Chimps lead way to HIV birthplace.The global AIDS epidemic originated in chimpanzees living in southeastern Cameroon, a viral analysis confirms. An international team of scientists analyzed 599 fecal specimens from 10 forest sites in Cameroon and found evidence of simian immunodeficiency virus Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is a retrovirus that is found, in numerous strains, in primates; the specific strains infecting humans are HIV-1 and HIV-2, the viruses that cause AIDS. The origin of HIV is now generally attributed to SIV from African primates. (SIV SIV simian immunodeficiency virus. ), the direct precursor of the AIDS virus AIDS virus n. See HIV. , HIV-1. In 1999, Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama at Birmingham UAB began in 1936 as the Birmingham Extension Center of the University of Alabama. Because of the rapid growth of the Birmingham area, it was decided that an extension program for students who had difficulties which prevented them from studying in Tuscaloosa was needed. detected SIV in caged chimpanzees from western Africa (SN: 2/6/99, p. 84) but didn't pinpoint the virus' wild habitat. Her group's new study, which will be published in an upcoming Science, finally does that. "We said west-central Africa, but that's pretty big," says Hahn. Her group has since located the cradle of the pandemic pandemic /pan·dem·ic/ (pan-dem´ik) 1. a widespread epidemic of a disease. 2. widely epidemic. pan·dem·ic adj. Epidemic over a wide geographic area. n. strain of HIV-1, which causes more than 99 percent of AIDS cases. Scientists propose that a hunter contracted the virus and carried it out of the area about 70 years ago. The virus probably made its way into urban Kinshasa via the Sangha River, a trade route into the Congo basin, before stretching abroad. Though SW doesn't seem to harm apes, says Hahn, studying the virus in wild chimps might explain why the pandemic strain of HW-1 is spreading in people.--E.J. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion