARE THE LASTO AWAKE TO THE REALITY.
President Bush:
THIS IS A TRAGIC DISEASE.
I'D LIKE TO FIND WAYS
TO BE HELPFUL AS PRESIDENT.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENWILL SOON REQUIRE TESTING
FOR PRISONERS, IMMIGRANTS,
AND ALIENS SEEKING
PERMANENT RESIDENCE.
[CROWD BOOS]
Narrator: CLOSING BORDERS
IS A FUTILE GESTURE.
THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC
IS ALREADY OUT OF CONTROL.
HIV WILL EVENTUALLY CLAIM
30 MILLION LIVES.
BUT WHAT'S UNKNOWN
IS WHAT THE VIRUS WAS DOING
BEFORE THE FIRST CASE OF AIDS
SURFACED IN 1981.
COULD THERE HAVE BEEN AN EARLIER
HIDDEN EPIDEMIC NO ONE NOTICED?
THAT'S WHY DIRK
HAS RETURNED TO THE LAB
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KINSHASA.
HE AND DELPHINE HAVE LOCATED
OLD MEDICAL RECORDS.
THEY GIVE
VERY DETAILED INFORMATION
ABOUT THE CONDITION
OF THE PATIENT.
IN THEORY, EACH FILE HAS
A CORRESPONDING TISSUE SAMPLE.
DIRK HOPES THAT THESE ARCHIVES
MIGHT CONTAIN CLUES
ABOUT MORE EARLY PATIENTS
OF HIV.
Narrator: THE DOCUMENTS DETAIL
THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF PATIENTS
DATING BACK TO 1954.
AS A TRAINED PROFESSIONAL,
DIRK MIGHT BE ABLE TO SPOT CASES
THAT SUGGEST AIDS-LIKE SYMPTOMS.
BUT TO CONFIRM
ANY EARLY HIV PATIENTS,
THEY WILL HAVE TO
FIND TISSUE SAMPLES
AND TEST THEM FOR THE VIRUS.
Narrator: THE SAMPLES HAVE BEEN
MOVED TO A DIFFERENT LOCATION.
Narrator: EVERYTHING HAS TO BE
CLEANED OUT AND CLASSIFIED.
IT IS A TREASURE TROVE
OF THOUSANDS OF OLD SAMPLES.
BUT FIGURING OUHOW OLD THEY ARE
AND IF THE TISSUE SAMPLES
FROM THE 1950s
ARE AMONG THE JUMBLED CHAOS
WILL TAKE WORK.
LOTS OF WORK.
WHILE DELPHINE
SORTS OUT THE MESS,
DIRK HITS THE ROAD.
TOGETHER WITH HIS FRIEND
JEAN-JACQUES
HE IS HEADING TO A TOWN
100 MILES OUTSIDE KINSHASA
THAT MANY DECADES AGO
WAS THE CENTER
OF A GIGANTIC RAILWAY PROJECT.
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WORKED
UNDER VERY HARSH CONDITIONS,
AND COUNTLESS WERE TREATED
IN THE LOCAL HOSPITAL.
SO, THE TWO HOPE TO FIND
OLD TISSUE SAMPLES
IN THIS PLACE CALLED
MBANZA-NGUNGU,
WHICH COULD POINTO HIV'S EARLY VICTIMS.
TODAY, RUINS AND WRECKS
ARE ALL THAT'S LEFOF THE RAILWAY.
[HORN BLOWS]
DIRK'S BEEN TOLD THATHERE'S AN EYEWITNESS HERE
WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP HIM
FIND THE KILLER'S TRACKS.
A 92-YEAR-OLD
FORMER LAB TECHNICIAN
AT A NEARBY HOSPITAL.
Narrator: THE TISSUE SAMPLES
WERE THERE IN 1996
WHEN THE MAN RETIRED,
BUT WHERE THEY ARE TODAY
IS ANYONE'S GUESS.
THE OLD MAN REMEMBERS
THAT THERE IS AN ARCHIVE
WITH PATIENT RECORDS
GOING BACK DECADES.
MAYBE THEY WILL POINTO THE SAMPLES.
[DIRK GASPS]
Dirk: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!
LOOK AT THIS!
'85...
'84. SO, '84...
Narrator: COULD THIS
TREASURE TROVE OF FILES
LEAD DIRK TO MORE
ANCIENT SAMPLES OF HIV
AND TO ANSWERS ABOUTHE PREHISTORY OF THE PANDEMIC?
AFTER HAVING SEARCHED
THE WHOLE ARCHIVE,
THEY FIND
AN OLD AND DUSTY SUITCASE.
