New form of HIV found?

NEW YORK -- In the African country of Cameroon, some people have been turning up with what look like symptoms of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. HIV is the microbe that causes AIDS. However, when given a test for HIV, none of the patients tested positive for it.

Doctors fear that the people have contracted a new virus similar to HIV. If the new virus spreads, it could worsen the already serious AIDS pandemic, said researchers at a conference last summer. A pandemic is an outbreak of disease over a wide geographic area.

Scientists believe that HIV originally appeared in wild animals. It may then have passed to people who had eaten the flesh of infected animals. If a new HIV-like virus has appeared, it might have been passed to people in the same way.

Overhunting of wild animals is a growing problem in some parts of Africa. Hunters have access to more efficient weapons, and profits from killing wild animals for meat can be huge. But the widening slaughter is pushing some species to the verge of extinction and may be hastening the transmission of animal diseases to humans, said scientists at the conference.

Researchers also reported that another animal virus, simian foamy virus, has been found in people in Africa. It was detected in hunters who killed monkeys for meat. The virus appears to be benign (harmless) but could mutate into something dangerous. "Basically, this is a virus looking for a disease," said William Karesh of the World Conservation Society.