Even as gorillas and chimpanzees in Central Africa are being wiped out by hunters, scientists are sounding the alarm that the animals need to be saved because they may be the key to finding a cure for AIDS. In January, scientists announced that H.I.V.-1, the most common AIDS virus, came from a subspecies of chimpanzee found in Central Africa, which seems not to be made ill by the virus. Hunting the endangered species is illegal in the region, but the laws are rarely enforced and chimpanzee hunters are feeding a growing market for “bush meat” sought by elites in Cameroon, Gabon, the Congo, the Central African Republic, and other nations.