[MEN SPEAKING FRENCH]
[LAUGHING]
Narrator: THE OLD TISSUE SAMPLES
THAT WERE STILL THERE IN 1996
ARE GONE.
IT IS A REMINDER FOR DIRK
AND HIS FRIEND JEAN-JACQUES
THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS BEEN
GOING THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES.
A LACK OF FUNDS HAS FORCED
THE DOCTORS TO IMPROVISE.
PROBABLY, THE BLOCKS
HAVE BEEN MELTED DOWN
BECAUSE THE PARAFFIN WAS NEEDED
TO MANUFACTURE NEW BLOCKS.
ALL HIS HOPES
NOW REST WITH THE LAB
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KINSHASA.
[PEOPLE SINGING]
Narrator: DELPHINE HAS FINISHED
CLEANING OUT THE CLOSET.
AT FIRST SIGHT, THIS DOESN'LOOK LIKE A MEDICAL GOLD MINE.
Dirk: OH!
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
Narrator:
BUT THE SEARCH HAS PAID OFF.
DELPHINE HAS FOUND THOUSANDS
OF SAMPLES FROM THE 1960s.
DIRK'S HOPING SOME MAY EVEN BE
FROM THE MID-1950s.
BUT DELPHINE IS CAUTIOUS.
SHE DOUBLE-CHECKS WITH SLIDES
THAT CONTAIN A COPY
OF EACH TISSUE SAMPLE.
Narrator:
THE SAMPLES FROM THE 1950s
THAT DIRK HAD HOPED TO FIND
AREN'T AMONG THEM.
THEY, TOO, MAY HAVE BEEN
RECYCLED OR DESTROYED.
Dirk: IN OUR JOURNEY
TO 1956 AND EARLIER
I THINK WE MAY HERE BE
AT A DEAD END.
Narrator:
BUT DESPITE THE DISAPPOINTMENT,
THEY HAVE FOUND THOUSANDS OF
TISSUE SAMPLES FROM THE 1960s.
Dirk: AND THEY MAY BE
EQUALLY IMPORTANBECAUSE THE MORE INFORMATION
WE HAVE FROM THIS PERIOD,
THE BETTER WE CAN
OBVIOUSLY POSITION
EARLY HIV POSITIVE SAMPLES.
Narrator: ARE ANCIENT PARTICLES
OF THE VIRUS LURKING INSIDE?
PIECE BY PIECE,
BATCHES OF THESE PRECIOUS BLOCKS
ARE SHIPPED OUT TO ARIZONA
FOR ANALYSIS.
IF THE LAB CAN I.D. THE VIRUS
IN THE 70-YEAR-OLD HUMAN TISSUE,
IT WILL REWRITE
THE LOST HISTORY OF AIDS.
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA,
MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST MIKE WOROBEY
IS WRESTLING WITH THE
HALF-CENTURY-OLD TISSUE SAMPLES
FROM AFRICA.
Worobey: THE TRICK NOW
IS TO FIND THE TINY LITTLE BIOF HIV GENETIC MATERIAL
THAT MIGHT BE IN THERE,
AND IT'S KIND OF LIKE LOOKING
FOR A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK,
BUT THE NEEDLES ARE BROKEN
BECAUSE OF THE CHEMICALS
THAT WE USE,
SO IT'S LIKE LOOKING FOR A TINY
FRAGMENT OF A BROKEN NEEDLE
IN A FIELD OF HAYSTACKS.
Narrator: MIKE IS LOOKING FOR
GENETIC MATERIAL FROM THE VIRUS
AND MUST MAKE SURE
THAT THERE IS NO CONTAMINATION.
Worobey: OK, WHAT HAVE WE GOT?
Man: WELL, WE GOT A BAND HERE.
LOOKS DECENT.
HERE, HERE.
AND THOSE TWO
ALL LOOK PROMISING.
Worobey:
SO THOSE ARE ALL LOOKING--
Narrator: THERE ARE SIGNALS
THAT SOME OF THE SAMPLES
FROM THE 1960s
ARE INDEED HIV-POSITIVE.
Man: WE'LL CLONE
AND SEQUENCE IT.
Worobey: BEAUTIFUL.
Narrator:
THIS COULD MEAN THAT AIDS
WAS WREAKING HAVOC IN AFRICA
DECADES BEFORE
ANYONE EVER NOTICED.
Worobey: THESE SORTS OF
OLD SEQUENCES, IF WE GET THEM,
ALLOW US TO STEP BACK IN TIME
SEVERAL DECADES
AND KIND OF HAVE A SNAPSHOOF WHAT HIV LOOKED LIKE
IN 1966 OR 1960.
