The River and the Chimp is an analytical book written by David Quammen about how the HIV originated from chimpanzees in an African forest (Quammen, 2015). The acumen of this book challenges the many unscientific beliefs about the origin of HIV and spread. There is a great need to understand where this scourge originated to beat the diverse stereotypical and unscientific beliefs. By examining the works of David Quammen in the book The River and the Chimp, this research paper shall focus on discussing the origin of HIV. The knowledge of the origin of HIV is of immense importance to nurses because it informs them concerning the different stereotypical beliefs about the origin of HIV and, as such, nurses can integrate those beliefs to provide quality of care. Further, the study of the origin of HIV is quintessential in conducting and implementing preventive measures against the disease.
There is a commonplace belief that HIV/Aids among human spread from a flight attendant in the late 80’s. While that belief holds, David Quammen writes that humans had contracted HIV as early as the beginning of 1900’s. Quammen reviews scientific literature, travels to the Cameroon forest and writes a captivating narrative about how HIV originated from chimpanzees of a forest in Cameroon. According to Quammen, HIV spread because of a single “spillover effect” of what was originally known as chimpanzee virus to a single human in South East Cameroon around 1908. In essence, the pathogen spread from apes to human beings through sexual intercourse or contact of fluids such as serum, blood, and genital fluids. Quammen narrates that the virus was contracted involuntarily and not necessarily through sexual intercourse. Concisely, no actual sexual intercourse was involved, rather it was an act of pathological human interaction. Human beings are highly prone to infection, especially in regions where preventable care is not a priority, as such; it has not been easy to predict the causes of the infection in advance. Over the recent years, there has been the emergence of so many killer diseases, which claim many lives before scientists discover the medicine (Wolfe et al. 2004).
Quammen's reviewed the works of Beatrice Hahn to explain the concept of spillover. He proposes that HIV originated from a rare precursor chimpanzee virus referred as Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) (Heeney, Dalgleish & Weiss, 2006). The SIV is believed to be a pathogen commonly found in apes and monkeys over 32,000 years ago (Wolfe et al. 2005). The section explains how the various branches of SIV are related to one another. Quammen estimates that the first human to contract HIV from chimpanzee was before 1908, based on the evidence he acquired from scientific laboratory tests, and travels to the forest in Cameroon. Besides, the scientific analysis enabled Quammen to determine when different forms carried by rhesus macaques and chimpanzees came into existence. Ultimately, Quammen discovered that the virus could mutate to take different forms and shapes. Therefore, the hereditary characteristics of the chimpanzee virus exhibited deviations, which make it difficult to control from spreading further (Locatelli & Peeters, 2012).
Concerning the cradle of AIDS, the author reports that HIV broke away from SIV in mid1908. In particular, it originated from a chimpanzee whose SIV was utterly close to HIV. Most importantly, Quammen notes that HIV-1 belonging to group M, which is primary strain associated with the worldwide Aids has similar genetic characteristics as those found in Chimp SIV originally discovered in Central Africa (Heeney, Dalgleish & Weiss, 2006). The chimpanzee virus was first transmitted to Bushmen, who consumed raw meat and conducted initiation rituals that involved the use of chimp blood (Sharp & Hahn, 2010). In these encounters, during butchering of primates, the hunters were cut or scratched resulting to blood contact, which was necessary for the virus transmission. The virus then made its way to human beings through sexual intercourses and other means at a high rate (Heeney, Dalgleish & Weiss, 2006). However, it spread slowly from the Cameroon forest due to low population density to other parts of the world (Wolfe et al. 2005).
Quammen also narrates the story of the Voyager- an infected fisherman who endeavored on a journey downstream the river into the heart of the Congo basin. His journey contributed immensely to the spread of the virus, which infected more than 78 million people from the first contact with the primate (Sharp & Hahn, 2010). The fisherman traveled downstream to sell a valuable load of ivory. He made it to Léopoldville, which is the current city of Kinshasa. Finally, the Voyager decided to settle in the city where he eventually died when the HIV progressed to AIDS (Heeney, Dalgleish & Weiss, 2006).
This villain is nothing less than the subcutaneous pointer. After being informed for years about the disease, people may assume that blood transfusion, sexual contact and sharing of unclean needles are the only modes of transmission (Sharp & Hahn, 2010). However, drug abuse promotes infection. The African health authorities face the challenge of illegal substance control since they could not get the expensive needles needed to save the masses from this killer virus. The needles used in mass injection were reused severally without being sterilized that led to the rapid spread of the disease to the rest of the world (Quammen, 2014).
