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Friday, August 7, 2009
Women in Cameroon Found to Have New Gorilla Strain of HIV
A new strain of the virus that causes AIDS has been discovered in a woman from the African nation, Cameroon. This strain differs from the three known strains of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and appears to be closely related to a form of simian virus recently discovered in wild gorillas, researchers reported in Monday’s edition of the journal Nature Medicine.
One of the researchers, Jean-Christophe Plantier of the University of Rouen, in France, noted that the finding “highlights the continuing need to watch closely for the emergence of new HIV variants, particularly in western-central Africa.”
According to researchers, the most likely explanation for the new HIV virus strain is gorilla-to human transmission. But they added that they cannot rule out the possibility that the new strain started in chimpanzees and moved into gorillas and then humans, or moved directly from chimpanzees to both gorillas and humans.
“Findings like these remind us that primates continue to transmit viruses to humans just as they did before we knew about AIDS,” said Rowena Johnston, Vice President of research for the Foundation for AIDS in New York City. “HIV continues to broadside us from directions we do not necessarily expect.”
The 62-year-old Cameroon woman tested positive for HIV in 2004, shortly after moving to Paris from Cameroon, according to researchers. She lived near Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, but said she had no contact with apes or bush meat, a name often given to meat from wild animals in tropical counties. HIV can be passed through blood as people eat bush meat.
Researchers have yet to determine how wide-spread the new HIV strain is. However, the virus’ rapid replication indicates that it has adapted to human cells.
One of the researchers, Jean-Christophe Plantier of the University of Rouen, in France, noted that the finding “highlights the continuing need to watch closely for the emergence of new HIV variants, particularly in western-central Africa.”
According to researchers, the most likely explanation for the new HIV virus strain is gorilla-to human transmission. But they added that they cannot rule out the possibility that the new strain started in chimpanzees and moved into gorillas and then humans, or moved directly from chimpanzees to both gorillas and humans.
“Findings like these remind us that primates continue to transmit viruses to humans just as they did before we knew about AIDS,” said Rowena Johnston, Vice President of research for the Foundation for AIDS in New York City. “HIV continues to broadside us from directions we do not necessarily expect.”
The 62-year-old Cameroon woman tested positive for HIV in 2004, shortly after moving to Paris from Cameroon, according to researchers. She lived near Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, but said she had no contact with apes or bush meat, a name often given to meat from wild animals in tropical counties. HIV can be passed through blood as people eat bush meat.
Researchers have yet to determine how wide-spread the new HIV strain is. However, the virus’ rapid replication indicates that it has adapted to human cells.
posted by
Chavon Williams
at
12:37 PM
Friday, July 31, 2009
Mosquitoes used to deliver malaria ‘vaccine’
In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites to their victims.
The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not and developed malaria when exposed to the parasites later.
While using mosquitoes as vaccinators is impractical, the use of the live malaria parasites may be key to developing an effective traditionally-dispensed vaccine. One of the Study’s researchers, Dr. Robert Sauerwein, cautioned: "This is not a vaccine" as in a commercial product, but a way to show how whole parasites can be used like a vaccine to protect against disease”
The Study published in the New England Journal of Medicine capitalized on the facts that people can develop immunity to malaria if exposed to it many times and the drug chloroquine can kill parasites in the final bloodstream phase, when they are most dangerous.
The Study’s subjects where given chloroquine to protect them while they were gradually exposed to malaria parasites. Through this process, the subjects developed immunity.
Sanaria Inc. is in the process of testing a vaccine that uses live parasites.
New ways to prevent or treat malaria are needed because there is a growing resistance to artemisnin and chloroquine in areas heavily plagued by malaria outbreaks.
Malaria kills nearly a million people each year, mostly children under 5. The disease is spread mostly through mosquito bites.
For more information please see: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/361/5/468.
Labels: africa, artemisnin, chloroquine, Malaria, mosquito, vaccine
posted by
Jessica
at
6:42 AM