New HIV strain

Gorillas have been found, for the first time, to be a source of the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV.



Previous research had shown that the HIV-1 strain, the main source of human infections, originated from a virus in chimpanzees.



Researchers have now discovered an HIV infection in a Cameroonian woman, which is clearly linked to a gorilla strain.



A researcher attached to Nature Medicine told the BBC that although it is a new type of HIV, current drugs might still help to combat its effects.



HIV originated from a similar virus in chimpanzees called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV).



Although HIV/AIDS was first recognized by scientists in the 1980s, it is believed to have first entered the human population early in the twentieth century in the region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.