The lesson acquired from the examination of The Chimp, and The River is that HIV remains a killer scourge; however, people are still ignorant about its causes and escalation to Aids. According to reports from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there are still new infections with America recording 50,000 new infections annually (Wolfe et al. 2005). Though other dangerous diseases like Ebola and Zika virus have emerged, AIDS has been on the lead claiming more lives. The reason could be that AIDS is old news. However, even if, we ignore the existence of HIV, the problem still needs intervention, because it affects all cadre of people regardless of age, gender and sex orientation (Epstein, 2007).
According to scientists, the origin of HIV is the simian immunodeficiency virus found in a chimpanzee in Central Africa. After infecting humans, especially, those who fed on raw meat, the virus mutated to the modern day HIV. Over the decades, the virus advanced and transmission rates progressed across Africa and beyond. There is overwhelming evidence provided by Quammen to suggesting that the HIV indeed originated from Africa through cross-species transmission and the spilling over effect. Quammen examines the genome of the primates and compares them with HIV and SIV, the correlation and the geographical locations of HIV and SIV seems like a persuasive arguments upheld by scientists across the board.
In conclusion, from Quammen's book it is very clear that instead of blaming Africans for the breakout of the disease, scientists should come together to structure interventions for combating the disease and reduce stigma. Quammen strongly argues that HIV originated from Central Africa and spread within Bushmen and later to other parts of the world. Currently, the world has more than 1million-infected people in need of primary and palliative care. Therefore, governments should promote preventive measures and control campaigns, to curtail the spread of the disease.
Africa and developed nations such as North America have different prevalence rates of HIV/Aids. As such, the HIV prevention method used in Africa may not apply in North America due to economic and medical advancement differences. However, both in Africa and North America governments and communities have an immense duty to prevent the HIV scourge. In particular, governments in Africa should invest heavily in educating its population about dangers of engaging in unprotected sex. Parents in Africa have failed a great deal in educating their children matters sex and sexuality, as such; the governments need to put in the curriculum sex education, safe methods of practicing sex and the importance of abstinence. Besides, in Africa, evidence based research show that there are low rates of non-therapeutic circumcision of boys and female genital mutilation. For this reason, communities need to be informed about the importance of conducting therapeutic circumcision and abhor female genital mutilation. In essence, circumcision absorbs vaginal fluids thereby reducing the risk of infections. HIV testing is also another area that African governments need to step up to scale on high levels of testing to put infected persons under treatment. Finally, the governments and communities need to link up to communicate the importance of use of condoms, vaginal abrasion tools and put safeguards to protect mother-to-child infections in Africa.
In North America, economic statuses, levels of medical access and methods of infections are different from those in Africa; therefore, prevention methods may also differ. In North America, HIV infections are predominantly through anal intercourses, homosexual activities, and needle sharing among users as opposed to Africa where infections are generally through heterosexual intercourses. For this reason, communities in North America need to come up with needle and syringe programs where NGO’s and government agencies can supply the community with syringes and needles through fixed points, mobile centers, pharmacies and outreach programs. Secondly, the government needs to scale early HIV testing to discover infections before they escalate to full-blown stages, which are lethal. Homosexuals need more education regarding practicing safe sex through use of condoms and post coital hygiene.
REFERENCES
Quammen, D. (2015). The Chimp And The River: How AIDS Emerged From An African Forest. New York: Random House.
Epstein, H. (2007). The Invisible Cure: Africa, The West, And The Fight Against AIDS. Macmillan.
Wolfe, N. D., Heneine, W., Carr, J. K., Garcia, A. D., Shanmugam, V., Tamoufe, U., & McCutchan, F. E. (2005). The Emergence of unique primate T-lymphotropic viruses among central African bushmeat hunters. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(22), 7994-7999.
Wolfe, N. D., Switzer, W. M., Carr, J. K., Bhullar, V. B., Shanmugam, V., Tamoufe, U., & McCutchan, F. E. (2004). Naturally Acquired Simian Retrovirus Infections In Central African Hunters. The Lancet, 363(9413), 932-937.
Sharp, P. M., & Hahn, B. H. (2010). The Evolution Of HIV-1 And The Origin Of AIDS. Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society Of London B: Journal of Biological Sciences, 365(1552), 2487-2494.
Locatelli, S., & Peeters, M. (2012). Cross-Species Transmission Of Simian Retroviruses: How And Why They Could Lead To The Emergence Of New Diseases In The Human Population. Journal of Medical Biology, 26(6), 659-673.
Wolfe, N. D., Daszak, P., Kilpatrick, A. M., & Burke, D. S. (2005). Bushmeat Hunting, Deforestation, And Prediction Of Zoonotic Disease. Emerging Infectious Disease, 11(12), 1822-1827.
Heeney, J. L., Dalgleish, A. G., & Weiss, R. A. (2006). Origins Of HIV And The Evolution Of Resistance To AIDS. Journal of Healthcare Sciences, 313(5786), 462-466.
