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Virus Hunt: The Search for the Origin of HIV
In Virus Hunt, renowned virologist Dorothy H. Crawford takes us inside one of the great research quests of our time--the search for the origin of AIDS.
From hospital intensive care wards to research laboratories to the African rain forests, Crawford follows the trail of the virus back to its roots deep in Africa. We track wild monkeys and apes through the jungle--gathering their DNA via hair and feces samples--to discover from which primates HIV first jumped to our species, ultimately concluding that the most virulent strain, HIV-1, came from chimpanzees in Cameroon. We then time travel back to colonial Africa around the turn of the 20th century, when the virus first spread to humans. But even the rapidly mutating HIV could not survive in one person long enough to adapt to our immune system. Crawford shows that it may have been given the opportunity to adapt by being transmitted rapidly from one person to the next through unsterile syringes, ironically used during a campaign to wipe out disease by mass inoculation. The book then moves to Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), where Crawford describes the unique series of social upheavals,
starting in the 1920s, that sparked epidemic levels of sexually transmitted diseases, allowed HIV-1 to begin its exponential growth. And when in the 1960s chance took the virus abroad to Haiti, from where it jumped to the United States, its pandemic spread began.
Crawford tells a gripping story of brilliant scientific sleuthing, breakthrough discoveries, tragic errors, stubborn intractable mysteries, generous collaborations, and bitter disputes. And along the way, she conveys, with a light and engaging touch, a wealth of interesting observations about viruses, DNA, disease, immune systems, the very latest research methods, and of course HIV.
From hospital intensive care wards to research laboratories to the African rain forests, Crawford follows the trail of the virus back to its roots deep in Africa. We track wild monkeys and apes through the jungle--gathering their DNA via hair and feces samples--to discover from which primates HIV first jumped to our species, ultimately concluding that the most virulent strain, HIV-1, came from chimpanzees in Cameroon. We then time travel back to colonial Africa around the turn of the 20th century, when the virus first spread to humans. But even the rapidly mutating HIV could not survive in one person long enough to adapt to our immune system. Crawford shows that it may have been given the opportunity to adapt by being transmitted rapidly from one person to the next through unsterile syringes, ironically used during a campaign to wipe out disease by mass inoculation. The book then moves to Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), where Crawford describes the unique series of social upheavals,
starting in the 1920s, that sparked epidemic levels of sexually transmitted diseases, allowed HIV-1 to begin its exponential growth. And when in the 1960s chance took the virus abroad to Haiti, from where it jumped to the United States, its pandemic spread began.
Crawford tells a gripping story of brilliant scientific sleuthing, breakthrough discoveries, tragic errors, stubborn intractable mysteries, generous collaborations, and bitter disputes. And along the way, she conveys, with a light and engaging touch, a wealth of interesting observations about viruses, DNA, disease, immune systems, the very latest research methods, and of course HIV.
260 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
7 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy H. Crawford
15 books42 followersDorothy H. Crawford is professor of medical microbiology and assistant principal for public understanding of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. She has written a number of books on viruses.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 12, 2020
Not my cup of tea. Too much inside baseball on viral genome. The book hints at some things that would have been interesting like the role of dirty needles in the origin of the pandemic, but does not generally follow through on social and environmental conditions and how they influence the evolution of the virus or the progress of the pandemic. For example, at the end I could recall nothing about condoms and could not find the word in the index (although HAART and vaccines do appear).
Also, for the things I know about, the explanations are sketchy. For example, when discussing SARS, the author states "screening of the relevant population [with an antibody test] showed that only those who had suffered from SARS had antibodies to this new coronavirus, thus incriminating it as the cause of the disease." First of all, in the context of how do we know if a germ causes a disease, this is circular reasoning. More importantly, it's misleading. What was most interesting about the seroprevalence studies with SARS was that people in the market animal trade were antibody-positive but had not been sick. This was important for trying to understand what made SARS become deadly.
Also, for the things I know about, the explanations are sketchy. For example, when discussing SARS, the author states "screening of the relevant population [with an antibody test] showed that only those who had suffered from SARS had antibodies to this new coronavirus, thus incriminating it as the cause of the disease." First of all, in the context of how do we know if a germ causes a disease, this is circular reasoning. More importantly, it's misleading. What was most interesting about the seroprevalence studies with SARS was that people in the market animal trade were antibody-positive but had not been sick. This was important for trying to understand what made SARS become deadly.
March 25, 2017
It’s been a little too long since I read this for me to review it effectively, but I definitely found it a fascinating read. Not only does it go into the various theories of how AIDs hopped between primates and humans, but it goes into the evidence for that in terms of the different strains of HIV — and their virulence in humans. There’s a lot of data here, and I think it could be overwhelming for someone who isn’t that interesting, but I found it fascinating.
