> Fellow SOBANS and Friends of SOBA
>  WIRE:Feb. 1, 1:08 a.m. ET
>                   Human AIDS traced to chimps  in west equatorial Africa
>     AP News Service
>  CHICAGO (AP) _ Mystery solved: The AIDS virus came from chimps.
>  Experts have wondered about the origin of HIV ever since the epidemic
>  emerged almost two decades ago. The uncertainty launched a  variety of
>  conspiracy theories, some suggesting that AIDS was a  government plot,
>  created purposely to kill.   Now, research presented at an AIDS
>  conference Sunday provides  what scientists say is convincing proof to
>  the contrary: The virus  got its start in the forests of Africa when
>  humans caught it from  chimpanzees. In fact, they say the virus has
>  spread at least three  times from chimps to people.   ``This is
> absolutely evidence to put (conspiracy theories) to  rest,'' Dr.'
> Constance Benson
>  of the University of Colorado said.  Even scientists who scorned those
>  theories have been unsure  where AIDS actually arose. Some suspected
>  chimps, while others  thought monkeys or other primates could have
>  been the source.  the latest discovery was made by Dr. Beatrice Hahn of
>  the  University of Alabama at Birmingham, who tracked HIV's ancestor to
>  a virus that has long  infected one of the four subspecies of chimp
> that live in Africa.    She said, ``We conclude that this subspecies is
> the
>  source of  the human AIDS virus,'' which now infects about 35 million
>  people  worldwide.  Experts believe that HIV _ the virus that causes
>  AIDS _ is a  recent affliction of people. At last year's Conference on
>  Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Dr. David Ho and others  from
>  the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Rockefeller  University
>  presented evidence that the virus probably first  infected humans in the
>  1940s or early '50s.  At the opening of this year's meeting, Hahn made
>  the case that  this event almost certainly occurred in west equatorial
>  Africa. It  could have happened when someone was bitten by a chimp,
>  or a hunter  was exposed to contaminated blood while field dressing an
>  animal.  Hahn said her team nailed down the connection by analyzing
> frozen tissue saved from a chimp named Marilyn that died from
> complications of
>  childbirth at a U.S. Air Force primate center in  New
>  Mexico 14 years ago.  The chimp version of the AIDS virus is called
>  SIVcpz. It is  extremely rare among chimps in U.S. labs, perhaps because
>  these  animals are removed fromthe wilds as babies and so are never
>  exposed   to the virus sexually. Until recently, it had been isolated
> only three times.  Hahn's discovery of the fourth began when a colleague
>  cleaning  out a lab freezer ran across Marilyn's specimens and sent them
>  to  her. The researchers performed various kinds of genetic analyses
> that were   unavailable at the time the chimp died.  Marilyn's tissue was
>  found to harbor SIVcpz. The Alabama team  used molecular analysis
>  techniques to study Marilyn's virus plus  the other three examples
>  discovered earlier.  They found that three of the four are about as
>  genetically  similar to the human AIDS virus as they are to each other.
>  They  include one gene, called vpu, that is also part of HIV but not the
>  other  AIDS-like viruses that infect monkeys.   All three samples were
>  found to have come from Pan troglodytes  troglodytes, which is one of
>  the four subspecies of chimp in  Africa. These animals lives in
> CAMEROON ,  Equatorial Guinea, Congo  and Central African Republic,
> the region where AIDS is thought to  have started.  The fourth sample
>  was much less like HIV, and it came from  another subspecies of chimp
>  that is native to East Africa.   There are three major groups of HIV in
>  people, code-named M, N  and O. M is the variety that has spread around
>  the world, while N  and O are seen only in west-central Africa.  The
>  natural habitat of Pan troglodytes troglodytes perfectly  overlaps the
>  area  where these three groups were first recognized.  The researchers
>  believe that each group arose from a separate  chimp-to-human
>  transmission of SIVcpz.  Hahn said a French team, headed by Dr.
>  Phillippe Mauclere of the  Pasteur  Institute, recently found three more
>  chimps infected with  SIVcpz at a game sanctuary in Cameroon. One
>  sample has been  genetically analyzed, and it too closely resembles HI
>  `That nails it,'' said Hahn.  Chimps, which have probably carried the
>  virus  for hundreds of  thousands of years, apparently do not get sick
> from it. Researchers  say that figuring out why could offer clues for
> helping
>  people  fight HIV.    Hahn's work is being published in this week's
> issue of the  journal Nature.
>   ENONGENE E.N
>  My personal view.
>  Please read this report with a grain of salt. There are many gaps i:e 1)
>  who funded the research, (2) the methodology in conducting the
>  experiment,   (3) the validity and experience of the researchers and
> their technicians etc, etc, etc. (4) The report does not clarify if the US
>  military,  WHO, & UNO had approved a series of vaccine test to stamp out
>  smallpox. Most of these test we suspected were carried out in the late
>  60s and early 70s probably on these same wild life which have suddenly
>  being implicated as the carriers. In my 1986 biochemistry class at the
>  University of Houston, we were lectured on the clinical potency of AZT,
>  the "wonder" drug for HIV. We were specically told Chimps carried HIV
>  but don't get AIDS. They clearly served as TEMPLATES for research.
>  Don't you get it. I will be at the library door this week waiting for
> the arrival of the journal "NATURE". After critically reviewing the
> evidence
> I will sure contact the  authors of the publication. The reason why I am
>  telling you all these is the long term  POLITICAL
>  effect these findings can have on immigrants to the USA from Cameroon.
>  Currently, Cameroon is one of the three countries the US congress
>  granted their embassies to SOLO decide VISA petitions without STATE
>  DEPT INTERFERENCE. These  findinds may create unfavorable denial of
>  VISA petitions for those  applying for GREEN CARD even if you are in the
>  US. Again I am not saying the work is  flawless. I will be looking
> closely at the control groups selection and if they looked at CHIMPS of
> the
> early 1920. I f all the animals studied were 10 to 20 years old, then they
>
> have a problem  to convine me. Read journal NATURE and lets share the
> comments.  My regards and may God bless and protect Africa and Cameroon.
>
> Comfort's personal view:
> THE TRUTH ABOUT AIDS WILL OUT SOMEDAY.
> I AM SO TOUCHED ON WHAT AIDS HAS/IS
> DOING TO AFRICA. I HOPE SOMEONE WILL ACCOUNT
> FOR IT SOMEDAY.  THERE HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO
> BE SO MUCH PLAYING AROUND TO COVER UP THE TRUTH.
> AND THEN THOSE WHO GET CAUGHT  IN THE CONFIRMED MEANS
> OF TRANSMISSION OF THE VIRUS FIND THEMSELVES IN A MISERABLE
> SITUATION.
[Ateh, Comfort]  Take care!


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