Virus Hunt: The Search for the Origin of HIV

259 Pages·2013·11.34 MB·English

by  Dorothy H Crawford

VIRUS HUNT
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VIRUS
HUNT
the search for the
origin of HIV
DOROTHY H. CRAWFORD
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Dorothy H. Crawford 2013
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First Edition published in 2013
Impression: 1
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a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
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above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
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and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
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ISBN 978–0–19–964114–7
Printed in Great Britain by
Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
List of Figures x
Introduction 1
1. The Puzzle of HIV-1 9
2. Tracing HIV to its Roots 35
3. The Primate Connection 65
4. From Rainforest to Research Laboratory 84
5. Timing the Jump 109
6. Vital First Steps 130
7. The Epic Journey Begins 151
8. Adapting to Humans 178
9. The Challenge of Pandemics 195
Endnotes 205
References 211
Further Reading 227
Glossary 229
Index 237
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PREFACE
Many books have been written about AIDS and the suffering of the
people, families, communities, and countries affected by it. Today
these issues remain as important as ever, but this book has rather a
different theme. In V irus Hunt we go behind the scenes to reveal the
work of the international teams of scientists that have painstak-
ingly uncovered the origin of the viruses that cause AIDS.
The idea behind the book is to tell the story of scientifi c discov-
eries over several decades that have eventually revealed the true
history of the AIDS pandemic. So this is not about what hap-
pened after the fi rst cases were described in the early 1980s but
rather about events that occurred around one hundred years ear-
lier that silently laid the foundations for the massive pandemic we
are experiencing today.
AIDS hit the headlines in 1981 when it was fi rst recognized in
the US. Very rapidly similar epidemics were reported in several
other countries. Human immunodefi ciency virus, or HIV, the
causative virus, was discovered within two years, but its exact ori-
gins were hotly debated for the next thirty years.
Virus Hunt recounts the scientifi c trail that eventually solved the
mystery of the origin of HIV. Cracking it required a wide range of
experts from laboratory scientists to epidemiologists, animal
ecologists, and evolutionary biologists, all working together as a
team. The journey has been a long and complicated one, fraught
with wrong turnings and false trails. At times progress was halted
by lack of available tools and had to wait for further technological
advances before it could take the next logical step. Along the way
vii
PREFACE
many previously unknown viruses have been discovered, not
least twelve ‘new’ HIVs that are presently spreading among us.
As a virologist I watched from the sidelines as the HIV story
unfolded and found it frankly riveting. As each new piece of the
puzzle fell into place we got closer to fi nding out just when, where,
how, and why HIV fi rst infected us and then spread like wildfi re,
until a logical picture fi nally emerged. Only then did the history
of HIV from the original infection of a single person to the present
total of over 60 million infections make any kind of sense.
Virus Hunt takes us on a journey from the US where AIDS was
fi rst identifi ed to Africa to uncover its origins. We then travel back
in time, following HIV from its discovery in France to the rainfor-
ests of west central Africa to search for its closest living relatives.
Finally, we follow its global journey from rural west central Africa
to local urban centres, and then on to the Caribbean. From here it
jumped to the US where the discovery of AIDS closes the circle.
I am not claiming that this story is now complete or that it will
not change in the future, because there remain holes to be fi lled
in, and, of course, further discoveries may alter our views. But
still it is a wonderful story of scientifi c endeavour which in my
opinion is well worth the telling.
‘If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but
if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certain-
ties’ (Sir Frances Bacon, 1561–1626).
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the following experts for their comments
and advice on the manuscript of this book:
Cristian Apetrei, Tulane National Primate Research Center, USA;
Kevin De Cock, Center for Global Health, Center for Disease Control
and Prevention, US; João Dinis de Sousa, Katholieke Universiteit
Leuven, Belgium; Beatrice Hahn, University of Pennsylvania, US;
John Iliffe, University of Cambridge, UK; Phillippe Lemey, Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Martine Peeters, University of
Montpellier, France; Peter Piot, London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, UK; Andrew Rambaut, University of Edinburgh,
UK; Marco Salemi, University of Florida, US; Robin Weiss, University
College London, UK; Mike Worobey, University of Arizona, USA.
I am grateful for the constant support provided by Latha Menon and
Emma Marchant at Oxford University Press and also thank the follow-
ing for reading and commenting on the draft manuscript: William
Alexander, Jeanne Bell, Richard Boyd, Rod Dalitz, Frances Fowler, Ingo
Johannessen, Barbara Judge, Jane Mitchell, and J Alero Thomas.
I am particularly indebted to John Mokili, San Diego State
University, California, USA, for organizing my fact-fi nding trip
to the Democratic Republic of Congo and also to Paul Sharp,
University of Edinburgh, whose fascinating research seminars
fi rst inspired me to write this book. Paul has also given generously
of his time with support and advice during the writing of the
book and has provided the evolutionary trees.
The research undertaken for this book was supported by a
grant from the Wellcome Trust.
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