If you’re looking for a social history of the disease, this isn’t where you want to look, though. It’s very much about the virology: tracking down the point of zoonosis, and figuring out how the various SIVs are related to our HIVs. It even illuminates the fact that there are various strains of HIV in the human population, something I didn’t actually know — I was under the impression that HIV jumped to humans once, and that one strain spread widely. Instead, there are actually some differing strains, with differing degrees of virulence.
All in all, pretty darn fascinating, as long as you’re ready for a wild epidemiological ride. Makes a very good supplement to the less technical view of David Quammen’s Spillover and the way it covered HIV.
Originally posted on my blog.
If you’re looking for a social history of the disease, this isn’t where you want to look, though. It’s very much about the virology: tracking down the point of zoonosis, and figuring out how the various SIVs are related to our HIVs. It even illuminates the fact that there are various strains of HIV in the human population, something I didn’t actually know — I was under the impression that HIV jumped to humans once, and that one strain spread widely. Instead, there are actually some differing strains, with differing degrees of virulence.
All in all, pretty darn fascinating, as long as you’re ready for a wild epidemiological ride. Makes a very good supplement to the less technical view of David Quammen’s Spillover and the way it covered HIV.
Originally posted on my blog.
November 30, 2019
“Viruses that succeed in transferring to, and surviving in, a new host generally undergo a period of rapid adaptation. During this time, their fitness improves, meaning that they hone their survival skills so that they can infect, evade host immunity, and spread between the new hosts more efficiently.”
November 18, 2015
I gave up on this so it's a little bit of a misnomer to claim I read it. Way too technical and in the weeds about the genetic and evolutionary history of viruses. Not nearly enough story. The Tinderbox is a much better exploration of the history of HIV and AIDS.
March 17, 2025
Very interesting! Maybe a bit too into the weeds on genes, and found the structure a bit odd. I liked it.
January 1, 2017
Without a good working knowledge of virology it can be a quite challenging read at times, but it is well worth it. As the author summarises it: "With well over two million people still becoming infected with HIV-1 annually, those of us alive today will probably never know just how devastating the final outcome and global impact of the pandemic will be because we will not live to see it. But by understanding where, how, when, and why the virus evolved and spread among us, we can surely work to prevent the next one."
July 29, 2018
Quite technical. If you get put off in the early chapters skip through to chapter 6, the book is less technical and more interesting at this point.
October 4, 2022
The last chapter was about pandemics and this book was published in 2013, so that was interesting! An enjoyable read
January 28, 2024
Like a puzzle this book pieced together modern biological methods abd evolutionary trees to show the the spread of HIV worldwide and among species.
June 29, 2013
I received an electronic advanced reading copy of this new book from the publisher via Net Galley.
Other books, such as "And the Band Played On" have well-covered the story of HIV and AIDS breaking into public consciousness throughout the world in the early 1980s, its social and political effects, and the response of the medical and scientific community. Here, however, the focus is on the actual appearance of HIV in the world - long before we humans were aware of its existence. Where in Africa did HIV come from? When did it first arise to infect humans? How did it get from a virus that infects monkeys and apes to one that infects humans? I have even heard people ask, "If HIV is gotten through sex, then that means someone must have had sex with a monkey at some point!" Well, this is untrue, so if you ever thought something like this, then please please do read this book. These are the questions addressed by Crawford, and their answers have ramifications both for how AIDS seemed to suddenly spring out of nowhere into our human lives and for how we should consider future viral pandemics.
The answers to those questions take the reader through chapters that blend medicine, science, ecology, evolution, and the sociopolitical history of West-Central Africa. Unless you are already an expert on the latest scientific findings on the origin of the HIV, you will probably learn a great deal that is new. The book begins by briefly introducing and dispelling one of several misconceptions or 'mis-informations' about AIDS, namely the erroneous assertion that AIDS is not caused by HIV. Crawford then introduces the topic of related viruses that infect are evolutionary relatives (the simian immunodeficiency viruses or SIVs) and begins to set the stage for explaining how we know where AIDS generally comes from. She then focuses in with each chapter to address more specific matters that recent scientific experiments have brought to light, such as what kind of ape the different types of HIV variants came from, down to the specific area and people who were likely the first infected back around the early 1900s, approximately. The book concludes with a molecular discussion of HIV and how that relates to its origins and dissemination and a final discussion on the nature of viral pandemics in general, with future prospects considered.
The copy I read is an unfinished proof, and I assume misprints will be caught and changed. However, the start of the book in particular was hard to get into due to some very awkward sentence structures and several sentences that were vague or grammatically problematic. Beyond the first chapter this issue went away, and it may not even be a problem in the final product.
Crawford knows the material, and she does a fine job of distinctly conveying information that we know as scientific fact from that which leads to educated guesses or downright conjecture. However, her familiarity with the material may also be an impediment for the general reader who does not have any prior knowledge of virology or HIV. Many concepts are discussed in bits throughout the book, only being completely explained later, and many of the more scientific sections can be daunting and dry to read for a nonspecialist (such as the myriad SIV and HIV variants and subtle - though important - differences). Her writing becomes far less technical and more 'natural' sounding when she discusses matters outside of direct virology, such as history or anecdotes.
