Researchers who analysed wild chimp droppings announced that HIV originated in wild apes in Cameroon and then spread in humans across Africa and eventually the world.

The study, published in the journal Science, supports other studies that suggest that people caught the deadly human immunodeficiency virus from chimpanzees, perhaps by eating them. The study says HIV appears to have been passed onto humans from animals they slaughtered. Chimpanzees are a delicacy and are widely eaten in most countries in West Africa.

The scientists from Cameroon, Europe and the US discovered that wild chimps in southern Cameroon are infected with the simian immuno-deficiency virus (SIV), a close relative of HIV that is believed to have slipped from chimps into humans many decades ago. While scientists have known for several years that captive chimps harbour SIV, this is the first time they have detected SIV in wild chimps in significant numbers, suggesting that the animals are "reservoirs" of viruses that gave rise to HIV.

Recreating the history of HIV-1 origins, the researchers said an ancestor of the SIV persisting today in chimps jumped into humans in the region several decades ago. It is still unclear how long SIV took to mutate into HIV-1 in humans. But the virus travelled along rivers to reach Congo where previous studies have shown the HIV-1 pandemic started.

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