February 5, 1999 Calvin College Chimes

Team of scientists discovers origin of HIV African chimpanzee may hold secret to effective HIV vaccine but stands at the ‘brink of extinction’ By Chad Michael Weener Staff Writer The disease called AIDS has affected at least 33 million people since its first diagnosis in the 1940s, and the end to its infiltration in our society is nowhere in sight. However, this past Sunday, an international team of scientists reported that they have traced the origins of the HIV virus to a related virus in a subspecies of chimpanzee in Africa. www.tulsazoo.com A team of international scientists determined that the HIV virus |originated from human contact with the subspecies of chimpanzee known as Pan troglodytes, of which few remain This species of chimpanzee is able to live naturally with the virus without contracting illness. Therefore, many scientists believe this discovery will lead to a vaccine and more advanced therapy against HIV. This new discovery could also lead to new tests that would discover new viruses in the biosphere before they are allowed to infect humans. One can only imagine the lives and suffering that would have been prevented if the HIV were discovered before it was allowed to infect humans. The risk of an outbreak of a presently-unknown virus is especially great today because of the rapid movement of human population into previously uninhabited land. Many natives of the rainforest sell the meat of primates, and this consumption of “bush meat” may be putting people at risk of the cross-species transmission of unknown viruses. Dr. Harold Jaffe, one of the leading AIDS researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, voiced this concern. “That is everyone’s nightmare,” said Jaffe, “that there is another virus out there that either could be or has been transmitted to humans that we cannot detect with current methods. No one wants to miss detecting the next HIV epidemic.” However, as positive as this discovery is to the research of AIDS, there are some immediate setbacks that must be negotiated before successful research can be done. Dr. Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, head of the team of scientists, stated that the species of chimpanzee is being massacred to “the brink of extinction.” If extreme measures are not taken soon, the species may become extinct before adequate scientific research is complete. This loss of species could rob the victims of the HIV virus from their only hope for successful treatment. One researcher stated that “the drawback is that the numbers now are small, and we need to expand the studies to get more virus isolates.” Unfortunately, just when it seems as if the research is at our fingertips, this species of chimpanzee is dangerously close to extinction.