New York, November 25, 2014 – In the early 1980s a mysterious virus appeared to emerge on the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Its earliest victims were young gay men. What followed were years of fear, confusion and ignorance that only compounded the threat of HIV, which even today remains the biggest viral killer worldwide. Now, in RISE OF THE KILLER VIRUS, premiering on World AIDS Day, Monday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel, a scientific investigation reveals the true origins of AIDS. Where it came from, how it spread, and how the first true HIV hot zone was not in America, but thousands of miles and an ocean away in central Africa. It’s a story that holds powerful lessons for the current Ebola crisis and the emergence of the next deadly virus.