New Strain of HIV Found In Gorillas
When HIV was first discovered, the medical community were optimistic that by now we would have a cure. However, this is now far from the case. The nature of the virus, and its ability to mutate rapidly, makes combating it very difficult. And today we hear that another strain has been found, this time in gorillas, which had previously not carried the virus.
“Gorillas have been found, for the first time, to be a source of HIV. Previous research had shown the HIV-1 strain, the main source of human infections, with 33m cases worldwide, originated from a virus in chimpanzees. But researchers have now discovered an HIV infection in a Cameroonian woman, which is clearly linked to a gorilla strain, Nature Medicine reports. A researcher told the BBC that though it is a new type of HIV, current drugs may still help combat its effects.”
It is theorised that the virus has transferred from chimpanzees to gorillas, which although interesting, it is not really that surprising, seeing that we know it can transfer from chimpanzees to humans.
“The medical implication is that, because this virus is not very closely related to the other three HIV-1 groups, it is not detected by conventional tests. So the virus could be cryptically spreading in the population. However, he said that he would guess it would not spread widely and become a major problem. Although the patient with this virus was not ill, there is no reason to believe that it will not lead to Aids,” Professor Paul Sharp, University of Edinburgh.
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