• Question: Do chimps have the same HIV/AIDS as humans as they are the closest life form to humans?

    Asked by to Bethany, Hannah, Keith, Peter, Ramya on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Peter Elliott

      Peter Elliott answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Humans acquired HIV-1 from chimpanzees which are infected with SIVcpz (simian immunodeficiency virus in chimps). It is thought that hunters from Cameroon contracted the virus which has now spread across the globe.

      What is unclear though is whether chimps actually suffer the same illness with SIV as we do with HIV. Some research appears to suggest that chimps can indeed contract AIDS from SIV and die as a result (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7254/full/nature08200.html). However, the disease appears to be less lethal than the human equivalent HIV.

    • Photo: Bethany Dearlove

      Bethany Dearlove answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      No they don’t – but they do get a closely related disease, SIV (simean immunodeficiency virus), though SIV often appears to be not harmful to live with like HIV can be in humans. It’s believed that HIV actually came into humans from being in contact with two strains of SIV, one found in chimpanzees and another found in sooty mangabeys, and these gave rise to the two major strains of HIV we see today – HIV-1 and HIV-2 respectively. The cross-species transmission probably occurred through eating infected meat, or blood entering through a cut while hunting.

Comments