How will the tragedy of the HIV epidemic effect human evolution?

trueuniverse

I believe I read the Black Death or Black Plague that effected Europe created a noticeable genetic bottlenecking in Europeans. HIV is still relatively new, but has anyone heard or have any ideas how HIV may effect human genetics and culture?

Avid

The HIV-Aids thing will be a little different. It is primarily spread around by people sleeping around (instead of rats and fleas) so basically those that have less sex have a much smaller chance of being affected by it. Exceptions being rapes, botched blood transfusions (rarely occurs anymore), and some other occurence I might not have listed.

Even if they do find a way to cure it though the people in less advanced countries will be out of luck for a while.

mgb_phys

So those that have the disease and have some resistance to it allowing them to have and raise children should be more likely to pass on that resistance?
Syphillis is sexually transmitted and has greatly reduced in lethality in the few centuries since it hit the west.

The nasty effect is going to come if/when the HIV virus evolves the ability to live in mosquitos for long enough to be transmitted person/person. It's a good job there is no such thing as evolution in the southern USA.

Avid

Well, naturally those with the stronger genes will live and reproduce (duh) but even people with less than resilient genes will have better chances of survival if they avoid contracting HIV-Aids in the first place while it is semi possible to avoid.

I have also been worried about how the virus will evolve. If/when the virus did evlove to where it was transmitted by mosquitos or fleas the world would definitely become a genes race unless some measures were taken and it wasn't too widely spread by the time they realized that was the cause.

I thought this was going to be a friendly homework help forum....(I'm originally from the middle-north USA but moved due to a death in the family).