Chimpanzees used for AIDS research

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The Use of Chimpanzees in AIDS Research

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS ) is one of the most fatal diseases today . According to an article from the Foundation for Biomedical Research entitled AIDS and Animal Research (n .d

It (AIDS ) has been called the most devastating affliction to strike the human race in almost 700 years . Not since the Black Death swept through Europe in the middle of the 14th Century , wiping out a third of the population , has a single disease cut such a

terrifying path (FBResearch , 1

These claims are not without factual basis . The article went on to explain that the reached almost 28 million , about 3 million of which occurred in 2001 alone . An estimated 60 million people around the world (with 900 ,000 located in the United States ) are infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV , the virus that causes AIDS . This figure increases by 5 million every year - almost 14 ,000 people are declared HIV-positive everyday (FBResearch , 1

Although there is still no known cure for AIDS , powerful antiretrovirals (ARVs ) allowed AIDS patients in developed countries to lead long and healthy lives . In the US , ARVs reduced AIDS-related mortality from almost 45 ,000 in 1993 to 15 ,000 in 2001 . However , AIDS has become a pandemic in the developing world , particularly in sub-Saharan Africa . More than 20 of the region 's population are infected with AIDS . Out of sub-Saharan Africa 's seven countries Botswana is the most severely affected nation - 36 of its citizens are stricken with AIDS (FBResearch , 1

Furthermore , the previous decades have seen a shift in the demography of AIDS patients . From homosexual men and intravenous drug users from developed countries , majority of AIDS patients today are heterosexual men and women of productive and child-bearing age from the Third World AIDS has become so rampant in some Third World nations that it threatens to

destabilize entire societies (FBResearch , 2 . Around 14 million children at present have lost either one or both of their parents to AIDS , resulting in the disease being labeled by the United Nations as a global emergency (FBResearch , 2

Animal testing proved to be very important in the field of AIDS research . Majority of today 's basic information regarding HIV was based on studies of mice , cats and non-human primates afflicted with similar retroviruses . ARVs were also tested extensively on animals for efficacy and safety before being released into the market . Research involving animals is currently being used in AIDS research for the development of microbicides and vaccines (FBResearch , 2

Non-human primates , especially chimpanzees , are the most frequently-used subjects in AIDS experiments (FBResearch , 3 . This is primarily because chimpanzees are 96 similar to humans (Lovgren , n pag . In addition , chimpanzees , like all other non-human primates develop a disease called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV . SIV , which was first discovered along with HIV in the 1980s , was found to be genetically similar to the latter (FBResearch , 4

SIV also attacks a primate 's immune system in the...