Guy-Michel Gershy-Damet

Isolation and characterization of a new chimpanzee lentivirus (simian immunodeficiency virus isolate cpz-ant) from a wild-captured chimpanzee

ConclusionsThis study shows that natural infection of wild-captured chimpanzees with an HIV-related virus may not be uncommon. The diversity of the two chimpanzee isolates, the different geographical origin and the absence of disease suggest that chimpanzees have not recently become SIVcpz-infected.

Rapid spread of HIV infections in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 1987-1990.

In 1986 relatively high HIV seroprevalence rates were observed among prostitutes tuberculosis patients and pregnant women living in Abidjan Ivory Coast (1). Soon thereafter a high number of AIDS cases were reported (2). In order to evaluate the spread of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections in Abidjan we continued the surveillance of these populations from 1987 to 1990. The populations tested were selected each year in the same hospital for the pregnant women and the tuberculosis patients and in the same areas of Abidjan for the prostitutes. The number tested each year is shown in Table 1. The mean ages in the groups were similar. The serum samples were tested for antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2 by an ELISA (ELAVIA-1 and ELAVIA-2; Diagnostics Pasteur France). All positive sera were retested by a corresponding Western blot (Dupont de Nemours US and Diagnostics Pasteur). The criterion for positivity was the presence of antibodies to at least 2 envelope proteins (WHO criteria). Comparison of the groups was done by chi-square analysis. Among prostitutes overall HIV seroprevalence increased from 39.7% +or- 4.5% to 69.4% +or- 10.9% (chi square=17.5 p<0.001) between 1987 and 1990. This overall increase was due to increases in HIV-1 (22.4% +or- 7.7% to 41.7% +or- 11.6%; chi square=7.76 p<0.01) and dual HIV-1 + HIV-2 infection (6.9% +or- 4.7% to 20.8% +or- 9.5%; chi square=8 p<0.01) whereas HIV-2 infection remained stable (Figure 1). Among pregnant women no significant increase of HIV infection was observed (5.9% +or- 3.8% to 8.1% +or- 3.8%; chi square=0.55 n.s.). Among tuberculosis patients overall HIV seroprevalence increased from 27% +or- 3.5% to 38.7% +or- 5.5% (chi square=13.5 p<0.001) and was due to an increase of HIV-1 infection (10% +or- 2.4% to 30.4% +or- 5%; chi square=63.8 p<0.001). These data illustrate the dramatic spread of HIV infection in Abidjan especially among Abidjan prostitutes. Considering the low frequency of effective preventive measures taken the women are at very high risk of acquiring and/or transmitting HIV. Targeted interventions aiming at increasing condom use are therefore of highest priority. AIDS is still the leading cause of death in Abidjan (3) and our data show that the impact of AIDS on the public health will be still greater in the coming years. (full text) (5 references cited in original document)

A STLV-III related human retrovirus, HTLV-IV: analysis of cross-reactivity with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

A category of viruses has been identified which is related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but is more closely related to a group of simian retroviruses (STLV-III). These viruses named HTLV-IV, LAV-II, or SBL-6669, are prevalent in West-Africa. In this study, we analysed the cross-reactivity at the protein level between HTLV-IV and HIV (HTLV-IIIB). The results indicate that most people infected with HTLV-IV have antibodies that react to the major gag protein of HIV p 24. There is also a high degree of immunologic cross-reactivity between the pol gene products of HIV and HTLV-IV. Among these the endonuclease/integrase is more conserved than the reverse transcriptase. In contrast, the envelope glycoproteins that are the most frequently detected antigens by antibodies from exposed individuals are serotype specific. These data make the env gene products the most interesting antigens for serotype specific diagnosis of human retroviruses infections.