IT'S KIND OF LIKE THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN A STILL PHOTOGRAPH
AND FILM.
A STILL PHOTOGRAPH CAN BE GREAT,
BUT IF YOU CAN HAVE A SERIES
OF THESE THINGS OVER TIME,
YOU PUT THEM TOGETHER
AND ALL OF A SUDDEN
YOU GET A SENSE OF THE MOTION,
THE SPEED AT WHICH THIS THING
CHANGES OVER TIME,
AND THAT ALLOWS YOU
TO GO BACK EVEN DEEPER
TO THE EARLIEST TIME POINTS
IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE VIRUS.
Narrator: THESE OLD SEQUENCES
MAY EVEN HOLD
VALUABLE INTELLIGENCE
ABOUT THE VIRUS'S WEAKNESSES
SCIENTISTS MIGHT ONE DAY EXPLOIIN THEIR QUEST FOR A VACCINE.
DEFEATING THE VIRUS
HAS PROVEN IMPOSSIBLY HARD.
HIV MUTATES FASTER
THAN SCIENTISTS CAN INVENWEAPONS AGAINST IT.
BUT WHILE WE STILL HAVE NO CURE
AND NO VACCINE,
WE DID DISCOVER A WAY
TO PROLONG LIFE WITH HIV,
WITH SO CALLED
ANTI-RETROVIRAL DRUGS.
Magic Johnson: BECAUSE OF
THE HIV VIRUS THAT I HAVE
I WILL HAVE TO RETIRE
FROM THE LAKERS.
Narrator: IN 1992,
MAGIC JOHNSON
BECAME THE NEW FACE
FOR AMERICANS LIVING WITH AIDS.
Johnson: SOMETIMES WE THINK,
WELL, ONLY GAY PEOPLE
CAN GET IT...ONLY...
IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME.
AND HERE I AM SAYING
THAT IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYBODY.
EVEN ME, MAGIC JOHNSON,
IT CAN HAPPEN TO.
Narrator: NEARLY A DECADE
AFTER THE VIRUS WAS DISCOVERED,
AIDS WAS FINALLY ACCEPTED
BY MAINSTREAM AMERICA.
Woman: AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...
TOM HANKS IN "PHILADELPHIA."
Tom Hanks: I KNOW THAT MY WORK
IN THIS CASE
IS MAGNIFIED BY THE FACTHAT THE STREETS OF HEAVEN
ARE TOO CROWDED WITH ANGELS.
THEY NUMBER A THOUSAND
FOR EACH ONE OF THE RED RIBBONS
THAT WE WEAR HERE TONIGHT.
Narrator: BUT DESPITE
THE WORLD'S ACCEPTANCE
AND THE DEVELOPMENOF TREATMENT DRUGS,
THE VIRUS CONTINUES TO CLAIM
MILLIONS OF LIVES EACH YEAR.
30 YEARS AFTER HIV
WAS FIRST DISCOVERED,
WE MAY BE ON THE CUSP
OF A NEW DISCOVERY...
IF THE TEAM CAN PROVE THATHERE WAS AN EPIDEMIC IN AFRICA
AS EARLY AS THE 1960s.
MIKE HAS BEEN BUSY WORKING
THROUGH A LOT OF THE SAMPLES
HE AND DIRK HAVE RECEIVED
FROM KINSHASA.
AND EVEN WITH THOUSANDS
STILL TO GO,
THE RESULTS HE GOEXCEEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS.
Mike: BON APPETIT.
Dirk: BON APPETIT.
Worobey: I THINK WE'RE GOING
TO GET A LOT OF JOY
OUT OF THESE 1960s SAMPLES,
SO LET ME SHOW YOU.
IT'S DEFINITELY
A GENUINE POSITIVE.
Narrator:
THE TEAM HAS FOUND HIV
IN THREE MORE SAMPLES
FROM THE 1960s.
AND FOR THE FIRST TIME,
MIKE HAS BEEN ABLE
TO STITCH TOGETHER
A NEAR-COMPLETE GENOME
OF AN ANCIENT VIRUS,
NOT JUST TINY FRAGMENTS OF IT.
Worobey: ANOTHER INDICATION
THAT BY THE 1960s
THIS WAS ALREADY
A VERY WELL-ESTABLISHED
OUTBREAK IN KINSHASA.
AND IT'S GETTING TO THE POINNOW WHERE, YOU KNOW,
I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE,
WHEN WE STARTED DOING THIS,
THOUGHT THE MOST LIKELY OUTCOME
WAS WE WOULD GET ZERO SAMPLES
THAT WERE POSITIVE.
