iansmith
Apr21-04, 05:50 PM
Study finds that Kisangani chimpanzees contain a virus unrelated to HIV-1 | By David Secko
The final nail is in the coffin for the now largely refuted theory that the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) crossed into humans as a result of contamination of oral polio vaccine (OPV), according to a new study. In the April 22 Nature, Michael Worobey and colleagues report that the chimpanzees claimed to be the source of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVcpz) that crossed over actually contain a SIVcpz unrelated to HIV-1.
“Scientifically, this paper spells the end of the OPV theory,” said Edward Holmes, from the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the study.
The OPV/AIDS theory holds that chimpanzees from the Kisangani (previously Stanleyville) area in the Democratic Republic of Congo that were purportedly used in the preparation of OPV transmitted a SIVcpz to humans. Evidence against this has been piling up, first with the absence of SIVcpz or chimpanzee DNA in old OPV stocks and then with data suggesting HIV originated 30 years before the OPV trails.
“Although there is an abundance of evidence against the OPV theory, the one thing missing [until this paper] was an analysis of the SIV strains in the chimpanzee populations claimed to be the origin of HIV-1 under the OPV theory,” said Holmes.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040421/02
The final nail is in the coffin for the now largely refuted theory that the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) crossed into humans as a result of contamination of oral polio vaccine (OPV), according to a new study. In the April 22 Nature, Michael Worobey and colleagues report that the chimpanzees claimed to be the source of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVcpz) that crossed over actually contain a SIVcpz unrelated to HIV-1.
“Scientifically, this paper spells the end of the OPV theory,” said Edward Holmes, from the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the study.
The OPV/AIDS theory holds that chimpanzees from the Kisangani (previously Stanleyville) area in the Democratic Republic of Congo that were purportedly used in the preparation of OPV transmitted a SIVcpz to humans. Evidence against this has been piling up, first with the absence of SIVcpz or chimpanzee DNA in old OPV stocks and then with data suggesting HIV originated 30 years before the OPV trails.
“Although there is an abundance of evidence against the OPV theory, the one thing missing [until this paper] was an analysis of the SIV strains in the chimpanzee populations claimed to be the origin of HIV-1 under the OPV theory,” said Holmes.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040421/02