Virus Hunt

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 10 JUN 2013

Scottish virologist Crawford (Viruses: A Very Short Introduction) celebrates the brilliant "evolutionary sleuthing" that helped solve the puzzle of the origins of HIV, a "virus unlike any other" that has now infected over 60 million people. The University of Edinburgh professor explains that those hunting for the source of the virus that causes AIDS collectively "scoured the medical literature," hunted for old blood samples to test for HIV, and painstakingly analyzed genomes from around the world to find the answers they were looking for. Researchers discovered that though the scourge didn't make headlines until the early 1980s, its roots stretch back into the west central Africa of the early 20th century. They also found that the "natural reservoir" of the predecessor of HIV turned out to be a subspecies of chimpanzee whose infection "jumped" to humans likely through exposure to infected blood during hunts to arrive in the U.S. around 1969. Crawford's "incredible tale of medical detection" also offers an absorbing take on African history, politics, and culture, as well as the invasion of European explorers and slave traders. This dense but engrossing history will appeal primarily to scientists, but it has a much broader significance: by "understanding where, how, when and why the virus evolved and spread among us, we can surely work to prevent the next one." 21 b&w illus.