Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands. The chimps in the study shared an unusually uniform group of genes in the area that controls the operation of their immune system. "Chimps show more genetic variation than humans in all areas - with this one exception, which is seriously condensed," said Dr Ronald Bontrop.
Bontrop said that the immune genes' uniformity suggests that a lethal sickness attacked chimps in the distant past.
This unknown disease would have wiped out almost all chimps that did not have the right immune system genes to fend it off, leaving the survivors with almost identical sets.
This, combined with the knowledge that modern chimps are largely immune to the Aids virus, points toward an Aids-like disease as the culprit.

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STI rise in the UK
Unsafe sex is fuelling an increase in new cases of STI's in the UK, according to public health officials. Dr Gwenda Hughes from the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) said: "Young women and gay men remain the groups that cause greatest concern in sexual health terms." The number of new diagnoses of chlamydia rose 10 per cent, making it the most commonly diagnosed STI. Gonorrhoea and genital herpes also increased, while outbreaks among gay men more than doubled the number of people infected with syphilis.
Growth Hormone stimulates T-cells
Growth hormone may stimulate T-cell production in infected patients, according to new research. "Finding a way to stimulate the thymus to produce T-cells would help HIV-infected patients to

preserve and restore their embattled immune systems," said Laura Napolitano, a University of California professor of medicine. In the study, researchers gave five HIV-