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A historical perspective: Simian AIDS —an accidental windfall
Author(s) -
Gardner Murray
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of medical primatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.31
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1600-0684
pISSN - 0047-2565
DOI - 10.1111/jmp.12234
Subject(s) - simian immunodeficiency virus , simian , primate , rhesus macaque , accidental , virology , biology , macaque , non human primate , transmission (telecommunications) , virus , evolutionary biology , neuroscience , computer science , telecommunications , physics , acoustics
Background For the past 30 years, Simian AIDS has provided an indispensible animal model for the human disease. This historical perspective highlights the circumstances leading to the creation of this experimental model. Methods Historical information and stored non‐human primate ( NHP ) specimens, including isolates of Simian immunodeficiency virus ( SIV ), were analyzed by molecular epidemiologic methods to trace the lineage and transmission of SIV among NHP s at US primate centers. Results The rhesus and stump‐tailed macaque models of Simian AIDS are the result of the accidental transmission of SIV from healthy sooty mangabey carriers to naïve macaques during the course of human kuru experimental transmission studies at UC Davis during the 1960s. Conclusions Simian AIDS , first recognized in the 1980s, is the accidental result of experimental kuru transmission experiments carried out in the 1960s, which led to the discovery of infectious prions but inadvertently transmitted SIV , unknown at that time, from sooty mangabeys to macaques.