My other signal debts of gratitude are to Maria Guarnaschelli, my longtime editor at W. W. Norton, who gave her keen eye, her astute judgment, and her literary passion to this book as well as a half dozen others we’ve collaborated on over the past twenty-five years; and to Amanda Urban, my wonderfully ferocious and smart agent at ICM. Many other people at Norton and ICM have also contributed to this project, and I very much appreciate their work. Renée Golden, Binky Urban’s predecessor in my professional life, helped me for decades along the route that led toward this sort of project. Gloria Thiede, faithful Gloria, transcribed all the interviews quoted here. Emily Krieger combined assiduous research with a reader’s sense of flow, both crucial, in serving as my fact-checker. Daphne Gillam drew the artful, human-handed map. My amazing wife Betsy was always nearby to listen, to read, to discuss, to counsel, and to hold the family together, even while fulfilling her own professional duties. Harry, Nick, Stella, Oscar: Thanks for all you give. I’ve been blessed with an extraordinary network of colleagues, sources, professional partners, friends, and loved ones, and I’m quite aware that the work couldn’t happen without them.
INDEX
Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
Abong Mbang, Cameroon, 75
Africa:
Central, see Central Africa
East, 118, 132
southern, 132
sub-Saharan, 34
West, 37, 38, 40, 118, 132
African green monkey (Chlorocebus), 30–32, 33–34
AIDS:
in chimpanzees, 112, 116, 117, 122–25
emergence of, 17–23, 43–139
in gay men, 17–18, 23, 24, 44, 139
geographical dissemination of, 131–39
in Haitians, 19, 22, 133–38
in hemophiliacs, 23, 24, 138
Kinshasa emergence of, 68–69, 71–72, 108–9, 125–26, 129–33
as pandemic, 38, 80, 125
R0 of, 69, 70, 72, 87, 108
sexual mores and, 70, 109, 126
sexual transmission of, 20, 24, 108, 128
syringe reuse and, 23, 24, 108, 126–31, 139
threshold density of, 128
transmissibility of, 20
as zoonotic disease, 17, 125
see also HIV-1
Ammann, Karl, 76, 80
And the Band Played On (Shilts), 20, 136
Angola, 132
antibodies, screening for, 63, 64
to HIV, 32, 39
to SIV, 30, 113, 114
atoxyl, 128
Auerbach, David M., 20–21, 22
Bailes, Elizabeth, 111
Bakwele people, 77–79, 85
Barré-Sinoussi, Françoise, 27
basic reproduction rate, see R0
beka (initiation ceremony), 78–79
Belgian Congo, see Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Belgium, 133
biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratories, 50
blood plasma trade, 134–36
blood transfusions, hepatitis B and, 20–21
Bobangi people, 103–5
Boumba Bek National Park, Cameroon, 76
Brazzaville, ROC, 70, 73, 106–8, 109, 125
Burundi, 52
bushmeat, 50–51, 74, 76, 94–96
great apes as, 77–79, 81, 94
Buy’em-Sell’ems, 77, 90–91, 92–93
Cameroon, 126, 128
HIV in, 42
as locus of HIV spillover, 65, 66–73, 79, 80, 109, 118, 125
logging in, 75–77
poaching in, 74–75, 80–81
Candida yeast, 17–18, 22
Cape Verde, 32
CD4 protein receptor, 85
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AIDS and, 18, 20, 21, 137
Central Africa:
HIV in, 42, 132
as locus of HIV-1 spillover, 30, 62
trypanosomiasis inoculations in, 126–29
Central African Republic, 80–81, 132
Centre International de Recherches Médicales (CIRMF), 39
Cercocebus atys (sooty mangabey), 34–37, 38, 40, 43, 50
“Chimpanzee Reservoirs of Pandemic and Nonpandemic HIV-1” (Keele et al.), 68
chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes):
