Monkeys Had HIV For Millennia
September 17th, 2010 - 7:49 pm ICT by GDBy Gina Gomez
Sep17, (THAINDIAN NEWS) In a recent discovery scientists have found that the precursor of HIV to have been present in Monkeys for 32000 years compared to previous assumptions of it being only a few hundred years old. In a test conducted on six species of monkeys from the Bioko island which is 19 miles off the West African Coast, it was found that four out of those six species had their members infected with SIV which stands for simian immunodeficiency virus and is the ancestor of HIV. The four species are Drills, red- eared guenons, Preuss’s guenons and black colobuses.
The new research was published in science magazine on Thursday and explains how the virus must have entered the humans who have been hunting monkeys for many millenniums for food thereby risking a contamination. The discovery presents a complicated question as to what must have happened in a 20th century case where in Africa a mild donkey disease entered humans and resulted in the death of 26 million people by becoming highly transmissible.
Among the possible answers being provided is the theory that it was a result of growing African cities and proliferation of cheap syringes. The confirmation that the virus is very old explains at to why the African monkeys are not affected by it as over time a kind of immunity develops in the host over generations. The Bioko islands the place from where the monkeys in the test came used to be the end of a peninsula that was cut off when sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age ten thousand years ago.
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- Why some monkeys are resistant to AIDS - Jun 30, 2010
- New strategies proposed for AIDS vaccine research - Aug 08, 2009
- Primate ancestors of HIV could be younger than previously believed - May 01, 2009
- Why some monkeys don't get AIDS when infected with SIV - Dec 05, 2009
- New research could 'protect newborn babies from HIV infection' - Oct 04, 2010
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- Original HIV infection holds its sway despite numerous changes - Jun 30, 2010
- Wild chimps found infected with AIDS - Jul 23, 2009
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- Chimps die from AIDS-like illness - Jul 23, 2009
Tags: african cities, ancestor, bioko island, complicated question, contamination, gina gomez, guenons, hundred years, immunity, immunodeficiency virus, last ice age, millennia, precursor, proliferation, science magazine, sea levels, siv, species of monkeys, syringes, ten thousand