Simian foamy virus
| Simian foamy virus | |
|---|---|
| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group VI (ssRNA-RT) |
| Family: | Retroviridae |
| Subfamily: | Spumaretrovirinae |
| Genus: | Spumavirus |
| Species: | Simian foamy virus |
The simian foamy virus (SFV) is a spumavirus. Its discovery in primates has led to some speculation that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may have been spread to the human species in Africa through contact with blood from apes, monkeys, and through handling or consuming bushmeat.
About 70–90% of primates born in captivity have SFV. Animals with SFV do not display symptoms or become ill. However, recent research suggests some primates that contract SFV would become predisposed to other viruses. People who have had contact with primates can become infected with SFV.
Although the simian foamy virus is endemic in African apes and monkeys, no evidence indicates it causes any harm to primate hosts. Its ability to cross over to humans was proven in 2004 by a joint United States and Cameroonian team which found the retrovirus in gorillas, mandrills, and guenons; unexpectedly, they also found it in 10 of 1,100 local Cameroon residents. Of those found infected, the majority are males who had been bitten by a primate. While this only accounts for 1% of the population, this detail alarms some who fear the outbreak of another zoonotic epidemic.
SFV causes cells to fuse with each other to form so-called syncytia, or more figurative, "giant cells", which look, on a slide, like foamy bubbles, hence its name. It has been tentatively linked to several diseases, but without any real evidence.
The phylogenetic tree analysis of SFV polymerase and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII has been shown as a powerful marker used for primate phylogeny) from African and Asian monkeys and apes provides very similar branching order and divergence times among the two trees, supporting the cospeciation. Also, the substitution rate in the SFV gene was found to be extremely slow, i.e. the SFV has evolved at a very low rate (1.7×10−8 substitutions per site per year). These results suggest SFV has been cospeciated with Old World primates for about 30 million years, making them the oldest known vertebrate RNA viruses.
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