It was generally thought that apes acquire the infection but do not have the syndrome. A new study reveals that simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) bears the same results as when the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) develops into full-blown AIDS.

A study published in the latest edition of the journal nature dismantles the theory that African primates do not develop the equivalent of the disease of AIDS. They are, ‘naturally infected with over 40 different simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs), two of which have crossed the species barrier and generated human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2).’ The old assumption was that, unlike the virus strain in humans, ‘SIVs do not generally cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in their natural hosts.’

After about a decade of monitoring 94 chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park in Tanzania, the researchers have found that SIVcpz, the immediate precursor of HIV-1, is pathogenic in free-ranging chimpanzees. Also, the females infected with SIVcpz were less likely to give birth and had higher infant mortality rate, as compared to the females that are not infected.

The study discovered ‘significant CD4+ T-cell depletion’ just like in the human virus infection, in all infected individuals and that they are highly capable of transferring the virus. Death from acquired SIVcpz also had findings similar to the characteristics of end-stage AIDS. Both SIVcpz and HIV-1 are characterized by progressive CD4+ T-cell loss, lymphatic tissue destruction, lethargy in the days before death, destruction of the immune system, liver and pancreatic damage, and premature death.

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Via nature