Source of AIDS

The latest findings suggest that chimpanzees in south-east Cameroon were the source of AIDS, and that people first contracted the virus as long ago as 1930:

A virus called SIVcpz (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus from chimps) was thought to be the source, but had only been found in a few captive animals.

Now, an international team of scientists has identified a natural reservoir of SIVcpz in animals living in the wild….

It is thought that people hunting chimpanzees first contracted the virus – and that cases were first seen in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo – the nearest urban area – in 1930.

Scientists believe the rareness of cases – and the fact that symptoms of Aids differ significantly between individuals – explains why it was another 50 years before the virus was named. […]

Chimpanzees in south-east Cameroon were found to have the viruses most similar to the form of HIV that has spread throughout the world.

The researchers say that, as well as solving the mystery about the origin of the virus, the findings open up avenues for future research.

But SIVcpz has not been found to cause any Aids-like illnesses in chimpanzees, so researchers are investigating why the animals do not suffer any symptoms, when humans – who are so genetically similar – do.

Paul Sharp, professor of genetics at the University of Nottingham said: “It is likely that the jump between chimps and humans occurred in south-east Cameroon – and that virus then spread across the world.

“When you consider that HIV probably originated more than 75 years ago, it is most unlikely that there are any viruses out there that will prove to be more closely related to the human virus.”

This rather buggers up the theory that AIDS crossed over from chimps in the late Fifties due to contaminated polio vaccines.