Reality
In late 1959 cases of a disease that was later to be named Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) jumped the species barrier from Chimpanzee's(Pan troglodytes troglodytes) to humans in southern Congo. HIV causes the disease acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS.
AIDS is now a pandemic. In 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and it killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children. Over three-quarters of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and destroying human capital.
POD the disease jumps the species barrier not in late 1950's but in the late 1980's.
Due to the advanced biological detection techniques in the 1980's and 1990's the disease is picked up quickly in Africa. within five years it is known how it is transmitted and precautions taken with blood banks and testing become regular for pregnant women in southern and western Africa.
The disease appears first in the USA in 1994 in a merchent sailor who had worked out of Cape Town, South Africa. Both him and his wife are infected. Knowing how transmittable HIV/AIDS are scientists in the USA start development of anti virals, these are developed in 1998.
by 2002 HIV/AIDS have been reclassified from a probable terminal disease (with life expectance from 6 to 19 months) to a chronic disease (with a life expectance of over 15 years).
due to the knowledge of HIV/AIDS lots of famous people do not become infected from it these include