Study Finds Chimps Die From Simian AIDS, Dispelling Widely Held Belief

[steven johnson]

I've heard the same canard -- chimpanzees don't die from AIDS. The implication being that the human disease is unique.

Well, it isn't true.



Published: July 23, 2009
For the first time, scientists have shown that chimpanzees in the wild become sick and die from the simian version of AIDS.
The finding upsets a widely held scientific belief that chimpanzees, the closest relatives to humans, can get the virus that causes simian AIDS but without harm.
It also suggests that an outbreak of AIDS is contributing to the declining chimpanzee population in Africa, said the leader of the research team, Dr. Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
She said that comparisons of the viruses that cause AIDS in chimpanzees and humans could lead to new insights into the responses of the immune systems in both species.


Study Finds Chimps Die From Simian AIDS, Dispelling Widely Held Belief

[TZ]

1. Huh?

I used to work in a Lab animal health lab and we tested for SIV all the time...NO ONE wants that virus. I never heard anyone say they thought it was harmless. No more than FIV (the cat version) is harmless....
:shrug: