Scientists track HIV origins to chimpanzees in remote Cameroon jungle

RESEARCHERS have discovered a “missing link” in the search for the origin of HIV, it emerged yesterday.

Scientists from theUniversities of Nottingham, Montpellier and Alabama have tracked the source of the killer virus to a colony of wild-living chimpanzees in southern Cameroon, and believe the area is where humans first picked up the strain.

The findings of the 10-year study to locate the source of HIV provide a crucial link between Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIVcpz), a virus similar to HIV that is well-known to affect chimpanzees, and the cause of human AIDS.