BUT WE NOW HAVE
AT LEAST THREE FROM THIS TIME.
IT'S GIVING US A SNAPSHOT OF
KINSHASA IN THE 1950s AND '60s,
WHERE IT'S ALREADY
A FAIRLY MATURE EPIDEMIC.
Narrator: 1960 SHOULD HAVE BEEN
A YEAR OF CELEBRATIONS
IN THE CONGO.
Announcer: ON JUNE 30, 1960,
KING BAUDOUIN OF BELGIUM
JOURNEYED TO LEOPOLDVILLE
TO PROCLAIM THE INDEPENDENCE
OF THE BELGIAN CONGO.
Narrator: WHILE THE PEOPLE
IN THE CONGO CELEBRATED,
THE VIRUS SPREAD.
NO ONE KNOWS THE EXACT NUMBERS,
BUT THERE MUST ALREADY HAVE BEEN
MANY PEOPLE INFECTED WITH HIV
IN KINSHASA.
HUNDREDS, MAYBE THOUSANDS.
THEN, CONGO DESCENDED
INTO CHAOS.
Announcer:
THEIR JOY WAS SHORT-LIVED.
Narrator: CIVIL WAR ERUPTED,
HOSPITALS CLOSED DOWN,
AND SOLDIERS ROAMED THE COUNTRY.
FOR HIV,
THESE WERE IDEAL CONDITIONS
TO SPREAD AND KILL, UNNOTICED.
OVER TWO DECADES WOULD GO BY
BEFORE ANYONE WOULD REALIZE
WHAT WAS HAPPENING.
Mike: IT FIRST CAME INTO PUBLIC
CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE 1980s,
BUT WE'VE NOW GODIRECT EVIDENCE FROM KINSHASA
IN THE 1950s AND '60s
THAT IT WAS ALREADY
A DIVERSIFIED EPIDEMIC.
THERE WERE LOTS OF PEOPLE
IN KINSHASA WITH THAT VIRUS
EVEN AT THAT EARLY TIME POINT.
Narrator: THE EVIDENCE
THAT AIDS WAS WIDESPREAD
IN THE 1960s CONGO
IS IRREFUTABLE.
WHILE THIS IS
A SHOCKING DISCOVERY,
IT STILL DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHATHE VIRUS WAS DOING BEFORE 1960,
HOW IT GOT INTO SO MANY PEOPLE,
AND WHERE IT CAME FROM.
DIRK SUSPECTS
THERE IS ANOTHER CHAPTER
TO THE HISTORY OF THE VIRUS.
KNOWING THE EXACT LOCATION
OF HIV'S FIRST VICTIM
COULD REVEAL THE MISSING PAROF THE STORY.
FOR THAT,
HE'S COME TO PHILADELPHIA.
HERE, MEDICAL RESEARCHER
BEATRICE HAHN
HAS BEEN TRYING TO IDENTIFY
WHERE EXACTLY
THE VIRUS WAS BORN.
Beatrice Hahn: THE REASON WE
WANTED TO GO BACK TO THE SOURCE
IS TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT HAD HAPPENED.
I STARTED OUT CHARACTERIZING
THE MOLECULAR FINGERPRINTS
OF THE VIRUS.
ONE WAY TO DO THAIS TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST ITO THE NEXT CLOSEST RELATIVES.
AND IT WAS CLEAR
FROM THE VERY EARLY DAYS
THAT THESE WOULD BE VIRUSES
INFECTING PRIMATES.
AND IN FACT, ONE OF THE EARLIESVIRUS ISOLATES
THAT WAS IDENTIFIED
WAS FROM A CAPTIVE CHIMPANZEE.
Narrator: IN RURAL AFRICA,
PEOPLE HUNT AND EAMONKEYS AND CHIMPS.
WHAT NO ONE KNEW
IS THAT THEY DIE
OF THEIR OWN VERSION OF AIDS,
CAUSED BY A VIRUS THAT IS VERY
SIMILAR TO THE HUMAN VERSION.
A SINGLE SLIP OF THE KNIFE,
A DROP OF BLOOD IN A WOUND,
AND THE KILLER HAS JUMPED
MONKEY TO MAN.
BUT WHERE DID THAACCIDENTAL TRANSMISSION HAPPEN?
CHIMPANZEES
LIVE IN RAINFOREST AREAS
IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA
TO THE NORTH OF THE CONGO RIVER.
FOR DECADES,
BEATRICE HAHN'S FIELD WORKERS
HAVE SEARCHED
THIS REMOTE CORNER OF THE WORLD
FOR EVIDENCE THEY CAN
SEND BACK TO THE LAB.
