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From: kgdykes@watbun.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.motss
Subject: AIDS virus and monkeys
Message-ID: <13964@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Apr-85 18:54:58 EST
Article-I.D.: watmath.13964
Posted: Mon Apr 15 18:54:58 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 15-Apr-85 23:37:09 EST
Sender: daemon@watmath.UUCP
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 34


 BOSTON (AP) - A virus almost identical to the germ generally thought
  to cause AIDS has been found in monkeys, and some scientists believe
  it will provide an important new tool for developing a vaccine...
    The latest discovery also supports a theory that AIDS...
  ... began as a disease of monkeys and only recently spread to people.
    Scientists at the New England Regional Primate Centre identified
  the virus in macaque monkeys.  The animals were afflicted with
  monkey AIDS, a disease that mirrors AIDS in people.
    American experts believe that human AIDS is caused by a virus called
  HTLV-III, for Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus type three, and they've
  named the new monkey virus STLV-III, for simians.
    "Clearly we have, for the first time, a virus that looks and acts
  like HTLV-III, that clearly can infect and be isolated from animals
  other than humans," said Dr. Norman Letvin of the primate centre.
    Scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health have discovered
  that the monkey AIDS virus appears to be common among a species called
  the African green monkey that lives in central Africa.
    "We hypothesize that the African greens gave the virus to people
  in the region where the disease originated,"...
  ... said Dr. Max Essex, an AIDS researcher at Harvard.
    Although STLV-III is fatal to macaque monkeys, it apparently is not
  dangerous to the African green monkeys, which are a separate species.
  About 70% of the green monkeys tested showed evidence in their
  blood of exposure to the virus, yet they were healthy.
    "They have clearly evolved to control the virus so it doesn't kill
  them," said Essex.  "The mechanism that they've evolved will probably
  be an important clue to understanding vaccine development."...
 
         - Ken Dykes
           Software Development Group, U. of Waterloo
           Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  N2L 3G1
           {clyde,utzoo}!watmath!water!watbun!kgdykes