Evidence for human infection with an HTLV III/LAV-like virus in Central Africa, 1959.

Order of authorship in the original paper: Nahmias, Weiss, Yao...Kanki, Essex. The authors presented evidence for the first or earliest infection with HIV in a human. This paper reported on a patient from Kinshasa, Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Africa, now known to be the epicenter of this zoonotic pandemic. The patient also had antibodies to the African Green monkey immunodeficiency virus, providing pivotal support for the simian immunodeficiency virus origins of HIV, an aspect of HIV later confirmed.