Infection of a Laboratory Worker with Simian Immunodeficiency Virus

Abstract

Simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) are primate lentiviruses that are morphologically similar and biologically related to human immunodeficiency viruses (HIVs)^1-4. SIVs naturally infect some nonhuman primate species, such as African green monkeys and sooty mangabey monkeys, without causing immunodeficiency. In contrast, experimental SIV infection of other susceptible primate species, such as macaques, can cause chronic wasting syndromes and a disease similar to the human acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)^5-10. Because of the similarities between the human and nonhuman lentiviruses, SIV and its susceptible primate host have become the principal model for studying the pathogenesis of AIDS and developing an HIV vaccine. The SIVs from mangabeys and captive macaques (SIV_MAC) are genetically and antigenically related most closely to HIV type 2 (HIV-2), with substantial serologic cross-reactivity¹¹. Recent molecular evidence suggests that HIV-2 and SIV_MAC may be even more closely related to each other than was previously thought^12,13. However, infection of a human with SIV has not been documented.