NEWS > HEALTH > RESEARCHERS FIND CHIMPS FINALLY DYING OF AIDS

RESEARCHERS FIND CHIMPS FINALLY DYING OF AIDS

July 23 2009

London, U.K. – Since the first emergence of HIV and Aids in the 1950’s researchers have led a battle to discover its origins and ways to combat its spread. Advances through the 1980’s and 1990’s have taken major steps forwards in the battle with drug cocktails that have rendered the disease more akin to a chronic ailment than the
terminal disease it once was. Science though is still far from any kind of permanent solution to the disease. Vaccine and cures are thought to be decades off if they ever emerge at all and science continues to be flummoxed by the ever evolving virus.

A recent study into Chimpanzee populations in Africa may have shed new light on the battle with the revelation that chimps can also develop a full-fledged AIDS-type disease. Previously it was believed that Chimps were merely carriers of a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, which jumped into humans becoming HIV, but were not subject to the same kind of fatal mutation that has so ravaged humans. With new evidence showing that chimps do in fact become ill with an escalated version of the virus researchers believe that they will be able to develop new insights on the nature of the disease and have the added benefit of revenge on the animals that caused our own misfortune.

“Chimpanzees are 98 percent genetically identical to humans and their viruses are very closely related to HIV-1 because it was, in fact, the source,” said Beatrice Hahn, lead researcher. “So, this similarity was attractive in terms of figuring out what the differences are. But the assumption was that chimps do not get sick, people do get sick. Well, that is no longer true. Chimps do get sick as well. We are seeing mortality rates Up to 41 per cent in adults and 100 per cent in infants, and lower birth rates but we need longer-term follow-up to determine what proportion of infected animals develop an AIDS-like illness.”

Hahn did note that most Chimpanzees, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa, do not have the same kind of access to drug cocktails that help inhibit the development of AIDS in wealthier humans, thus leading to higher mortality rates.

“What this study really shows more than anything is that Chimpanzees and humans are more closely linked than we once believed. The same types of diseases that attack and kill us have the same effect on Chimps. Immunodeficiency diseases affect sibling species in much the same way and by studying that we may be able to
determine the path of the disease and how it interacts with our basic genetic structure,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “Because our two species are so fundamentally linked we can now observe the disease from a different angle, a kind of triangulation. It also gives scientists and sufferers of the disease a
great deal of satisfaction knowing that the species that gave us this illness in the first place is suffering from it as well. True they may not be suffering to the same degree but they are still getting sick and that will give a lot of hope to people who are struggling with HIV and AIDS.”

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world and because of a lack of drug cocktails and other treatments also has one of the highest mortality rates. Many hope that the death of Chimpanzees will bring renewed attention to the plight of humans suffering from the ailment throughout the continent.

“People love Chimpanzees and will do whatever they can to ensure that they are healthy and happy. They have such cute faces and act in such human-like ways that it’s pretty much impossible to ignore them. The fact that they are now dying from this disease will likely bring more
attention to the cause and possibly allow more money to flow into the continent which may eventually trickle down to the human population,” continued Poe. “AIDS has always been a big money maker both from a revenue standpoint and from a fundraising standpoint and a story like this which really just melts the heart will bring a lot of fresh attention, even in this rough economy. Hopefully with the satisfaction derived from these dying Chimps and the new money flowing into the continent, human beings will finally get something worthwhile out of the deal.”

There are no official mortality rates for African monkeys but it is believed that hygiene, in particular fecal matter, may contribute to a higher overall number of deaths.    

Lauren Hebert, Health Correspondent

NEWS > HEALTH > RESEARCHERS FIND CHIMPS FINALLY DYING OF AIDS