HIV In West- Central Africa people probably

HIV

In West- Central Africa people probably been dying of AIDS for Thousands of years. And they contracted HIV-1 virus by hunting chimpanzees for meat. Fend Goo a scientists from The University Of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) theory is that for centuries, HIV infections were limited to Gabon, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea which are parts of Africa, because they had little contact with the outside world until after WW2. After 1945, the economy changed which brought more travelers to Africa and the

Chimpanzee genetics are more than 98% identical to human genetics. HIV2 is linked to a simian immunodeficiency virus found in a monkey. It may also prevent future cross- species transmissions of other HIV mutations. disease may have slowly started to spread around the world. If the meat is infected the virus infect humans when they handle the infected carcasses with cuts or other open wounds on their hands. Group M viruses cause AIDS epidemics around the world and are currently infected about 35 million carriers but groups N and O have been contained to villagers in West Central Africa. For a lot of years, AIDS researchers have thought that human HIV viruses resulted from cross- species transmission namely from some sort of ape or monkey to humans. Scientists have discovered three different groups of HIV1 (Groups M,N,O) that they think have come from separate cross- species transmissions. Scientist tried to follow the roots of HIV back to it's source and found evidence of the virus in humans from a serum sample taken in the Congo in 1959. Also chimpanzees are only disease hosts not carriers for a virus similar to HIV1 infects humans. The chimp experts described a trade in "bush meat" for human consumption. The researches at UAB did an experiment on there theory of cross species transmission by putting together chimpanzee conservation groups operating near the epicenter of HIV in Africa. This new research into the origin of HIV could lead to eventual control the virus know as AIDS. Figuring out would lead to more effective AIDS therapies and perhaps even a vaccine.