Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International - November 10, 2006
Researchers at the University of Montpelier in France discovered the source strain for human immunodeficiency virus in the droppings of gorillas living in remote forests in Cameroon, NewScientist.com said. Because the infected gorillas live up to 240 miles apart, researchers said they think the virus must be a normal virus in the animal, similar to simian immunodeficiency virus in chimps, NewScientist.com said.
SIV is the source for two other HIV strains -- one in the global AIDS epidemic and another that infected a small number of people in Cameroon, researchers said.
Scientists said the next step is to determine how gorillas got the virus, NewScientist.com said.
The researchers said humans probably contracted the virus through hunting gorillas for food and traditional medicines, NewScientist.com said.
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