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"Bush meat" Threat
Joan Stephenson, PhD
JAMA. 2002;287:2353.
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A substantial proportion of monkeys captured in Cameroon rain forests harbor "a plethora of genetically diverse" simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) that pose a potential health risk, particularly to people who slaughter them for food, according to new findings reported in the May issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Earlier research indicated that the two SIV lineages most closely related to HIV-1 and HIV-2 were transmitted to humans from infected chimpanzees and sooty mangabeys on at least eight occasions, very likely during hunting and butchering of these animals.
Researchers from France, Cameroon, Belgium, and the United States tested samples from nearly 800 monkeys slaughtered for bush meat or kept as pets and found that about one fifth of the samples tested positive (reacted with HIV antigens). Thirteen of 16 primate species tested positive, including four species not previously known to harbor SIV. Molecular studies also demonstrated substantial genetic . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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