Origin of HIV-1 in Cameroonian chimpanzees
Origen del VIH-1 en los chimpancés de Camerún
- Date
- 2006 · confidence high
- Place
- Southeastern forests, Cameroon
- Credited to
- Brandon Keele, Beatrice Hahn and colleagues
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
A study of wild chimpanzee faeces from Cameroon found SIVcpz viruses closely related to HIV-1 group M, the cause of the pandemic. It located the source in the Pan troglodytes troglodytes populations of the southeast.
HIV-1 groups M and N derive from chimpanzees of southeast Cameroon, and groups O and P from gorillas (D'Arc, 2015). Transmission is assumed to have occurred through bushmeat hunting.
What it led to
- identification of the zoonotic jump of HIV
- surveillance of simian viruses
- reconstruction of the early history of AIDS