Читать книгу The Darkness - Matt Brennan - Страница 2

The origin of the AIDS virus has been traced back to two separate Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses (or SIVs). A single chimpanzee killed and ate two different species of monkey who were both infected with their individual species version of SIVs. Neither version of the virus was harmful to the chimp on its own, but those viruses, called lentiviruses, were retroviruses. Hence, they have a notoriously slow and sloppy replication process, which take place in the nucleus of a host cell. They use the host cell’s own genetic material to replicate, which allows for frequent mutations over a short period of time. One such mutation combined chimp’s DNA with parts of the two other viruses DNA. This new virus fooled the immune system into thinking it was, in fact, a part of the chimp’s own physiology. From that humble beginning, the virus spread throughout the chimp population much the same way HIV has moved through our own culture, with the exchange of bodily fluids. The trafficking of bushmeat (wild animal meat in Africa) is believed to be the cause of the transmission of SIVs to the human population, where it used the same melding process to transform itself into HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). Experts refer to this phenomenon as “viral sex.” It is believed this genetic melding is how retroviruses have made the jump from one species to another since the beginning of time.