Men: OOH! OOH! HEE HEE HEE!
WHOA! WHOA!
HEE HEE HEE HEE!
Narrator: ONLY THE INDIGENOUS
PYGMY PEOPLE,
WHO LIVE IN THESE
IMPENETRABLE FORESTS,
KNOW HOW TO FIND
THE ELUSIVE CHIMPANZEES.
ARMY MEDIC
COLONEL MPOUDI-NGOLE
HEADS UP A TEAM
DURING RESEARCH IN CAMEROON.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
Eitel Mpoudi-Ngole, translated:
SOMETIMES THERE ARE DAYS
WITHOUT FINDING ANY SAMPLES,
NOTHING AT ALL.
THIS IS VERY DIFFICULT WORK.
IT TOOK YEARS
BEFORE WE OBTAINED ANY RESULTS.
Narrator: THEY PICK UP A TRACK.
Narrator: BUT GETTING
A BLOOD SAMPLE FROM A WILD CHIMP
IS IMPOSSIBLE.
SO INSTEAD, THE RESEARCHERS
ARE LOOKING FOR FECES
BECAUSE THE DROPPINGS THAT ARE
SCATTERED UNDER THE NESTS
ALSO CONTAIN
THE FINGERPRINTS OF THE VIRUS.
Narrator: ONLY NESTS
FROM THE PREVIOUS NIGHPROMISE FRESH FECES.
Narrator: THE RESEARCHERS
PUT THE DUNG IN A SPECIAL LIQUID
SO THAT ANY VIRAL MATERIAL
IS PRESERVED.
THEY TAKE THE COORDINATES
WHERE THE DROPPINGS WERE FOUND.
BY METHODICALLY
SEARCHING A VAST AREA
IN THE CENTRAL
AFRICAN RAINFOREST,
THE HOPE IS TO FIND OUT WHERE
EXACTLY HIV WAS TRANSMITTED
FROM CHIMPANZEES TO HUMANS.
BACK IN PHILADELPHIA,
THOUSANDS OF FECAL SAMPLES
FROM WILD LIVING CHIMPANZEES
ARE BEING ANALYZED.
ARE THEY INFECTED WITH A VIRUS
SIMILAR TO HIV?
AND IF SO,
HOW DOES THE GENOME SEQUENCE
OF THEIR VIRUS
RESEMBLE THE HUMAN FORM?
BY IDENTIFYING THE CLOSESRELATIVE OF CHIMP HIV
TO HUMAN HIV,
THE SCIENTISTS CAN FIND OUWHERE THE TRANSMISSION
MUST HAVE TAKEN PLACE.
Beatrice: CHIMPANZEE COMMUNITIES
ARE RELATIVELY STATIONARY
DUE TO NATURAL BOUNDARIES,
LIKE RIVERS,
OR TO HABITAT FRAGMENTATION
THROUGH HUNTING.
THEY STAY PUT,
AND SO THE VIRUSES STAY PUT.
AND SO YOU CAN
COME BACK AND SAY,
THIS IS THE AREA
WITH THE CLOSEST RELATIVE,
HENCE THIS IS THE CRADLE
OF THE PANDEMIC HIV-1.
Narrator: AFTER YEARS
OF DATA COLLECTION,
BEATRICE
HAS NARROWED DOWN THE AREA
WHERE HIV MADE THE JUMP
FROM CHIMPS TO PEOPLE
TO JUST A FEW SQUARE MILES
IN A REMOTE CORNER OF CAMEROON.
GROUND ZERO,
THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE KILLER,
IS MORE THAN A THOUSAND MILES
AWAY FROM KINSHASA.
Dirk: HOW WOULD
THE VIRUS FROM HERE
THEN GOTTEN DOWN TO KINSHASA?
Narrator: THE REMOTE LOCATION
OF GROUND ZERO IS A BIG CLUE.
BUT ALONE IT RAISES
MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS.
IT'S A PLACE
SO CUT OFF FROM THE WORLD
THAT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE
HOW HIV EVER GOT FROM THERE
TO A BIG CITY LIKE KINSHASA.
DIRK WILL RETURN TO ARIZONA
BECAUSE MIKE
HAS DEVELOPED A METHOD
THAT COULD BE CRITICAL
TO SOLVING THE RIDDLE.
MIKE HAS RECEIVED DATA FROM
AN HIV POSITIVE BLOOD SAMPLE
DATING FROM 1959,
WHICH WAS TAKEN FROM THE CONGO
AND SURVIVED IN A FREEZER
IN THE U.S.
