Vaccine 22 (2004) 1829–1830 Editorial

The need for the article by Osterrieth [1] published in this number may not be obvious for those who have not followed the accusations made by a British journalist in a book published in 1999 [2]. The thesis of the book was that chimpanzee cells rather than macaque cells were used as substrate for an experimental type 1 oral polio vaccine developed by Hilary Koprowski, called CHAT, which was tested in the former Belgian Congo between 1957 and 1960. The book argued that the cells were contaminated with a chimpanzee SIV, and that ingestion of the SIVcpz led to the evolution of the virus and introduction of HIV-1 Group M into humans. A correlation between locations where CHAT was administered and early cases of possible AIDS was also proposed, though the supposed correlation was later heavily criticized [3–5]