Chimpanzee Reservoirs of Pandemic and Nonpandemic HIV-1

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1126531
• Publication Date: 2006-05-26T00:56:47Z
• Authors: Brandon F. Keele; Fran Van Heuverswyn; Yingying Li; Elizabeth Bailes; Jun Takehisa; Mario L. Santiago; Frederic Bibollet...; Yalu Chen; Louise V. Wain; Florian Liegeois; Severin Loul; Eitel Mpoudi Ngole; Yanga Bienvenue; Eric Delaporte; John F. Y. Brookf...; Paul M. Sharp; George M. Shaw; Martine Peeters; Beatrice H. Hahn
• Keywords: Pan troglodytes; Molecular Sequence Data; Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; bats; 610; HIV Infections; bat; HIV Antibodies; Antibodies, Viral; DNA, Mitochondrial; Disease Outbreaks; Feces; 03 medical and health sciences; Chiroptera; Prevalence; Animals; Humans; Animalia; Cameroon; Chordata; Phylogeny; Disease Reservoirs; Recombination, Genetic; Molecular Epidemiology; 0303 health sciences; Biodiversity; 3. Good health; Ape Diseases; Haplotypes; Mammalia; HIV-1

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the cause of human acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is a zoonotic infection of staggering proportions and social impact. Yet uncertainty persists regarding its natural reservoir. The virus most closely related to HIV-1 is a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) thus far identified only in captive members of the chimpanzee subspecies Pan troglodytes troglodytes . Here we report the detection of SIVcpz antibodies and nucleic acids in fecal samples from wild-living P. t. troglodytes apes in southern Cameroon, where prevalence rates in some communities reached 29 to 35%. By sequence analysis of endemic SIVcpz strains, we could trace the origins of pandemic (group M) and nonpandemic (group N) HIV-1 to distinct, geographically isolated chimpanzee communities. These findings establish P. t. troglodytes as a natural reservoir of HIV-1.