Demand for Bush Meat Threatens Future of Study
8/19/99
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Title: Demand for Bush Meat Threatens Future of Study
Source: Cable News Network
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 19, 1999
Byline: Gary Strieker
LOMIE, Cameroon (CNN) - A growing number of the baby chimpanzees
arriving at this care facility are "bush-meat orphans" whose families
were butchered and sold for human consumption in Cameroon.
A quick blood test reveals a newly arrived infant to be free of the
simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a virus closely related to HIV
in humans.
Scientists have recently discovered a number of SIV cases among the
adult chimpanzee population of Central Africa. The disease appears
not to be transmitted from mother to infant, but mainly through
sexual contact.
Many believe HIV infection in humans can be traced back to
chimpanzees or other African primates. The bush-meat hunters
themselves could hold the key to understanding how humans acquired
the disease.
One hunter who was nearly killed by a wounded gorilla in a bloody
encounter last year was found to be infected with several SIV-related
viruses.
It is not uncommon for viruses to spread between humans and other
primates, leading scientists to suspect that a larger survey of bush-
meat hunters would reveal a high rate of SIV- related viruses.
Studies are also planned to examine if chimpanzees and other animals
have developed a biological defense to prevent the onset of AIDS.
"The most important thing is to understand why African monkeys
naturally infected with SIV don't develop AIDS, in contrast to
humans," said Dr. Eric Nerrienet of the Pasteur Institute of
Cameroon.
But the increasing human demand for bush meat threatens the very
existence of wild chimpanzees in Central Africa, not to mention
further studies.
"The fact that the chimps are declining in number so rapidly
throughout the whole of their range could be a step backward for AIDS
research," said Chris Mitchell, an official with the Cameroon
Wildlife Aid Fund.
Conservationists hope that the newfound value of chimps as study
subjects will result in more government intervention to protect their
existence in the years to come.