Study Finds That Chimpanzees Can Die From A Primate Type of HIV
A recent study in Nature finds that simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a primate precursor to HIV, is not harmless as previously believed, but can lead to AIDS in chimpanzees and consequent fatality.
The study was conducted over a nine-year period on 94 chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, where Jane Goodall and her colleagues have studied chimpanzees for 50 years. The infected chimpanzees are from a population of the chimpanzee subspecies Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii.
Researchers found a 10-16 times higher death hazard for SIV-infected chimpanzees than the uninfected chimpanzees. They also found that SIV-infected females were less likely to give birth and had a higher infant mortality rate than uninfected females.
Researchers compared chimpanzee fecal samples and spleen and lymph node samples from three infected and two uninfected chimpanzees. The evidence showed a significant decrease in CD4 cells (white blood cells) in the infected chimpanzees similar to the low levels found in humans with HIV/AIDS.
Additionally, there was evidence of increased viral replication in the infected chimpanzees. One female, who died three years after being infected with SIV, showed severe signs such as organ degeneration that were consistent with the final stage of AIDS.
The results of the study show that SIV is similar to HIV because SIV is also associated with CD4 cell depletion, lymphatic tissue (part of body’s immune system that helps to protect it from bacterial or other infections) destruction, and premature death.
Despite these findings, researchers believe that SIV is not as a serious threat as HIV in humans. However, these sick chimpanzees could serve as models to study other pathogenic viruses. Also, these findings allow researchers to examine HIV from a different perspective through a comparison between chimpanzee and human infections.
For more information, please see the study in Nature and the related coverage by U.S. News and World Report.
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