Backgrounds: There is a remarkable similarity between Herpesvirus papio 2 (HVP2) infecting baboons and human simplex virus (HSV) in terms of molecular biology, protein functions, and resulting infections. However, no definitive therapy exists, and the available drugs only improve the clinical signs of recurrent or asymptomatic infections. This research results may be useful for studies on the quest for HVP2 curative and preventive drugs in baboon models. Later, a similar study could be done on HSV in humans. Materials & Methods: A total of 60 baboons were sampled from six different counties in Kenya. Of these, 51 cases were wild caught from five counties, and nine cases were from the Institute of Primate Research (IPR) colonies designated as captive baboons. Oral and genital swabs were collected for analysis. The trigeminal ganglia of three study subjects were also aseptically sampled. Polymerase chain reaction test was used to determine the prevalence of HVP2. HVP2-positive samples were sequenced and aligned to GenBank sequences using BLAST to identify specific circulating strains and generate phylogenetic relationships. DnaSP6 was used for genetic diversity analysis. Findings: Among 60 baboons studied, 65% were positive for the virus. One strain, A951, was identified as the prevalent strain. Extremely low fixation index values (Fst) were recorded, showing low genetic diversity within and between subpopulations. Conclusion: The identified strain was non-pathogenic but could be clinically manifested as painful sores on the host’, s mucosal membranes and cause stillbirths. The virus prevalence was 75. 86% in genital samples and 54. 86% in oral samples, indicating that oral transmission is less common than genital transmission.

Infection with Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus Type I (HTLV-I) is a global health problem, affecting 10 to 20 million people around the world, including north-east of Iran. It has been recognized to be the etiologic agent of adult T-cell Leukemia and HTLV-I-associated Myelopathy. In both cases, the HTLV-I transactivator protein (Tax), plays crucial role. Monkeys are suitable host for a related virus called STLV, which together with HTLV are called Primate T-cell Lymphotropic Viruses (PTLVs). Primates are the only known hosts, in addition to human, to be able to develop malignant changes in the natural course of infection with PTLV-I and therefore, could be a valuable animal model for studies on this virus. In the present study, we report PCR-based detection and cloning of 1.8 kb pX region of a new PTLV in olive baboon (Papio anubis). Sequence alignments and phylogenic studies on nucleotide sequence of this region and amino acids of conceptually translated Tax protein showed that monkeys are infected with a PTLV much closer to HTLV-I sub-types a and b, rather than STLV-I. Moreover, analyses of its Tax protein suggest that it might have the same function as HTLV-I Tax proteins. Results of our study indicate the possibility of exploiting these baboons as an animal model of choice for evaluating a tax-based DNA vaccine to decrease the viral load of HTLV-I in carriers , in order to prevent the outcomes, as well as they may be utilized for other HTLV-I physiopathologic or therapeutic studies.