IF HE CAN SQUEEZE MORE DATA
OUT OF THE TISSUE BLOCKS,
HE WILL BE ABLE TO HOME IN
ON THE COMMON ANCESTOR
FOR ALL THESE VIRUSES
AND THE TIME
WHEN IT MUST HAVE CIRCULATED--
THE FIRST PATIENOF MORE THAN 70 MILLION
WHO'VE BEEN INFECTED TO DATE.
Worobey:
I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO,
IF WE CAN GET SEQUENCE
FROM SEVERAL MORE OF THESE,
TO PLUG THEM INTO
THE DATING ANALYSES.
Narrator: MIKE ALWAYS FOUND
THE DESERT AROUND TUCSON
INSPIRING.
HE IS NOW CONVINCED
THAT HE CAN PINPOINTHE TIME WHEN HIV EMERGED
TO WITHIN A FEW YEARS.
Worobey: YOU LOOK AT THAT CACTUS
AND YOU ASK, HOW OLD IS IT?
NOTHING LEAPS OUT IMMEDIATELY.
BUT IF WE HAD A PHOTO
FROM TEN YEARS AGO
AND WE COULD COMPARE HOW QUICKLY
THE BRANCHES HAVE GROWN
OVER THAT TEN-YEAR PERIOD,
THAT GIVES US A RATE.
IF IT GROWS AT, SAY,
15, 20 CENTIMETERS PER YEAR,
YOU CAN THEN EXTRAPOLATE BACK
AND SAY, WELL, THAT THING'S
PROBABLY 120 YEARS OLD.
WITH HIV, THOSE FOUR BRANCHES
MIGHT BE SAMPLES FROM THE 1960s.
THE TALL BRANCH MIGHT BE
A RECENT SAMPLE FROM 2013.
THE DIFFERENCE IN HEIGHBETWEEN THOSE
GIVES YOU THE RATE OF EVOLUTION,
WHICH THEN ALLOWS YOU
TO ASSUME THAT SAME RATE
AND GO BACK DOWN
THE COLUMN OF THE CACTUS
BEFORE YOUR EARLIEST SAMPLE
AND ESTIMATE WHEN IT GERMINATED.
Narrator:
THE SEED OF THE EPIDEMIC,
THE VIRUS THAT INFECTED
THE FIRST HUMAN,
THE FIRSOF 70 MILLION VICTIMS,
THE ANCESTOR FROM WHICH
ALL LATER STRAINS OF HIV EVOLVED
IS OVER 100 YEARS OLD.
1908 IS MIKE'S BEST ESTIMATE
FOR THE ORIGIN OF AIDS--
A DISCOVERY THAT RE-WRITES
EVERYTHING WE BELIEVED TO KNOW
ABOUT THE PANDEMIC.
THAT'S SEVEN DECADES
BEFORE PEOPLE STARTED
TO DIE IN THE U.S.,
FIVE DECADES BEFORE KINSHASA
WAS IN THE GRIPS OF AN EPIDEMIC.
BUT WHY EXACTLY THEN?
WHAT ALLOWED A VIRUS
TO LEAP FROM THE JUNGLE
INTO THE WORLD?
CATHERINE COQUERY-VIDROVITCH
IS A HISTORIAN WHO HAS SPENHER WHOLE ACADEMIC CAREER
STUDYING THE REGION
IN CENTRAL AFRICA
WHERE HIV EMERGED.
MAYBE SHE WILL HAVE
ANSWERS FOR DIRK.
BY 1908, EUROPEAN NATIONS HAD
DIVIDED UP THE AFRICAN CONTINENFOR ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION.
FRANCE AND BELGIUM
HAD CARVED OUT CHUNKS
OF THE RESOURCE-RICH TERRITORIES
IN CENTRAL AFRICA.
THE BIRTHPLACE OF HIV
FALLS INTO AN AREA
THAT WAS TAKEN OVER BY FRANCE.
TODAY, THIS IS
THE REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO,
BORDERING CAMEROON.
Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch,
translated: THE FIRST WHITES
ARRIVED IN THE AREA
AT THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY.
Narrator: THEY CAME
FOR THE RICHES OF THE FOREST.
Coquery-Vidrovitch: WHAT COULD
BE EXPLOITED AT THAT TIME
WAS IVORY.
AND THEY CAME
FOR TAPPING RUBBER.
Narrator: AND THEY ALSO
CAME FOR PRECIOUS WOOD,
WORTH A FORTUNE.
Coquery-Vidrovitch: SO, HOW
WOULD THEY EXPLOIT ALL THIS?
HOW WOULD THEY TRANSPORT IWITH NO MONEY?
WITH NO PUBLIC MONEY?