AIDS in, 112, 116, 117, 122–25
bushmeat from, 77–79, 94
central (P. t. troglodytes), 62, 65, 68
eastern (P. t. schweinfurthii), 63
as HIV reservoirs, 39–41, 62
P. t. vellerosus, 65
SIV in, see simian immunovirus (SIV), in chimpanzees
Chimpanzees of Gombe, The (Goodall), 115
China, blood plasma donors in, 135
Chlorocebus (African green monkeys), 30–32, 33–34
Congo, Democratic Republic of the (DRC; Zaire), 52, 55, 56, 126
emergence of AIDS pandemic in, 22, 44, 46, 68–69, 71–72, 108–9, 125–26
Haitians in, 133–34
Congo, Republic of the (ROC), 66, 73, 80–81, 82, 83, 93–94
emergent AIDS cases in, 69–70, 72–73
logging in, 82
Congo basin, 72, 76
Congolese Red Cross, 130
Congo River, 62, 68, 69–72, 105–6, 125
Côte d’Ivoire, 42
Curtis, Tom, 53, 54
Cut Hunter, 83–87, 126
cut-hunter hypothesis, 50–51, 68–69, 83–91, 96–108, 112, 126
dead-end hosts, 128
deforestation, 75–77
Delta Regional Primate Research Center, 35–37
diphtheria, 51
disease, see infectious disease
Dispensaire Antivénérien, 130–32
DNA, in retroviruses, 24, 85
Dongmo, Zacharie, 76–78
Douala, Cameroon, 73
DRC60, 46–50, 55, 58, 59–60, 72, 131, 138
Drori, Ofir, 73–75, 77
Dugas, Gaëtan (Patient Zero), 19–21, 44, 85, 139
duikers, 74, 94
Duvalier, François “Papa Doc,” 133, 136
Duvalier, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc,” 136
Eating Apes (Peterson), 76
Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus), 39, 81, 139
ecosystems, human-caused disruption of, 75–77, 82
epidemics, threshold density in, 128
see also infectious disease
Equatorial Guinea, 42
Essex, Myron “Max,” 28–33, 54
Ethiopia, 132
Europe, AIDS in, 42
evolution, 33
of HIV, 56, 59–61, 109, 125, 129
Fay, J. Michael, 73
fecal sampling, 64–65, 66, 117–19
feline leukemia virus (FeLV), 25, 28
femmes libres (free women), 71, 130–31, 134
Franceville, Gabon, 39
free women (femmes libres), 71, 130–31, 134
French Equatorial Africa (FEA), 70–71, 127–28
Friedman-Kien, Alvin E., 18–19, 22, 23
Gabon, 126
AIDS in, 42, 72
Gallo, Robert, 25–26, 27, 28, 29, 32
Gao, Feng, 62, 63
Ghana, 42
Gibraltar, 44
Gilbert, Tom, 136–38
Gimble (chimpanzee), 114, 117, 118, 119
Gombe National Park, Tanzania, 63, 112–25
Gombe Stream Research Center, 114–15, 120
gonorrhea, 129, 130
Goodall, Jane, 63, 112, 113, 114–18
gorillas, bushmeat from, 78, 79, 94
Gorinstein, Joseph B., 135, 136
Gottlieb, Michael, 17–18, 22, 23, 44, 139
great apes, 80–81
as bushmeat, 77–79, 81, 94
see also chimpanzees; gorillas
greater spot-nosed monkeys, 110, 111
Guinea-Bissau, 32, 38, 42
Hahn, Beatrice, 111
and Gombe SIV resea
rch, 112–25
in search for origins of HIV-1, 61–64, 67–70, 72, 73, 109, 128–29, 138
Haiti, blood plasma trade in, 134–36
Haitians, AIDS in, 19, 22, 133–38
Hamilton, William, 55, 56–58
Harvard School of Public Health, 28
Haseltine, William, 53
Hemo Caribbean, 135–36
hemophiliacs, AIDS in, 23, 24, 138
hepatitis B, 20–21, 127
Heymann, David, 53
Hirsch, Vanessa M., 37–38
HIV (human immunodeficiency viruses):
discovery of, 24
as retroviruses, 24–28
SIV as progenitor of, 29–31
HIV-1, 32–33
evolutionary divergence of, 59–61, 109, 125, 129
genome of, 33, 41–42
group N, 42, 125
group O, 42, 50, 125
lethality of, 124–25
mutation of, 59–60, 88, 131–32
pathogenic mechanism of, 62
recombination in, 131
search for reservoir of, 38–41
see also AIDS
HIV-1, group M, 42, 44, 50, 107, 109, 118
chimpanzees as reservoir of, 39–41, 62
DRC60 gene sequence of, 46–50, 58, 59–60, 72, 131, 138
