Chimps Get AIDS

Although the AIDS virus (HIV-1) entered the human population through chimpanzees, scientists have long believed that chimpanzees don't develop AIDS. But a new study from an international team shows that chimpanzees infected with SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus), the precursor to HIV-1, do contract and die from AIDS.

The researchers found that infected chimpanzees in the study group were 10-16 times more likely to die than those who were uninfected. Infected females were less likely to give birth and infants born to infected mothers were unlikely to survive. The virus, they learned, was transmitted sexually and through mother's milk. Over the nine-year study period, 10-20 percent of the 94 chimpanzees were infected at any one time.

The discovery is detailed in the July 23 issue of the journal Nature.

The finding opens up new opportunities for research.

"We hope this will lead to a better understanding of the virus that will benefit both humans and chimpanzees," said Jane Goodall, whose focus has shifted in recent years from research to conservation of chimpanzees and their habitats.

The study focused on chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania, where Goodall and her colleagues have studied chimpanzees for nearly 50 years.

"From a scientific perspective, it is fascinating to learn that the virus affects chimpanzees in similar ways to humans," said University of Minnesota professor Michael Wilson, another member of the study team. "But it is difficult knowing that there isn't much we can do to help those whose lives may be shortened by the virus."

Virologist Beatrice Hahn at the University of Alabama led the study.