THERE WAS ONLY ONE SOLUTION,
AND THAT WAS TO USE LOCALS
AS PORTERS.
Narrator:
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
WERE FORCED TO WORK AS PORTERS.
AMONG THEM, A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL
RIPPED FROM HIS ISOLATED LIFE
IN THE DEEP JUNGLE,
WHERE HE OR A CLOSE CONTACHAD BUTCHERED AN APE.
IN HIS BLOOD SWIRLED
ONE OF THE FIRST STRAINS OF HIV.
SURROUNDED
BY THOUSANDS OF LABORERS,
THE VIRUS WAS READY TO SPREAD.
AND IT DIDN'T NEED TO WAIT LONG.
HIV SOON GOT HELP
FROM ANOTHER DISEASE.
Coquery-Vidrovitch:
SLEEPING SICKNESS
APPEARED BETWEEN 1900 AND 1910,
WHEN THE SYSTEM
OF FORCED PORTERAGE
REACHED ITS HEIGHT.
Narrator: SLEEPING SICKNESS
IS A HIGHLY INFECTIOUS DISEASE
TRANSMITTED BY THE TSETSE FLY,
AND IT SPREAD LIKE WILD FIRE
AMONG THE FORCED LABORERS.
THE COLONIALISTS RESPONDED WITH
AGGRESSIVE MEDICAL CAMPAIGNS
TO CONTROL
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS.
THEY USED NON-DISPOSABLE
STEEL NEEDLES
TO DIAGNOSE
AND TREAT THE DISEASE.
OFTEN, CLOSE TO 10,000 PEOPLE
WERE TREATED AT A TIME,
WITHOUT PROPER STERILIZATION
OF THE NEEDLES.
IT SEEMS LIKELY THAT EARLY HIV
SPREAD IN PARTHROUGH DIRTY NEEDLES.
NEXT, HIV HITCHES A RIDE THROUGH
A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE
LIKELY BROUGHT TO THE COUNTRY
BY EUROPEANS:
SYPHILIS.
Coquery-Vidrovitch:
WOMEN WERE SEEN AS OBJECTS
TO BE EXPLOITED
FOR LABOR AND FOR SEX,
WITHIN THE FAMILIES,
AND OF COURSE
BY THE FIRST COLONIALISTS.
SO, IF MEN WERE INFECTED,
THEY'D PASS IT ON.
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
SPREAD EXPONENTIALLY.
Narrator: SYPHILIS DECIMATED
THE LOCAL POPULATION.
HAVING OPEN SORES
MAKES TRANSMITTING HIV
400 TIMES MORE LIKELY.
THE CHAOS
OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION
CREATED THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENFOR THE VIRUS TO EXPLODE
FROM AN ISOLATED CORNER
OF THE JUNGLE
TO A LARGER POPULATION.
BY 1930,
IT WAS WELL ON ITS WAY.
ALL IT NEEDED NOW
WAS A TICKET OUT OF AFRICA.
Dirk:
THE VIRUS WAS VERY FORTUNATE
TO HAVE REACHED KINSHASA,
TO HAVE COME
AT A CROSSROAD OF TURMOIL.
ONE AFTER THE OTHER,
A SUCCESSION OF DISASTERS,
AND THAT DEFINITELY GAVE IA PASSPORT TO TRAVEL THE WORLD.
Narrator: WE HAVE AT LASTRACED THE AIDS PANDEMIC
BACK TO ITS VERY BEGINNINGS.
THE SANGHA RIVER IN CAMEROON.
THIS IS THE VERY SPOWHERE DIRK BELIEVES
HIV BEGAN ITS FATEFUL JOURNEY
OUT OF THE JUNGLE.
JUST LIKE A CENTURY AGO,
FOREIGN COMPANIES STILL PILLAGE
THE RICHES OF THE RAINFOREST,
PRECIOUS WOODS
SHIPPED OFF TO THE U.S.,
TO EUROPE, AND CHINA,
WITH LITTLE IN RETURN.
THOUSANDS OF MIGRANT LABORERS
STILL TOIL
FOR THE LOGGING COMPANIES.
AND WITH NO OTHER
FOOD AVAILABLE,
SLAUGHTERING BUSH MEAT IS STILL
AN IMPORTANT WAY TO SURVIVE.
IT'S THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENT FOR
ANOTHER KILLER VIRUS TO EMERGE--
AGAIN, ONE WE MIGHT NOT NOTICE
BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
A RESEARCH TEAM
MAKES THE TWO-DAY TREK
TO THIS REMOTE OUTPOSAS OFTEN AS THEY CAN.
