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The Chimp and the River: How AIDS Emerged from an African Forest

Page 15

by David Quammen


  My other signal debts of gratitude are to Maria Guarnaschelli, my longtime editor at W. W. Norton, who gave her keen eye, her astute judgment, and her literary passion to this book as well as a half dozen others we’ve collaborated on over the past twenty-five years; and to Amanda Urban, my wonderfully ferocious and smart agent at ICM. Many other people at Norton and ICM have also contributed to this project, and I very much appreciate their work. Renée Golden, Binky Urban’s predecessor in my professional life, helped me for decades along the route that led toward this sort of project. Gloria Thiede, faithful Gloria, transcribed all the interviews quoted here. Emily Krieger combined assiduous research with a reader’s sense of flow, both crucial, in serving as my fact-checker. Daphne Gillam drew the artful, human-handed map. My amazing wife Betsy was always nearby to listen, to read, to discuss, to counsel, and to hold the family together, even while fulfilling her own professional duties. Harry, Nick, Stella, Oscar: Thanks for all you give. I’ve been blessed with an extraordinary network of colleagues, sources, professional partners, friends, and loved ones, and I’m quite aware that the work couldn’t happen without them.

  INDEX

  Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.

  Abong Mbang, Cameroon, 75

  Africa:

  Central, see Central Africa

  East, 118, 132

  southern, 132

  sub-Saharan, 34

  West, 37, 38, 40, 118, 132

  African green monkey (Chlorocebus), 30–32, 33–34

  AIDS:

  in chimpanzees, 112, 116, 117, 122–25

  emergence of, 17–23, 43–139

  in gay men, 17–18, 23, 24, 44, 139

  geographical dissemination of, 131–39

  in Haitians, 19, 22, 133–38

  in hemophiliacs, 23, 24, 138

  Kinshasa emergence of, 68–69, 71–72, 108–9, 125–26, 129–33

  as pandemic, 38, 80, 125

  R0 of, 69, 70, 72, 87, 108

  sexual mores and, 70, 109, 126

  sexual transmission of, 20, 24, 108, 128

  syringe reuse and, 23, 24, 108, 126–31, 139

  threshold density of, 128

  transmissibility of, 20

  as zoonotic disease, 17, 125

  see also HIV-1

  Ammann, Karl, 76, 80

  And the Band Played On (Shilts), 20, 136

  Angola, 132

  antibodies, screening for, 63, 64

  to HIV, 32, 39

  to SIV, 30, 113, 114

  atoxyl, 128

  Auerbach, David M., 20–21, 22

  Bailes, Elizabeth, 111

  Bakwele people, 77–79, 85

  Barré-Sinoussi, Françoise, 27

  basic reproduction rate, see R0

  beka (initiation ceremony), 78–79

  Belgian Congo, see Congo, Democratic Republic of the

  Belgium, 133

  biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratories, 50

  blood plasma trade, 134–36

  blood transfusions, hepatitis B and, 20–21

  Bobangi people, 103–5

  Boumba Bek National Park, Cameroon, 76

  Brazzaville, ROC, 70, 73, 106–8, 109, 125

  Burundi, 52

  bushmeat, 50–51, 74, 76, 94–96

  great apes as, 77–79, 81, 94

  Buy’em-Sell’ems, 77, 90–91, 92–93

  Cameroon, 126, 128

  HIV in, 42

  as locus of HIV spillover, 65, 66–73, 79, 80, 109, 118, 125

  logging in, 75–77

  poaching in, 74–75, 80–81

  Candida yeast, 17–18, 22

  Cape Verde, 32

  CD4 protein receptor, 85

  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AIDS and, 18, 20, 21, 137

  Central Africa:

  HIV in, 42, 132

  as locus of HIV-1 spillover, 30, 62

  trypanosomiasis inoculations in, 126–29

  Central African Republic, 80–81, 132

  Centre International de Recherches Médicales (CIRMF), 39

  Cercocebus atys (sooty mangabey), 34–37, 38, 40, 43, 50

  “Chimpanzee Reservoirs of Pandemic and Nonpandemic HIV-1” (Keele et al.), 68

  chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes):

