jfh@netcom.COM (Jack Hamilton) (05/02/91)
In article <1991Apr30.192751.19794@cs.ucla.edu> bredy@alkp.serum.kodak.com (Dan Bredy (x37360)) writes: >This is my first time posting to this group. I have a question which probably >is not related to the subject heading, but nevertheless very important (IMHO). I could ask why it's very important, but maybe I just have a dirty mind. I wonder if Jeff D (FWA) reads this newsgroup. >Can animals carry the aids virus? For example, if an animal bites an HIV+ >person, can they transmit the virus? I think they probability is very, very small. First, biting is not a very efficient way to transmit HIV. Second, HIV doesn't reproduce in animals other than humans (that's one reason why testing drugs and vaccines is so difficult - human subjects are needed), so the virus would have to be left over from the first bite. Third, the physical conditions inside a non-human host (temperature, pH, the host's own immune system) would probably kill off the original virus very quickly. The odds are probably about the same as winning the California State Lottery and being struck by lightning, at the same time. -- Jack Hamilton jfh@netcom.com apple!netcom!jfh
tmb@ai.mit.edu (Thomas M. Breuel) (05/03/91)
In article <1991May2.101743.27040@cs.ucla.edu> jfh@netcom.COM (Jack Hamilton) writes: >Can animals carry the aids virus? For example, if an animal bites an HIV+ >person, can they transmit the virus? Second, HIV doesn't reproduce in animals other than humans (that's one reason why testing drugs and vaccines is so difficult - human subjects are needed), so the virus would have to be left over from the first bite. That's false. HIV can replicate in several other species besides humans. There is, in fact, increasing evidence that precursors of the HIV virus may have been transmitted to humans independently several times in this century and before. The difficulty with vaccine studies in animals is not that the virus can't infect them, but that it is difficult to evaluate how the level of protection a vaccine confers upon an animal translates into protection of humans.
jfh@netcom.COM (Jack Hamilton) (05/06/91)
In article <1991May3.105458.7668@cs.ucla.edu> tmb@ai.mit.edu (Thomas M. Breuel) writes: >That's false. HIV can replicate in several other species besides >humans. There is, in fact, increasing evidence that precursors of >the HIV virus may have been transmitted to humans independently >several times in this century and before. I'd be interested in hearing references for your first assertion. -- Jack Hamilton jfh@netcom.com apple!netcom!jfh
tmb@ai.mit.edu (Thomas M. Breuel) (05/06/91)
In article <1991May6.005925.4374@cs.ucla.edu> jfh@netcom.COM (Jack Hamilton) writes: In article <1991May3.105458.7668@cs.ucla.edu> tmb@ai.mit.edu (Thomas M. Breuel) writes: >That's false. HIV can replicate in several other species besides >humans. There is, in fact, increasing evidence that precursors of >the HIV virus may have been transmitted to humans independently >several times in this century and before. I'd be interested in hearing references for your first assertion. E.g.: "Isolation and Characterization of HIV from Infected Chimpanzees", Castro et. al., Proc. Ann. Meet. Am. Assoc. Cancer Res, 29, 1988. For the 2-month median time to seroconversion that I mentioned earlier, for example: "Defining the Interval between HIV Infection and the Appearance of HIV antibody.", Horsburgh et. al., Int. Conf. AIDS, June 1989. (NB: these just happen to be two random references that I have handy. If you want a complete bibliography, you should make the effort and go to the library yourself.)