Origin, evolution and innate immune control of simian foamy viruses in humans

• Simian foamy viruses (SFV) are transmitted to humans after contact, mainly bites, with infected monkeys and apes.
• Contexts of transmission include mainly hunting activities and monkeys’ sympatry.
• In humans, active immune response probably explains SFV latency in blood and saliva.
• It is a model of restriction of retroviral emergence after cross-species transmission.

Most viral pathogens that have emerged in humans have originated from various animal species. Emergence is a multistep process involving an initial spill-over of the infectious agent into single individuals and its subsequent dissemination into the human population. Similar to simian immunodeficiency viruses and simian T lymphotropic viruses, simian foamy viruses (SFV) are retroviruses that are widespread among non-human primates and can be transmitted to humans, giving rise to a persistent infection, which seems to be controlled in the case of SFV. In this review, we present current data on the discovery, cross-species transmission, and molecular evolution of SFV in human populations initially infected and thus at risk for zoonotic emergence.

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