I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in HIV or those curious to learn just how a virus can go from being in a population of non-human primates for centuries, only to cross suddenly into the human population with devastating consequences decades later. If you are concerned if just such an event could happen again then there could be no better volume to read, despite its detailed technical portions.
Other books, such as "And the Band Played On" have well-covered the story of HIV and AIDS breaking into public consciousness throughout the world in the early 1980s, its social and political effects, and the response of the medical and scientific community. Here, however, the focus is on the actual appearance of HIV in the world - long before we humans were aware of its existence. Where in Africa did HIV come from? When did it first arise to infect humans? How did it get from a virus that infects monkeys and apes to one that infects humans? I have even heard people ask, "If HIV is gotten through sex, then that means someone must have had sex with a monkey at some point!" Well, this is untrue, so if you ever thought something like this, then please please do read this book. These are the questions addressed by Crawford, and their answers have ramifications both for how AIDS seemed to suddenly spring out of nowhere into our human lives and for how we should consider future viral pandemics.
The answers to those questions take the reader through chapters that blend medicine, science, ecology, evolution, and the sociopolitical history of West-Central Africa. Unless you are already an expert on the latest scientific findings on the origin of the HIV, you will probably learn a great deal that is new. The book begins by briefly introducing and dispelling one of several misconceptions or 'mis-informations' about AIDS, namely the erroneous assertion that AIDS is not caused by HIV. Crawford then introduces the topic of related viruses that infect are evolutionary relatives (the simian immunodeficiency viruses or SIVs) and begins to set the stage for explaining how we know where AIDS generally comes from. She then focuses in with each chapter to address more specific matters that recent scientific experiments have brought to light, such as what kind of ape the different types of HIV variants came from, down to the specific area and people who were likely the first infected back around the early 1900s, approximately. The book concludes with a molecular discussion of HIV and how that relates to its origins and dissemination and a final discussion on the nature of viral pandemics in general, with future prospects considered.
The copy I read is an unfinished proof, and I assume misprints will be caught and changed. However, the start of the book in particular was hard to get into due to some very awkward sentence structures and several sentences that were vague or grammatically problematic. Beyond the first chapter this issue went away, and it may not even be a problem in the final product.
Crawford knows the material, and she does a fine job of distinctly conveying information that we know as scientific fact from that which leads to educated guesses or downright conjecture. However, her familiarity with the material may also be an impediment for the general reader who does not have any prior knowledge of virology or HIV. Many concepts are discussed in bits throughout the book, only being completely explained later, and many of the more scientific sections can be daunting and dry to read for a nonspecialist (such as the myriad SIV and HIV variants and subtle - though important - differences). Her writing becomes far less technical and more 'natural' sounding when she discusses matters outside of direct virology, such as history or anecdotes.
I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in HIV or those curious to learn just how a virus can go from being in a population of non-human primates for centuries, only to cross suddenly into the human population with devastating consequences decades later. If you are concerned if just such an event could happen again then there could be no better volume to read, despite its detailed technical portions.
September 14, 2013
I liked the factual, data driven, even handed quality of the writing in addition to the core benefit of being a little more informed about HIV, pandemics in general and related topics. If one is not very inclined to following the logic of genetic decoding the going gets sloggy at times... I found myself skimming. So, recommended for the valuable content, but a little less so for general readability.
Considering how high profile the scourge of HIV has been in our times, it was a relief to read a summary that steered clear of politics, moralizing and other distracting takes that could otherwise interfere with actual understanding. I really appreciated the author's commitment to a reasoned, scientific assessment of the history and evolution of HIV.
Considering how high profile the scourge of HIV has been in our times, it was a relief to read a summary that steered clear of politics, moralizing and other distracting takes that could otherwise interfere with actual understanding. I really appreciated the author's commitment to a reasoned, scientific assessment of the history and evolution of HIV.
July 29, 2025
Incredible book. I learned so much. Very specific to what I would like but it told a story that was easy to follow. I know about HIV, yet while reading the book I was suspenseful to learn about the findings
March 20, 2014
This is an enjoyable, and entirely readable science book describing the extraordinary strides made by medical and evolutionary scientists to uncover the origins of HIV in recent years.
My understanding HIV and its origins is entirely revolutionized by this book. A must read for anyone interested in medical detective work.
My understanding HIV and its origins is entirely revolutionized by this book. A must read for anyone interested in medical detective work.
March 7, 2014
This is a terrific book if you don't mind detailed science writing. I suspect it will come off as tedious if you don't already think that viruses and cell biology are fascinating.
March 3, 2014
I'm such a nerd. I was intrigued by this book. I remember this AIDS scare and friends writing research reports on this topic in high school. So interesting.
October 8, 2015
Fantastic!!! Had to read it twice as it was more advanced than I was expecting (terminology mostly) however it was otherwise an amazing journey to the origin of hiv... Highly recommended!!!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews