Is AIDS of animal origin?

The tragedy of AIDS is destroying nations in Sub-Sahara Africa with 30% infection rates and leaving behind orphaned and infected children. A debate is ongoing about whether AIDS is a zoonosis, a disease of animals that may be transmitted to man under natural conditions.” The New York Times ran the headline, “Chimpanzee meat blamed for AIDS epidemic.” The problem with the headline is that humans have been eaten SIV infected meat for thousands of years but only with the 20^th century had AIDS emerged. In fact, over the last 50 years only 11 cases of SIV infection has been recorded in humans.

The source of the HIV-2 virus has been identified as the Sooty Mangabeys (monkey). Five criteria were used to determine this:

1. HIV-2 has an identical genome structure as SIVsm.
2. The two strains are phylogentically (evolutionary development) are closely related.
3. Sooty Mangebeys are numerous in the HIV-2 infected region of West Africa.
4. Geographic coincidence.
5. Sooty Mangabeys are hunted for food.

“Evidence of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection has been reported for 26 different species of African nonhuman primates. Two of these viruses, SIVcpz from chimpanzees and SIVsm from sooty mangabeys, are the cause of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in humans. Together, they have been transmitted to humans on at least seven occasions.” The virus for which the majority of HIV infection in the world is believed to have occurred is the result from just one cross-species transmission.

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.metrostate.edu/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=120&sid=dc68a5e2-a84a-4000-9371-7db2b083f24f%40sessionmgr104

Journal of Medical Primatology:

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.metrostate.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=7&hid=108&sid=d9b5b547-d595-4516-8adb-335cd3fb20d0%40sessionmgr102