  AIDS in, 112, 116, 117, 122–25

  bushmeat from, 77–79, 94

  central (P. t. troglodytes), 62, 65, 68

  eastern (P. t. schweinfurthii), 63

  as HIV reservoirs, 39–41, 62

  P. t. vellerosus, 65

  SIV in, see simian immunovirus (SIV), in chimpanzees

  Chimpanzees of Gombe, The (Goodall), 115

  China, blood plasma donors in, 135

  Chlorocebus (African green monkeys), 30–32, 33–34

  Congo, Democratic Republic of the (DRC; Zaire), 52, 55, 56, 126

  emergence of AIDS pandemic in, 22, 44, 46, 68–69, 71–72, 108–9, 125–26

  Haitians in, 133–34

  Congo, Republic of the (ROC), 66, 73, 80–81, 82, 83, 93–94

  emergent AIDS cases in, 69–70, 72–73

  logging in, 82

  Congo basin, 72, 76

  Congolese Red Cross, 130

  Congo River, 62, 68, 69–72, 105–6, 125

  Côte d’Ivoire, 42

  Curtis, Tom, 53, 54

  Cut Hunter, 83–87, 126

  cut-hunter hypothesis, 50–51, 68–69, 83–91, 96–108, 112, 126

  dead-end hosts, 128

  deforestation, 75–77

  Delta Regional Primate Research Center, 35–37

  diphtheria, 51

  disease, see infectious disease

  Dispensaire Antivénérien, 130–32

  DNA, in retroviruses, 24, 85

  Dongmo, Zacharie, 76–78

  Douala, Cameroon, 73

  DRC60, 46–50, 55, 58, 59–60, 72, 131, 138

  Drori, Ofir, 73–75, 77

  Dugas, Gaëtan (Patient Zero), 19–21, 44, 85, 139

  duikers, 74, 94

  Duvalier, François “Papa Doc,” 133, 136

  Duvalier, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc,” 136

  Eating Apes (Peterson), 76

  Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus), 39, 81, 139

  ecosystems, human-caused disruption of, 75–77, 82

  epidemics, threshold density in, 128

  see also infectious disease

  Equatorial Guinea, 42

  Essex, Myron “Max,” 28–33, 54

  Ethiopia, 132

  Europe, AIDS in, 42

  evolution, 33

  of HIV, 56, 59–61, 109, 125, 129

  Fay, J. Michael, 73

  fecal sampling, 64–65, 66, 117–19

  feline leukemia virus (FeLV), 25, 28

  femmes libres (free women), 71, 130–31, 134

  Franceville, Gabon, 39

  free women (femmes libres), 71, 130–31, 134

  French Equatorial Africa (FEA), 70–71, 127–28

  Friedman-Kien, Alvin E., 18–19, 22, 23

  Gabon, 126

  AIDS in, 42, 72

  Gallo, Robert, 25–26, 27, 28, 29, 32

  Gao, Feng, 62, 63

  Ghana, 42

  Gibraltar, 44

  Gilbert, Tom, 136–38

  Gimble (chimpanzee), 114, 117, 118, 119

  Gombe National Park, Tanzania, 63, 112–25

  Gombe Stream Research Center, 114–15, 120

  gonorrhea, 129, 130

  Goodall, Jane, 63, 112, 113, 114–18

  gorillas, bushmeat from, 78, 79, 94

  Gorinstein, Joseph B., 135, 136

  Gottlieb, Michael, 17–18, 22, 23, 44, 139

  great apes, 80–81

  as bushmeat, 77–79, 81, 94

  see also chimpanzees; gorillas

  greater spot-nosed monkeys, 110, 111

  Guinea-Bissau, 32, 38, 42

  Hahn, Beatrice, 111

  and Gombe SIV resea
rch, 112–25

  in search for origins of HIV-1, 61–64, 67–70, 72, 73, 109, 128–29, 138

  Haiti, blood plasma trade in, 134–36

  Haitians, AIDS in, 19, 22, 133–38

  Hamilton, William, 55, 56–58

  Harvard School of Public Health, 28

  Haseltine, William, 53

  Hemo Caribbean, 135–36

  hemophiliacs, AIDS in, 23, 24, 138

  hepatitis B, 20–21, 127

  Heymann, David, 53

  Hirsch, Vanessa M., 37–38

  HIV (human immunodeficiency viruses):

