Threatened chimps may hold key to AIDS (Agencies) Updated: 2005-06-10 09:19
Chimpanzees may hold vital clues for mankind's war against the AIDS virus,
but the apes could be wiped out before they reveal their secrets, a leading
genetic expert warned Wednesday.
 Chimpanzee
populations are infected with viruses that closely resemble the HIV-1
strain of the AIDS virus, which is the most common among humans.
[baidu] | Paul Sharp of Britain's University of Nottingham told an AIDS conference in
Durban, South Africa, that the latest research indicated that chimpanzees —
humanity's closest living relative — were an important but increasingly
endangered resource for scientists hoping to better understand the HIV virus.
Chimpanzee populations are infected with viruses that closely resemble the
HIV-1 strain of the AIDS virus, which is the most common among humans.
Unlike humans, however, chimps do not progress to full-blown AIDS, an
intriguing mystery for researchers who hope to discover how to slow or stop the
deadly disease in humans.
"If we can understand chimpanzees maybe we can understand more about how the
virus affects humans," Sharp said. "Of course, we need to do that before
chimpanzees become extinct."
Some researchers fear Africa's chimpanzees could be wiped out in about 50
years — even earlier for certain species — because they are hunted for meat and
threatened by deforestation and disease.
One U.N. study last year said less than 10 percent of the forest home of
Africa's great apes would be left relatively undisturbed by 2030 if road
building, construction of mining camps and other developments continue at
current levels.
Sharp said researchers believed chimpanzees originally contracted their
version of HIV — known as SIV — from other monkeys.
He said it was now believed that either the virus evolved to become less
deadly or that chimpanzees developed physical strategies for battling the virus.
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