-Caveat Lector- >From Agence France Presse (via Yahoo!) "" "Chimpanzees are identical to humans in over 98 percent of their hereditary material, yet they appear to be resistant to the damaging effects of the AIDS virus on the immune system," said George Shaw, a co-author of the UAB paper also published in the British journal Nature. "" French-led team warns new AIDS virus may enter human population CHICAGO, Feb 1 (AFP) - A French-led research team provided fresh evidence here Monday that the AIDS virus was transmitted to humans from African monkeys and warned that a new strain will enter the human population or may have already done so. Appearing at an AIDS conference here, Francois Simon, of the International Medical Research Center of Franceville (IMRCF) in Gabon, outlined research on four new simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) strains identified in three monkey species in that central African country. The research backed up a just-released study by Alabama scientists suggesting that HIV-1, the human immunodeficiency virus strain that causes most of the AIDS cases around the world, came to humans from a west African subspecies of the common chimpanzee. Simon said HIV-1 and a less common strain known as HIV-2 had unique genome structures and were more closely related to the SIVcpz found in chimpanzees and the SIVsm virus found in sooty mangabeys respectively than to each other. The two viruses entered the human population as a result of cross-species transmission of the SIVcpz in central Africa and SIVsm in west Africa, according to IMRCF researchers here. This most likely occurred "by direct contact with infected blood during hunting and butchering of wild animals, preparation of meat for cooking or scratches/bites by pet monkeys or apes," they noted. Increased logging in west-central Africa has increased access to remote forest areas and spurred the commercial killings of thousands of chimpanzees, gorillas and monkeys, they added. "Such contact may increase the likelihood that an HIV-3 will enter the human population or has already done so," said Simon, who pointed out that cross-species transmission had occurred on multiple occasions in the evolution of primate viruses. Simon said the four new SIV strains identified in Gabon were found on two red-capped mangabeys, one mandrill and one drill. The four monkeys had been caught in the wild as juveniles and are housed in the Limbe zoo of west Cameroon. He noted that the natural habitat of the sooty mangabey is west Africa, where the majority of HIV-2 infections have been found. Speaking at the AIDS conference's opening session Sunday, Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama at Birmingham detailed research naming a chimpanzee subspecies (Pan troglodytes trogolodytes) of west-central Africa as the primary source of HIV-1. "It took us 20 years to find where HIV-1 came from, only to realize that the very animal species that harbors it is at the brink of extinction," she noted. "We cannot afford to lose these animals, either from an animal conservation or a medical investigative standpoint." "Chimpanzees are identical to humans in over 98 percent of their hereditary material, yet they appear to be resistant to the damaging effects of the AIDS virus on the immune system," said George Shaw, a co-author of the UAB paper also published in the British journal Nature. "By studying the biological reasons for this difference, we may be able to obtain important clues concerning the pathogenic basis of HIV-1 in humans and possibly new strategies for treating the disease more effectively," he added. The earliest trace of the AIDS virus dates back to 1959, when it was found in a blood sample from an infected person in western Central Africa. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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