THE 21ST CENTURY IS NOT TURNING OUT AS I’D HOPED: Doctors raise alarm about ancient HTLV-1 virus: ‘Prevalence is off the charts’ in Australia. “HTLV-1 — an ancient virus whose DNA can be found in 1,500-year-old Andean mummies — can spread from mother to child, particularly through breastfeeding; between sexual partners, through unprotected sex; and by blood contact, such as through transfusions. Because it can be transmitted through sex, it’s considered a sexually transmitted infection, or STI. The virus is associated with myriad serious health problems, such as diseases of the nervous system and a lung-damaging condition called bronchiectasis, and it weakens the immune system. HTLV-1 is sometimes called a cousin of the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV.”

HIV used to be called HTLV-III.