geographical dissemination of, 131–39
SIVcpz as progenitor of, 29–31, 62, 63, 65, 66–67, 68–69, 80, 125
subtype B of, 132–39
subtypes of, 132
ZR59 gene sequence of, 46, 59–60, 72, 108, 131, 138
HIV-2, 32–33, 125
genome of, 33, 34, 108
geographical dissemination of, 38–39
groups of, 42, 43, 132
transmissibility of, 38
virulence of, 38
as zoonosis, 38, 50
HIV spillovers, 38, 40, 41–43, 46, 50–51, 60–61, 62
Cameroon as locus of, 62, 65, 66–73, 79, 80, 108–9, 125
Central Africa as locus of, 62
cut-hunter hypothesis of, 50–51, 68–69, 83–91, 96–108, 112, 125, 126
mechanics of, 67–108, 112, 125
oral polio vaccine (OPV) hypothesis of, 51–56, 60–61, 129
homosexuals, male, AIDS in, 17–18, 19, 24, 44, 139
Hooper, Edward, 54–55, 129
host-virus relationship, virulence and, 31
humans, ecosystem disruption by, 75–77, 82
human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs), 25–26, 29
see also HIV
iatrogenic infections, 53
immunodeficiency, 17, 19
“Increased Mortality and AIDS-like Immunopathology in Wild Chimpanzees Infected with SIVcpz” (Keele et al.), 124–25
India, AIDS in, 132
infectious disease:
basic reproduction rate in, see R0
dead-end hosts and, 128
thresholds of, 128
see also epidemics; specific diseases and pathogens
Institut Pasteur, 24
intravenous drug users:
AIDS in, 23, 24
hepatitis B in, 21
Jamot, Eugène, 127, 128
Jane Goodall Institute, 115, 119–20
Jolo (boatman), 92, 93, 94
Journal of Virology, 110
Justin, Ekeme, 83
Kabila, Laurent, 56
Kabongo, Jean-Marie M., 47–49, 60
Kadéï River, 75–76
Kako people, 77
Kanki, Phyllis, 28–33, 54
Kaposi’s sarcoma, 18–19, 20, 22
Keele, Brandon F., 64–67, 69, 72, 80, 119–20, 122, 124
Kenya, 33, 34
Kibale National Park, Uganda, 113–14
Kika, Cameroon, 82–83, 92
Kinshasa, University of, 46, 47, 55, 56, 60
Kinshasa (Léopoldville), DRC, 22
emergence of AIDS pandemic in, 68–69, 71–72, 108–9, 125–26, 129–33
Kisangani, DRC, 52, 56–57, 132
Koprowski, Hilary, 52, 53–54, 55, 56
Korber, Bette, 46
Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology, 25
LAGA (Last Great Ape Organization), 73–74
LAV (lymphadenopathy virus), 26
see also HIV
Leakey, Louis, 116
Léopoldville, see Kinshasa, DRC
leprosy, 35–36, 126–27
Lesotho, 132
Levy, Jay A., 27
Lobeke, Cameroon, 66
Lobeke National Park, Cameroon, 76, 80
logging, 75–77, 82
Lonsdorf, Elizabeth, 122
Los Angeles, Calif., early AIDS cases in, 17–18, 21, 22, 139
Lumumba, Patrice, 133
Lumumbashi, DRC, 132
lymphocytes, 137
depleted levels of, 18, 19, 122–23, 125
see also T cells
macaques:
rhesus (M. mulatta), 36, 37, 52
SIV in, 29–30
SV40 in, 52
malaria, 126
cause of, see Plasmodium
falciparum (malignant), 57
Mambele, Cameroon, 66, 79–80
“Manchester sailor,” 44–45
mangabeys:
red-capped, 110, 111
sooty (Cercocebus atys), 34–37, 38, 40, 43, 50
Marburg virus, 139
Marx, Preston, 129
Mbah, Neville, 73, 82, 83, 94
Mexico, 135
Miami, Fla., early AIDS cases in, 19, 22
Mobutu Sese Seko, 56, 134
molecular phylogenetics, 61–62, 109, 138
Moloundou, Cameroon, 82, 99
Montagnier, Luc, 24–27, 28, 32
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 18, 19, 23, 136
Moyen-Congo, see Congo, Republic of the
Mozambique, 132
Muller, Martin, 113–14, 118
Munga, Albert, 80–81
Murphey-Corb, Michael Anne, 37
mutation:
of HIV-1, 59–60, 88, 131–32
natural selection and, 88
Muyembe, J. J., 55–56, 58, 60
Mviri, Max, 73, 82–83, 92, 93–96
Mycobacterium leprae, 35–36
National Cancer Institute, 25
