Pan troglodytes troglodytes

samples Species (common name) SIV lineage SIV+ SIV- Pan troglodytes troglodytes SIVcpzPtt 2 1 (west central chimpanzee) Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii SIVcpzPts 1 NA (eastern chimpanzee) Cercopithecus nictitans (greater SIVgsn 6 45 spot-nosed monkey) Cercopithecus cephus SIVmus 7 30 (mustached monkey) Cercopithecus mona (Mona SIVmon NA 1 monkey) Miopithecus ogouensis SIVtal 1 6 (northern talapoin) Cercopithecus neglectus (De SIVdeb 7 1 Brazza monkey) Cercocebus torquatus (red-capped SIVrcm 4 NA mangabey) Chlorocebus tantalus (African SIVagm 1 NA green monkey) Mandrillus sphinx (mandrill) SIVmnd-2 10 2 Colobus guereza (mantled SIVcol 10 7 guereza) Total 49 93 * SIV, simian immunodefiency virus; NA, none available.

An increasingly endangered West African chimpanzee subspecies, Pan troglodytes troglodytes, was recently revealed to harmlessly harbor an AIDS-like virus that could solve the mystery of the disease's origins in humans--and lead to a cure.

The Bantu woman had been infected by a chimpanzee belonging to Pan troglodytes troglodytes, 1 of 2 chimpanzee subspecies endemic to Cameroon (online Appendix Figure, available from www.cdc.gov/EID/ content/13/9/1314-appG.htm).

Now, a newly discovered simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) strain shows strong similarities to two of the previously analyzed simian viruses, which appear in the same chimpanzee subspecies, Pan troglodytes troglodytes. HIV-1 is also closely related to this cluster of simian viruses, they report.

Origin of HIV-1 in the chimpanzee Pan troglodytes troglodytes. Nature.