Résumé
Reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationships between the human lentiviruses responsible for the AIDS epidemic and lentiviruses from African nonhuman primates can help clarify the origin of the AIDS pandemic. These studies have several scientific—and public health—implications, although the detailed circumstances of such zoonotic events are still not fully understood. As the potential for simian-to-simian, simian-tohuman, and human-to-human transmission of lentiviruses becomes better understood, the emergence of new and/or more virulent lentiviral strains, capable of causing new epidemics, needs to be considered. Multidisciplinary field studies remain important. It also appears clear that studies of simian lentiviral infections can advance our understanding of HIV’s pathogenesis, an understanding necessary for the development of effective AIDS vaccines and therapeutics.