National Geographic, 117
natural selection, mutation and, 88
Nature, 34, 60, 62
ndumbas, see free women
New England Journal of Medicine, 18
New England Regional Primate Research Center, 28–29
New Iberia, La., 35
New York, N.Y., early AIDS cases in, 18–19, 21
New York Times, 135, 136
Ngbala, Cameroon, 90, 99
Ngoko River, 81–82, 87, 89, 90, 92–93
Njiforti, Hanson, 76, 77
Nki National Park, Cameroon, 76
“Noble Goals, Unforeseen Consequences” (Pepin), 126
noninvasive sample collecting, 63–64, 113, 117
Nottingham, University of, 111, 112
opportunity, spillover and, 70, 72, 87, 133, 138
oral candidiasis, 17–18, 22, 139
oral polio vaccine (OPV) hypothesis, 51–56, 60–61, 129
Origins of AIDS, The (Pepin), 126
Oubangui-Chari, FEA, 127
Oubangui River, 62
Ouesso, ROC, 81, 82, 83, 90, 92, 93–97, 100–102
pathogenicity, see virulence
Patient Zero (Gaëtan Dugas), 19–21, 44, 85, 139
Peeters, Martine, 39–41, 65, 68, 111, 118
penicillin, 130
Pepin, Jacques, 126, 127–30, 133, 134, 135, 136
Peterson, Dale, 76
phylogeny, of SIV and HIV, 66–67
Pitchenik, Arthur E., 137
plasmapheresis, 134–36
Plasmodium, P. falciparum, 57
see also malaria
“Pneumocystis Pneumonia—Los Angeles” (Gottlieb), 18
pneumonia, Pneumocystis carinii, 17
–18, 19, 20, 22, 29, 44, 137
poliomyelitis:
vaccine for, 51–56, 60–61, 129
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, 45, 64
population density, 126
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 134, 135
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 136
prostitutes, 31–32, 70–71, 126, 130, 132
see also free women
protein receptors, 85
R0 (basic reproduction rate), of AIDS, 69, 70, 72, 87, 108
rabies, 139
Raphael, Jane, 120–21
Rask, Grethe, 22, 44
recombination:
in HIV-1, 131
in SIV, 111–12
red-capped mangabeys, 110, 111
retroviruses:
characteristics of, 24, 85
HIV as, 24–28
rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), 36, 37, 52
River, The: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS (Hooper), 54–55
RNA:
in retroviruses, 24, 85
viral, 58, 59, 64, 118
RNAlater, 64, 121
Rolling Stone, 53, 54
Royal Society, 55, 56, 129
Rwanda, 52
Sabin, Albert B., 52
Salk, Jonas, 52
Salk vaccine, 52
San Francisco, Calif., early AIDS cases in, 20, 21, 27
Sangha River, 68, 69, 80, 81, 87, 90, 93, 103, 125, 127
Santiago, Mario L., 63, 68, 113, 118, 119
Science, 25, 26, 29, 30, 63, 68
Senegal, 31–33, 34, 35, 38
sexual mores, AIDS and, 70, 109, 126
Sharp, Paul, 111
Shilts, Randy, 20, 21, 136, 139
simian immunovirus (SIV), 29–32
in African green monkeys (SIVagm), 30–32, 33–34, 37
genome of, 33–34, 109, 111
in greater spot-nosed monkeys (SIVgsn), 110, 111
in macaques (SIVmac), 36–37
prevalence rates of, 66
recombination in, 111–12
in red-capped mangabeys, 110, 111
in sooty mangabeys (SIVsm), 34–38, 40, 43, 50
simian immunovirus (SIV), in chimpanzees (SIVcpz), 37, 40–41, 43, 52–53, 79, 85
age of, 111
Gombe study of, 112–25
as HIV-1 progenitor, 29–31, 62, 63, 65, 66–67, 68–69, 80, 88, 125
sexual transmission of, 119
vertical transmission of, 119
virulence of, 109–10, 111, 112
sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis), 108, 126–29
smallpox, 51
sooty mangabey (Cercocebus atys), 34–37, 38, 40, 43, 50
South Africa, 34, 132
spillover, opportunity and, 70, 72, 87, 133, 138
see also specific diseases
Stanley Pool, 72
Stanleyville, see Kisangani, DRC
The Chimp and the River: How AIDS Emerged from an African Forest Page 15