Anyone here know A LOT about HIV?

[I was bad]

I was very curious after having an exposure and then testing negative about HIV and where it exactly came from, and how it got to the U.S.  I've heard about a million people have HIV-1 in the U.S. but when I heard that HIV-2 in the U.S. is rare I was confused.  

How is HIV-2 so rare in the United States when all types of HIV supposedly came from Africa?

How did HIV-1 get here and infect people but HIV-2 is so much rarer?

Wouldnt one think if HIV-1 came to the U.S. from Africa then HIV-2 would do the same and be just as common?  I'm kinda confused but eager to know.  Thanks!

[regularjoey]

No, 1% is a lot.  But HIV-1 infections probably have over 10% prevalence in those same countries.  That's a whole different scale...

[Teak]

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/docs/F8ABA3D3-E6A0-42AC-A801-8F06B6EBD4C7.asp

http://www.avert.org/aafrica.htm

Which countries have a high prevalence* of HIV-2 infection?

HIV-2 infections are predominantly found in Africa. West African nations with a prevalence of HIV-2 of more than 1% in the general population are Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Other West African countries reporting HIV-2 are Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, São Tomé, Senegal, and Togo. Angola and Mozambique are other African nations where the prevalence of HIV-2 is more than 1%.

Now joey you want to still say it is not that common in Africa?
If it weren't for HIV 1, then there would not been a reason to have extensive research on Human Immunodeficiency Virus period.

[regularjoey]

HIV-2 is not that common in Africa either, not nearly as much as HIV-1.
If it wasn't for HIV-1 people probably wouldn't even know what HIV-2 is.

[Teak]

This is an HIV support forum, not a history forum for HIV. I'm sure you can find out by goggling HIV history and read all about it.