Although the new epidemic that would eventually be named Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized as a disease in 1981, we now know that human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) probably jumped from chimpanzees to humans during the late 1600s. The first actually confirmed death from HIV was in 1959, when a man died in the Congo in Africa. This was confirmed by analyzing samples of his blood in a recent test. To look at HIV's history in more detail, click on the links above.