Chimps, AIDS, And Immunity

Anonymous Coward writes "Researchers at the Biomedical Primate Research Center in The Netherlands have come up with a theory as to why modern chimps don't develop AIDS and its variants. The chimps in the study were found to share a usually uniform cluster of genes in the area that controls their immune systems' defenses against disease. This lack of genetic diversity suggests that a lethal sickness attacked chimps in the distant past. The theory postulates that approximately 2 million years ago an AIDS-like epidemic wiped out a large portion of the chimpanzee population. Those that survived developed an immunity to AIDS and its variants. If this theory holds true it may explain why some humans who are repeatedly exposed to HIV don't get sick."

Comments

Aids??

[FatherOfONe]

Oh they mean GRIDS.

I do know that a small amount of the population who gets GRIDS are not gay, and I feel deeply sorry for anyone who aquires the HIV virus, but lets not forget where this came from.

The original name should not have been changed.

Well then the solution is a simple one

[Suppafly]

We just inject the entire human population with the aids virus and then the next generation or so will be entirely immune. Granted, billions will die in the process, but we are talking about ridding the world of aids.

Oh get over yourself!

[NDPTAL85]

You would be 100% correct if this were the planet Vulcan and our president were named Spock. But its not. We're humans. Humans do not always follow the most logical course of action. To suggest that with mere education we could wipe out AIDS within a few generations by simply altering our behaviour suggest you wholly lack the most basic concept of what it is to be a human. Its bordering on a major social flaw on your part. I'm alomst tempted to ask you if you suffer from Aspergers syndrome or full blown Autism but I'd rather not jump to conclusions as quickly as most do on this website. We need a medicinal cure to combat this disease. Education isn't cutting it.