Gorillas are the source of a form of HIV/AIDS in human beings

Times Newspapers:

Scientists in Cameroon say that simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) that are more closely related to HIV-1 Group O than any other simian virus yet detected are endemic within the gorilla population.

A report of their study in the journal Nature suggests that the virus was transmitted to people who butcher gorillas as part of the bushmeat or traditional medicine trades.

HIV-1 has been shown to come from three sources. In two cases chimpanzees were found to be the origin, but the third was a mystery. Analysis suggests it was transmitted to gorillas from chimpanzees, although the route has still to be established.

Gorilla SIV distribution

Eating bushmeat 'linked to HIV-like virus'

Bush-meat trade breeds new HIV

Aids warning over bushmeat trade

Many Rural Africans Who Hunt, Butcher Primates for Bushmeat May Be Infected With HIV-Like Virus

Risk to Human Health from a Plethora of Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses in Primate Bushmeat

How It Began - HIV Before the Age of AIDS

Wild gorillas carriers of a SIV virus close to the AIDS virus