Brief Communications
Nature 444, 164 (9 November 2006) | doi:10.1038/444164a; Received 31 August 2006; Accepted 24 October 2006; Published online 8 November 2006
Human immunodeficiency viruses: SIV infection in wild gorillas
Fran Van Heuverswyn1, Yingying Li2, Cecile Neel1,3, Elizabeth Bailes4, Brandon F. Keele2, Weimin Liu2, Severin Loul3, Christelle Butel1, Florian Liegeois1, Yanga Bienvenue3, Eitel Mpoudi Ngolle3, Paul M. Sharp4, George M. Shaw2,5, Eric Delaporte1,6, Beatrice H. Hahn2 & Martine Peeters1
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) from west central Africa are recognized as the reservoir of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVcpzPtt) that have crossed at least twice to humans: this resulted in the AIDS pandemic (from human immunodeficiency virus HIV-1 group M) in one instance and infection of just a few individuals in Cameroon (by HIV-1 group N) in another1. A third HIV-1 lineage (group O) from west central Africa also falls within the SIVcpzPtt radiation2, but the primate reservoir of this virus has not been identified1. Here we report the discovery of HIV-1 group O-like viruses in wild gorillas.
- UMR145, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement and Department of International Health, University of Montpellier 1, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
- Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama 35294, USA
- Projet Prevention du Sida au Cameroun (PRESICA), BP 1874 Yaoundé, Cameroon
- Institute of Genetics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, USA
- Department of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital of Montpellier, 34295 Montpellier, France
Correspondence to: Martine Peeters1 Email: martine.peeters@mpl.ird.fr
