HIV originated in Cameroon Chimps

[wild-in-tent]

Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama led the study

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/af...eut/index.html

Studies have traced HIV to a man who gave a blood sample in 1959 in Kinshasa, then called Leopoldville. Later analysis found the AIDS virus.

I had an argument about this with someone not long ago...the person said oh the Americans caused aids in some experiment gone wrong in Africa....but there was too much evidence from African customs of those eating raw monkey brains of infected monkeys..and from the first outbreak of aids in Kinshasa ....the ebola virus killed the Belgian and French nuns/nurses in the first outbreak also in Kinshasa ...I read the original story of those nurses years ago and said then that the disease was natural in monkeys...and that it probably transmitted that way or something similar to that...he violently disagreed with me about both...and voila here it is aids from the chimps......he also blamed some white man as he put it for bringing aids to the states......(man the propaganda machine out there is annoying some days...people will believe anything when they have a beef with our side of the world just because our technology is a bit advanced in places ohhh we are the big bad creators of everything even though other countries also have technology and well trained scientists...but oh no we did it ...so he utterly pooh poohed my theory and the data about the first person to bring it to the US in which I was accurate..having checked the actual data beforehand...he would not even look lol! So this finding will be lost on him...but should you run across an individual like I did..this one's for you)........and it is highly possible ebola will be found to be of similar causes...an ordinary primate disease (it is found to be naturally occuring in Rhesus monkey populations) that was introduced due to bad practices ie eating contaminated raw meat...or via bodily fluid contact of some sort.....anybody have any new ebola data? I am not saying it is but I do feel it leans in that direction of being from a similar genesis as aids.

[Not_Just_DNA]

As far as I know most filoviruses have been found to originate from African primates, but their geographic distribution is not clear-cut. In 1989 there was an outbreak in Reston, Virginia that as it turns out was a strain of Ebola not infectious to humans, the virus was coined Ebola Reston. This outbreak was limited to monkeys that came from the Philippines and I believe the current theory is that there is a less virulent strain circulating around this area as there are people in the area that have antibodies. I have read some on the topic, but don’t have any internet links and would need to research more. New species of every type of plant and animal on this planet are discovered all the time and IMO it's not surprising that we come across a few highly infectious and quite virulent microorganisms. Including those that aren’t technically ‘living’ and have potential to cause utter mayhem.

The best we can hope for is quick response and containment and when it comes to viruses hopefully vaccines. I won't discount that scientific mistakes happen and cause major harm (the Africanized Honeybee for example). But in a case such as filoviruses or 'new' diseases that will always be emerging I doubt there is much that can be done concerning general finger pointing to place blame. There will always be people who want to find a conspiracy or a cause other than a simple explannation of 'expect the unexpected.'

[wild-in-tent]

The good thing about this is that now they can use the right tissue cultures to study this virus. Hopefully narrowing it down helps find answers that they need to combat this epidemic.
Sadly as more and more of the rainforests of the world are cut down, many more things that the jungles have kept in balance will be thrown off kilter and introduced to the human populations of the world. It is difficult to access an intact jungle, this had served as a protection in the past. I also said re the cameroon chimps that I was not sure that it does...but they do eat raw monkey brains in that area....when you are hungry do you specify between a cameroon chimp and a rhesus monkey? I dont know.....and I said so....

Originally Posted by Not_Just_DNA

As far as I know most filoviruses have been found to originate from African primates, but their geographic distribution is not clear-cut. In 1989 there was an outbreak in Reston, Virginia that as it turns out was a strain of Ebola not infectious to humans, the virus was coined Ebola Reston. This outbreak was limited to monkeys that came from the Philippines and I believe the current theory is that there is a less virulent strain circulating around this area as there are people in the area that have antibodies. I have read some on the topic, but don’t have any internet links and would need to research more. New species of every type of plant and animal on this planet are discovered all the time and IMO it's not surprising that we come across a few highly infectious and quite virulent microorganisms. Including those that aren’t technically ‘living’ and have potential to cause utter mayhem.

The best we can hope for is quick response and containment and when it comes to viruses hopefully vaccines. I won't discount that scientific mistakes happen and cause major harm (the Africanized Honeybee for example). But in a case such as filoviruses or 'new' diseases that will always be emerging I doubt there is much that can be done concerning general finger pointing to place blame. There will always be people who want to find a conspiracy or a cause other than a simple explannation of 'expect the unexpected.'

[Scottish_Republican]

What makes you think that it was transmitted to humans by someone eating an ape?

[wild-in-tent]

I seen a documentary some time back where they went in and looked at the practice of eating raw monkey brains as being a possible source of some of the problem...it was on the Discovery channel I believe. They were looking at all the possible ways that rhesus monkey diseases were getting into the population. After they looked at all the avenues they said that one looked promising....for one avenue of transmission....at least for one of the contact parts for the rhesus monkey problem.
I stated above that I did not know if it did .....raw monkey brains could be the raw monkey brains of any monkey species they kill, maybe they eat both I dont know....I will be watching for future data on it. I only posted about chimpanzees not apes.

Originally Posted by Scottish_Republican

What makes you think that it was transmitted to humans by someone eating an ape?

[Scottish_Republican]

Again, why assume it was because the apes were eaten?

Children in some parts of Africa may be given a dead simian to play with, and of course there's the big possibility that CNN is too puritanical to comment on - namely that someone had sex with an ape and caught it that way. As an STD, this is fairly likely.

[wild-in-tent]

They said it was one avenue of.....and yes in that documentary they did mention what you say below...but apparently that practice is only among a few tribes as when they lose a wife or as some kind of tribal ritual......but yes, it only takes one.....so, I guess they will learn more as they observe...thanks for mentioning this ...it certainly is relevant as a possible source ...and yes lol! I was being a bit of a prude there in not mentioning it lol! you caught me out

Originally Posted by Scottish_Republican

Again, why assume it was because the apes were eaten?

Children in some parts of Africa may be given a dead simian to play with, and of course there's the big possibility that CNN is too puritanical to comment on - namely that someone had sex with an ape and caught it that way. As an STD, this is fairly likely.