That's because there's relatively little to speak of, Tom. There is one
person
I know of who is doing similar work, and would at least be able to hook you
up with a source of the information you're after. His name is David
Mindell,
and he's a molecular evolutionary biologist at the University of Michigan.
His eMail address escapes me, but you should be able to find it at:
http://www.biology.lsa.umich.edu/
Without citing real, genuine FACTS, I'd say that the reason that we haven't
observed an "epidemic" of SIV infections in monkey species is attributable
to the difference of population density and distributions of monkeys,
worldwide, as compared with humans. We're everywhere. They're not.
Since most SIV strains (e.g. 5-beta-23 and 5-alpha) are species specific,
proximity of different monkey species is not important.
shaft
TRKeske wrote:
> A question:
>> Everyone knows that there are AIDS-like viruses in the animal world: SIV
> (simian), FIV (feline), BIV (bovine).
>> Is there an "SIV epidemic" going on (ditto for the others)?
> Is the global monkey population endangered?
>> Monkeys do not perform "safe sex" and are not monogamous. SIV has
> been around much longer than HIV. If HIV has spread so far, you would
> think that SIV might be endangering the entire species, by now.
>> I can find no data. Any information on this would be welcome.
>> Tom Keske
> Boston, Mass.
