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Results of a ten year study published in the journal Science have shown
that HIV resulted from two monkey viruses that hybridised in the body of an infected chimpanzee. Scientists Professor Paul Sharp from Nottingham University and Beatrice Hahn from the University of Alabama found that wild chimps became in- fected simultaneously with two simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs). These SIVs came together to form a third virus capable of infecting hu- mans and causing AIDS. One implication of the research was that chimpanzees might again act as "mixing vessels" for other monkey viruses that could successfully adapt to spreading among chimpanzees and then jump to humans. The closest relative of HIV-1, the principal AIDS virus, had been es- tablished as an SIV that infects chimpanzees in Central Africa. The study discovered that the chimp virus was an amalgam of the SIV infect- ing red-capped mangabeys and the virus found in greater spot-nosed mon- keys. Professor Sharp said that as chimpanzees eat monkeys, the hy- bridisation had probably taken place after hunting and killing the two smaller monkey species. SOURCE: The Independent (UK), 13/JUN/03 The
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