New HIV virus may have come from monkeys, say experts

[TexasLawyer]

Many new viruses are in the news these days. Here are 2 more.

New HIV virus may have come from monkeys, say experts

Daily Star, Pakistan

Sunday, February 27, 2005

WASHINGTON: Two new retroviruses never before seen in humans have turned up among people who regularly hunt monkeys in Cameroon, researchers reported on Friday. Like the AIDS virus, these viruses insert their genetic material directly into cells and perhaps even into a person’s or animal’s chromosomes. Closely related versions of the viruses cause leukemia, inflammatory and neurological diseases.

The two new viruses are called human T-lymphotropic virus types 3 and 4 or HTLV-3 and HTLV-4. They are closely related to two known viruses called HTLV-1 and HTLV-2, which experts believe were transmitted to people, like HIV, from monkeys and apes.

“Because HIV originated as a cross-species infection from a non-human primate virus, the question was how much cross-species retrovirus infections are occurring and what are the consequences of these infections,” said Walid Hemeine of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who led the study. reuters

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-2-2005_pg4_13