  discovery of, 24

  as retroviruses, 24–28

  SIV as progenitor of, 29–31

  HIV-1, 32–33

  evolutionary divergence of, 59–61, 109, 125, 129

  genome of, 33, 41–42

  group N, 42, 125

  group O, 42, 50, 125

  lethality of, 124–25

  mutation of, 59–60, 88, 131–32

  pathogenic mechanism of, 62

  recombination in, 131

  search for reservoir of, 38–41

  see also AIDS

  HIV-1, group M, 42, 44, 50, 107, 109, 118

  chimpanzees as reservoir of, 39–41, 62

  DRC60 gene sequence of, 46–50, 58, 59–60, 72, 131, 138

  geographical dissemination of, 131–39

  SIVcpz as progenitor of, 29–31, 62, 63, 65, 66–67, 68–69, 80, 125

  subtype B of, 132–39

  subtypes of, 132

  ZR59 gene sequence of, 46, 59–60, 72, 108, 131, 138

  HIV-2, 32–33, 125

  genome of, 33, 34, 108

  geographical dissemination of, 38–39

  groups of, 42, 43, 132

  transmissibility of, 38

  virulence of, 38

  as zoonosis, 38, 50

  HIV spillovers, 38, 40, 41–43, 46, 50–51, 60–61, 62

  Cameroon as locus of, 62, 65, 66–73, 79, 80, 108–9, 125

  Central Africa as locus of, 62

  cut-hunter hypothesis of, 50–51, 68–69, 83–91, 96–108, 112, 125, 126

  mechanics of, 67–108, 112, 125

  oral polio vaccine (OPV) hypothesis of, 51–56, 60–61, 129

  homosexuals, male, AIDS in, 17–18, 19, 24, 44, 139

  Hooper, Edward, 54–55, 129

  host-virus relationship, virulence and, 31

  humans, ecosystem disruption by, 75–77, 82

  human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs), 25–26, 29

  see also HIV

  iatrogenic infections, 53

  immunodeficiency, 17, 19

  “Increased Mortality and AIDS-like Immunopathology in Wild Chimpanzees Infected with SIVcpz” (Keele et al.), 124–25

  India, AIDS in, 132

  infectious disease:

  basic reproduction rate in, see R0

  dead-end hosts and, 128

  thresholds of, 128

  see also epidemics; specific diseases and pathogens

  Institut Pasteur, 24

  intravenous drug users:

  AIDS in, 23, 24

  hepatitis B in, 21

  Jamot, Eugène, 127, 128

  Jane Goodall Institute, 115, 119–20

  Jolo (boatman), 92, 93, 94

  Journal of Virology, 110

  Justin, Ekeme, 83

  Kabila, Laurent, 56

  Kabongo, Jean-Marie M., 47–49, 60

  Kadéï River, 75–76

  Kako people, 77

  Kanki, Phyllis, 28–33, 54

  Kaposi’s sarcoma, 18–19, 20, 22

  Keele, Brandon F., 64–67, 69, 72, 80, 119–20, 122, 124

  Kenya, 33, 34

  Kibale National Park, Uganda, 113–14

  Kika, Cameroon, 82–83, 92

  Kinshasa, University of, 46, 47, 55, 56, 60

  Kinshasa (Léopoldville), DRC, 22

  emergence of AIDS pandemic in, 68–69, 71–72, 108–9, 125–26, 129–33

  Kisangani, DRC, 52, 56–57, 132

  Koprowski, Hilary, 52, 53–54, 55, 56

  Korber, Bette, 46

  Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology, 25

  LAGA (Last Great Ape Organization), 73–74

  LAV (lymphadenopathy virus), 26

  see also HIV

  Leakey, Louis, 116

  Léopoldville, see Kinshasa, DRC

  leprosy, 35–36, 126–27

  Lesotho, 132

  Levy, Jay A., 27

  Lobeke, Cameroon, 66

  Lobeke National Park, Cameroon, 76, 80

  logging, 75–77, 82

  Lonsdorf, Elizabeth, 122

  Los Angeles, Calif., early AIDS cases in, 17–18, 21, 22, 139

  Lumumba, Patrice, 133

  Lumumbashi, DRC, 132

  lymphocytes, 137

  depleted levels of, 18, 19, 122–23, 125

  see also T cells

  macaques:

  rhesus (M. mulatta), 36, 37, 52

  SIV in, 29–30

  SV40 in, 52

  malaria, 126

  cause of, see Plasmodium

  falciparum (malignant), 57

  Mambele, Cameroon, 66, 79–80

  “Manchester sailor,” 44–45

  mangabeys:

  red-capped, 110, 111

  sooty (Cercocebus atys), 34–37, 38, 40, 43, 50

  Marburg virus, 139

  Marx, Preston, 129

  Mbah, Neville, 73, 82, 83, 94

  Mexico, 135

  Miami, Fla., early AIDS cases in, 19, 22

  Mobutu Sese Seko, 56, 134

  molecular phylogenetics, 61–62, 109, 138

  Moloundou, Cameroon, 82, 99

  Montagnier, Luc, 24–27, 28, 32

  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 18, 19, 23, 136

  Moyen-Congo, see Congo, Republic of the

  Mozambique, 132

  Muller, Martin, 113–14, 118

  Munga, Albert, 80–81

  Murphey-Corb, Michael Anne, 37

  mutation:

