London, Nov 10: French scientists have uncovered the mystery behind the third strain of HIV virus that infects people in western central Africa, by studying the droppings of gorillas living in remote forests in Cameroon.
Martine Peeters and his colleagues from the University of Montpelier say that it is well-known that of the three strains of the HIV virus, one caused the global AIDS epidemic, and one other infects a small number of people in Cameroon, which came from a chimpanzee virus called SIV. But the third strain of the virus was a mystery for the scientists so far.
They say that since the infected gorillas live up to 400 kilometres apart, the virus infecting them is presumed to be a normal or endemic virus in the animals, as SIV is in chimps, reports New Scientist.
However, it remains a mystery as to how the gorillas got it, as the virus is descended from the chimp variety, and gorillas are vegetarian and rarely encounter chimps.
The researchers say that there is a little mystery about how humans contracted the virus, though local people picked it up hunting gorillas for food and traditional medicine, which means that the virus could yet cross again, and create another HIV strain, especially as growing demand for "bushmeat" leads to more hunting.
Bureau Report
