American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 155, No. 2 : 185
Copyright © 2002 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
BOOK REVIEWS |
From the Editor
In a recent issue of the Journal, Arnold Monto reviewed the flamboyant and controversial book, The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS (1
). Readers will recall that Monto effectively debunked author Edward Hooper's thesis that human immunodeficiency virus had entered the human population either by use of or contamination by simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)cpz-infected cells from West African chimpanzees allegedly used in an experimental oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) tested in more than a million West Africans during the 1950s. Monto mentioned, but did not elaborate on, a 2-day meeting of the Royal Society in London and "recent reports" that should have negated Hooper's allegations. The Royal Society meeting was described in an article in the journal Science last year (2). That meeting brought together a number of acquired immunodeficiency virus researchers as well as veteran participants in the OPV trials. Of particular relevance were representatives of three laboratories that had been studying the molecular biology of remaining samples of the vaccine. Preliminary reports indicated that all samples tested negative for SIV and human immunodeficiency virus and positive for mitochondrial DNA from monkeys, but not from chimpanzees. Hilary Koprowski and her colleagues, who had produced the vaccine, had consistently maintained that only monkey kidney cells had been used to produce it. Subsequently, a report in Science provided detailed data on the molecular analyses of coded samples of the imputed OPV and control materials (3). Confirming the earlier preliminary reports, no evidence was found for the presence of chimpanzee DNA in the OPV samples, although monkey DNA was identified.
REFERENCES
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Monto A. The river: a journey to the source of HIV and AIDS. (Review). Am J Epidemiol 2001;154:484–5.
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Cohen J. Vaccine theory of AIDS origins disputed at Royal Society. Science 2000;289:1850–1.
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Poinar H, Kuch M, Paabo S. Molecular analyses of oral polio vaccine samples. Science 2001;292:743–4.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
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