  of HIV-1, 59–60, 88, 131–32

  natural selection and, 88

  Muyembe, J. J., 55–56, 58, 60

  Mviri, Max, 73, 82–83, 92, 93–96

  Mycobacterium leprae, 35–36

  National Cancer Institute, 25

  National Geographic, 117

  natural selection, mutation and, 88

  Nature, 34, 60, 62

  ndumbas, see free women

  New England Journal of Medicine, 18

  New England Regional Primate Research Center, 28–29

  New Iberia, La., 35

  New York, N.Y., early AIDS cases in, 18–19, 21

  New York Times, 135, 136

  Ngbala, Cameroon, 90, 99

  Ngoko River, 81–82, 87, 89, 90, 92–93

  Njiforti, Hanson, 76, 77

  Nki National Park, Cameroon, 76

  “Noble Goals, Unforeseen Consequences” (Pepin), 126

  noninvasive sample collecting, 63–64, 113, 117

  Nottingham, University of, 111, 112

  opportunity, spillover and, 70, 72, 87, 133, 138

  oral candidiasis, 17–18, 22, 139

  oral polio vaccine (OPV) hypothesis, 51–56, 60–61, 129

  Origins of AIDS, The (Pepin), 126

  Oubangui-Chari, FEA, 127

  Oubangui River, 62

  Ouesso, ROC, 81, 82, 83, 90, 92, 93–97, 100–102

  pathogenicity, see virulence

  Patient Zero (Gaëtan Dugas), 19–21, 44, 85, 139

  Peeters, Martine, 39–41, 65, 68, 111, 118

  penicillin, 130

  Pepin, Jacques, 126, 127–30, 133, 134, 135, 136

  Peterson, Dale, 76

  phylogeny, of SIV and HIV, 66–67

  Pitchenik, Arthur E., 137

  plasmapheresis, 134–36

  Plasmodium, P. falciparum, 57

  see also malaria

  “Pneumocystis Pneumonia—Los Angeles” (Gottlieb), 18

  pneumonia, Pneumocystis carinii, 17
–18, 19, 20, 22, 29, 44, 137

  poliomyelitis:

  vaccine for, 51–56, 60–61, 129

  polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, 45, 64

  population density, 126

  Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 134, 135

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 136

  prostitutes, 31–32, 70–71, 126, 130, 132

  see also free women

  protein receptors, 85

  R0 (basic reproduction rate), of AIDS, 69, 70, 72, 87, 108

  rabies, 139

  Raphael, Jane, 120–21

  Rask, Grethe, 22, 44

  recombination:

  in HIV-1, 131

  in SIV, 111–12

  red-capped mangabeys, 110, 111

  retroviruses:

  characteristics of, 24, 85

  HIV as, 24–28

  rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), 36, 37, 52

  River, The: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS (Hooper), 54–55

  RNA:

  in retroviruses, 24, 85

  viral, 58, 59, 64, 118

  RNAlater, 64, 121

  Rolling Stone, 53, 54

  Royal Society, 55, 56, 129

  Rwanda, 52

  Sabin, Albert B., 52

  Salk, Jonas, 52

  Salk vaccine, 52

  San Francisco, Calif., early AIDS cases in, 20, 21, 27

  Sangha River, 68, 69, 80, 81, 87, 90, 93, 103, 125, 127

  Santiago, Mario L., 63, 68, 113, 118, 119

  Science, 25, 26, 29, 30, 63, 68

  Senegal, 31–33, 34, 35, 38

  sexual mores, AIDS and, 70, 109, 126

  Sharp, Paul, 111

  Shilts, Randy, 20, 21, 136, 139

  simian immunovirus (SIV), 29–32

  in African green monkeys (SIVagm), 30–32, 33–34, 37

  genome of, 33–34, 109, 111

  in greater spot-nosed monkeys (SIVgsn), 110, 111

  in macaques (SIVmac), 36–37

  prevalence rates of, 66

  recombination in, 111–12

  in red-capped mangabeys, 110, 111

  in sooty mangabeys (SIVsm), 34–38, 40, 43, 50

  simian immunovirus (SIV), in chimpanzees (SIVcpz), 37, 40–41, 43, 52–53, 79, 85

  age of, 111

  Gombe study of, 112–25

  as HIV-1 progenitor, 29–31, 62, 63, 65, 66–67, 68–69, 80, 88, 125

  sexual transmission of, 119

  vertical transmission of, 119

  virulence of, 109–10, 111, 112

  sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis), 108, 126–29

  smallpox, 51

  sooty mangabey (Cercocebus atys), 34–37, 38, 40, 43, 50

  South Africa, 34, 132

  spillover, opportunity and, 70, 72, 87, 133, 138

  see also specific diseases

  Stanley Pool, 72

  Stanleyville, see Kisangani, DRC

 

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