Important note: Information in this article was accurate in February 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, February 7, 2000
Prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports
HIV's cousin in non-human primates, SIV (simian immunodeficiency syndrome), has been reported in 27 primate species. Scientists think that HIV-1 and HIV-2 were introduced into human populations by chimpanzees and the sooty mangabey, respectively, in at least 7 separate transmission events.
Beatrice H. Hahn, University of Alabama, Birmingham, and colleagues there and at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the University of Nottingham, UK, discussed how African primate species constitute potential reservoirs for the family of retroviruses that includes HIV, and how HIV may have crossed species lines in the early 20th century to take up infectious residence in humans.
The social factors behind the rise of AIDS as an epidemic, as well as the possibility of recombination of HIV with other primate retroviruses in the future, make a thorough understanding of the past and future of HIV a crucial matter of public health, they believe.
The Hahn et al. review in Science was titled "AIDS as a zoonosis: scientific and public health implications.", Science 2000 Jan 28;287(5453):607-14
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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