# An animal vector question.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-animal-vector-question/176966>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 23, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-animal-vector-question/176966 "2003-05-23T03:29:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-animal-vector-question/176966/1 "2003-05-23T03:29:59Z")

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Did the virus that jumped to humans as HIV wreak havoc on the monkey population it came from? Did it mutate?  
I know quite a lot about the syndrome, but not it’s origins.  
Peace,  
mangeorge

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-animal-vector-question/176966/2 "2003-05-23T05:38:53Z")

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SIV, the closest known relative of HIV in monkeys, produces a similar, but much milder, form of the disease. We may never know for SURE what the ancestral virus was, but it’s safe to say that it definitely mutated, either before or after the jump - after all, it’s still mutating like crazy