ARMY MEDIC
DR. EITEL MPOUDI-NGOLE
HAS COME TO DRAW BLOOD
FROM PEOPLE
THAT LIVE IN THE EXACT SPOWHERE 100 YEARS AGO
THE AIDS VIRUS FIRST APPEARED...
BECAUSE HE SUSPECTS
ANOTHER DEADLY VIRUS
MAY BE BREEDING HERE.
Mpoudi-Ngole, translated:
EMERGING DISEASES
THAT SPREAD
FROM ANIMALS TO HUMANS
ARE A MAJOR THREAT TO HUMANITY.
IT'S A MAJOR
PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM.
THERE ARE MANY NEW DISEASES.
INTER-SPECIES TRANSMISSIONS
ARE ON THE RISE--
GERMS PASSING BETWEEN
HUMANS AND ANIMALS.
THESE INTER-SPECIES
TRANSMISSIONS
CAN CAUSE NEW EPIDEMICS.
THEY THREATEN PRACTICALLY
THE WHOLE POPULATION
BECAUSE HUNTING
IS A MAJOR ACTIVITY HERE.
Narrator:
UP TO 10% OF THE PEOPLE HERE
SHOW SIGNS OF VIRUSES
IN THEIR BLOODSTREAMS
THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN SEEN
IN HUMANS BEFORE.
THIS COULD BE THE BEGINNING
OF THE NEXT PANDEMIC.
Beatrice: YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT WE DO TO NATURE
AND WHAT THE RESULTS
AND CONSEQUENCES ARE.
AND ONE ASPECT OF THAIS THAT WE, THROUGH OUR ACTIONS,
OPEN UP NEW NICHES AND AVENUES
AND NEW WAYS OF EXPOSURE
TO PATHOGENS THAWE WERE NOT EXPOSED TO BEFORE.
Narrator: HIV EXPLOITED THE
CHAOS OF COLONIALISM IN AFRICA
TO SPREAD UNNOTICED
FOR ALMOST A CENTURY.
AND WHEN WE FINALLY
WOKE UP IN THE 1980s,
MORE PRECIOUS TIME WAS LOSBY BLAMING THE WRONG PEOPLE
FOR THE WRONG REASONS.
Piot: WE WASTED SO MUCH TIME
IN DEALING WITH HIV,
AND WE COULD HAVE DONE
SO MUCH MORE--
FIRST OF ALL BY RECOGNIZING
THAT WE HAD A PROBLEM.
IF, IN THE '80s,
AT THE BEGINNING
OF THE EPIDEMIC,
WE WOULD HAVE HAD A MASSIVE
EFFORT OF THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY,
EVEN IN THE ABSENCE OF DRUGS,
WE WOULD HAVE SAVED
MILLIONS OF LIVES.
Narrator: UNDERSTANDING
WHERE AIDS CAME FROM,
HOW AND WHY IT SPREAD
IS CRITICAL
FOR OUR FUTURE SURVIVAL.
WHEN THE NEXT PANDEMIC
BREAKS OUT,
KNOWING ITS TACTICS
COULD BE THE BEST CHANCE
WE HAVE TO DEFEAT IT.
Worobey:
HIV IS JUST ONE EVENT,
ONE THING THAT'S HAPPENED.
IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THE LASVIRUS THAT JUMPS INTO HUMANS.
THERE MAY BE SOMETHING ELSE
THAT'S CIRCULATING
IN A FEW PEOPLE RIGHT NOW
THAT MIGHT BE THE NEXT HIV.
Narrator: THIS IS WHY DIRK
KEEPS THE TISSUE SAMPLES
LIKE THE ONES THAT HAVE GIVEN US
SUCH AN INTIMATE INSIGHINTO ONE OF THE BIGGESKILLERS OF OUR TIMES, HIV,
LOCKED UP IN A BANK SAFE
IN BELGIUM--
SO FUTURE GENERATIONS CAN
ONCE AGAIN TURN TO THESE SAMPLES
IN THEIR FIGHT AGAINSTHE UNKNOWN ENEMY.
Dirk: WELL, IT IS SOMETHING
OF THE FUTURE,
BECAUSE VIRUSES NOW HAVE
NOT ONLY THE OPPORTUNITY
TO JUMP SPECIES VERY EASILY
BECAUSE WE CONTINUOUSLY
INTRUDE IN THEIR HABITAT.
BUT ON TOP, VIRUSES
TRAVEL THE WORLD IN 24 HOURS.
WE SHOULD BE VERY HUMBLE
TOWARDS NATURE.
AND I THINK THAT'S
THE MAJOR LESSON.
IF WE FORGET THIS,
THAT WOULD BE SO DEVASTATING FOR
OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.