AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Fri, 18 Jan 2002

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Fri, 18 Jan 2002
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NOTE: The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report will not be published Monday, 
Jan. 21, in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. The 
Report will resume publishing on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

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Scientists Find Wild Tanzanian Chimp With Simian Immunodeficiency Vi-
rus, Advance Search for HIV Origin

AIDS researchers have discovered simian immunodeficiency virus, an 
HIV-like virus, for the first time in the wild in a Tanzanian chim-
panzee, the AP/New York Times reports (AP/New York Times, 1/18). The 
findings "bolster" the theory that HIV originated in chimps, Dr. Bea-
trice Hahn, a molecular geneticist at the University of Alabama-
Birmingham, said in her report that appears in today's issue of the 
journal Science. After discovering SIVcpz -- a chimp strain of the 
virus "closely resembl[ing]" HIV -- in a captive chimp in 1999, Hahn 
reported that AIDS "most likely got its start when the virus leapt 
from apes to man in West Central Africa" (Sternberg, USA Today, 
1/18). Hahn's critics, however, "rightfully pointed out" that Hahn 
had "no clue" about what was happening in the wild (Norton, Reuters 
Health, 1/17). 

SIV in the Wild

Hahn and her team tested 58 chimpanzees for SIV in the Ivory Coast, 
Uganda and Tanzania by collecting the chimps' feces and urine, "a way 
to test wild chimpanzees ... without touching them." The chimp who 
tested SIV-positive, which belongs to the subspecies Pan troglodytes 
schweinfurthii, lives in the Kasakela chimp community in Gombe Na-
tional Park. Although subspecies Pan troglodytes troglodytes, found 
mostly in western African and the species from which SIVcpz was iso-
lated, is "believed to have passed SIV on to a human being," Hahn 
tested the east African chimpanzees because, after years of being 
studied by primatologist Jane Goodall, they "tolerat[e]" human ob-
servers. The SIV found in the Gombe chimp was "30% different, as 
measured by amino acid sequences, from the virus detected in captive 
animals of the subspecies Pan troglodytes troglodytes" (Brown, Wash-
ington Post, 1/18). The genetic difference in the two strains "ruled 
out" east African chimps as the source of HIV, Hahn said (New York 
Times, 1/18). 

Troglodytes Challenge

Researchers will now begin the more difficult task of collecting sam-
ples from wild P. troglodytes troglodytes, which are rarely seen by 
humans. "I believe that the chimps are a fantastic model for us -- 
more fantastic than ever, in fact. They got it by cross-species 
transmission, just like we did, but they have gotten to the point 
where it seems they can live with it," Hahn said. Researchers have 
reported finding SIV in about 30 species of captive chimps, sometimes 
infecting up to 30% of the population but causing "little or no ill-
ness." Although the infected chimp, who will continue to be observed 
"over time," has had "many sexual encounters," no other chimps were 
found to be infected (Washington Post, 1/18).

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The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, 
a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National 
Journal Group Inc. © 2002 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser 
Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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