The virus that causes AIDS, HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), derives from SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus). SIV can only i
nfect monkeys. People who hunted wild monkeys were not susceptible to SIV infection because the host range of the virus was species- specific (i.e., restricted to monkeys). Then all of a sudden. SIV gained the ability to infect humans and the HIV/AIDS pandemic began. As a geneticist, how would you explain this? You may answer in very general terms. A full credit answer can be written in one word
it can be explain in such a way that there might be a kind of likelihood of cross-species transmission when a person is exposed to one strain versus another.'
it was found through research with evidence that SIV strains mutate when they enter cells to overcome human-specific barriers to infection, something that had been suspected for a long time.
Explanation:
The first strain of a virus considered the ancestor of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was passed to humans in the early 1900s, somewhere near a West African rainforest. Now a study has backed up this theory, by proving forms of HIV can cross between chimps and humans.
