title: Diversity of STLV-1 strains in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) from Côte d'Ivoire.
abstract: Simian T-lymphotropic viruses type 1 (STLV-1) are regarded as a highly conserved group of viruses with genotypes clustering according to geographic regions rather than to infected species. In free living West African chimpanzees we have described a variety of STLV-1 strains and suggested that this diversity results from interspecies transmissions. Here we present new data on STLV-1 infections in these chimpanzees with the presence of two new distinct clades, proposing the establishing of two new STLV-1 subtypes. Moreover, in one of the chimpanzees, the Central African STLV-1 subtype B was detected. The STLV-1 strains detected here display a much wider diversity than heretofore reported for STLV-1 with presence of three distinct subtypes in chimpanzees from one distinct geographic region. In conclusion, the hypothesis of primate T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (PTLV-1) clustering by geography rather than host should be reconsidered, at least regarding STLV-1 infections in chimpanzees.
authors.affiliation: Research Group Emerging Zoonoses, Robert Koch-Institute, Nordufer 20, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Junglen
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hedemann
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ellerbrok
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boesch
authors.forename: Fabian H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Leendertz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018420:Ape Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D007560:Cote d'Ivoire / Q000453:epidemiology; D006800:Deltaretrovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000821:virology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D015303:Simian T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral