French Doctors Uncover New Strain of HIV

Researchers have now discovered an HIV infection in a Cameroonian woman which is clearly linked to a gorilla strain. Photo by muller.lbl.gov

Gorillas have been found, for the first time, to be a source of HIV, after a woman from Cameroon was found to have a new strain of the virus.

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.

French doctors treating the 62-year-old Cameroonian woman who was living in Paris said they initially spotted some discrepancies in routine viral load tests.

Further analysis of the strain she was infected with showed it was more closely related to SIV from gorillas than HIV from humans.

She is the only person known to be infected with the new strain but the researchers expect to find other cases.

A researcher said that though it is a new type of virus, current drugs may still help combat its effects, the BBC reported.

HIV originated from a similar virus in chimpanzees called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV).

Although HIV/Aids was first recognised by scientists in the 1980s, it is thought it first entered the human population early in the 20th Century in the region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The virus allegedly originally jumped into humans after people came into contact with infected bush meat.