14th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections Los Angeles, California - February 25-28, 2007

Conf Retrovir Opportunistic Infect 2007 Feb 25-28;14: (abstract no. 4)

Martine Peeters
Inst for Res and Devt, Univ of Montpelier, France

BACKGROUND: West central African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) are recognized as the reservoir of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV_cpzPtt) that have at least twice crossed to humans: In one instance, this resulted in the AIDS pandemic (HIV-1 group M), and in a second, a non-pandemic infection of only few individuals in Cameroon (HIV-1 group N). A third HIV-1 lineage (group O) from west central Africa also falls within the SIV_cpzPtt radiation, and HIV-1 group O-like viruses have been recently identified in wild-living gorillas living nearly 400 km apart in Cameroon. These findings suggest that gorillas, like chimpanzees, are also endemically infected with SIV. The phylogenetic relationships between HIV-1, SIV_cpz and SIV_gor argue that chimpanzees comprised the original reservoir of SIV now found in chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans. Distinct chimpanzee communities in southern Cameroon transmitted divergent SIV_cpz to humans, giving rise to HIV-1 groups M and N; and chimpanzees transmitted HIV-1 group O-like viruses either to gorillas and humans independently, or first to gorillas, which then transmitted to humans.

CONCLUSIONS: Additional field studies are needed to determine the overall prevalence, subspecies association, genetic diversity, and natural history of SIVgor infection in wild gorillas. It will also be important to determine by what route gorillas acquired SIVgor, since these apes are herbivores, and physical encounters between gorillas and chimpanzees are believed to be rare. Gorillas are hunted for food and medicinal uses; the present findings suggest that such practices may have been responsible for the HIV-1 group O zoonosis and could pose an ongoing risk to humans.

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2007-02-25
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