Mboup, Souleymane 1951—

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Souleymane Mboup 1951—

Microbiologist, educator

Making a significant contribution to the fight against AIDS, Soulemayne Mboup has greatly expanded scientific knowledge of the disease in Africa and has collaborated with top AIDS researchers in the United States. He is credited as one of the discoverers of the HIV-2 virus, and has done extensive work in developing epidemiological studies of AIDS.

The work of Mboup and his colleagues first demonstrated that HIV-2 was prevalent in Senegalese women in 1985, and that it had been having an effect in that region even in the 1960s. He also helped determine differences between HIV-2 and HIV-1 biological behavior, finding that there is a much longer incubation period for individuals infected with HIV-2.

Since the mid-1980s, Mboup has been a professor of microbiology at the School of Medicine and Pharmacy at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop, formerly the University of Dakar, in Senegal. He also leads one of the most advanced diagnostic laboratories in Africa, the Laboratory of Bacteriology and Virology at Le Dantec Hospital in Dakar. This hospital was established to investigate AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Mboup’s reputation as a top AIDS researcher took a giant leap forward in the winter of 1985. During that time he brought a container with 30 vials of blood taken from Senegalese prostitutes to the United States to deliver them to Max Essex, chairman of the Harvard AIDS Institute. Mboup’s studies indicated that the blood may have been infected with a new AIDS-like virus. Since at the time only one HIV strain had been confirmed, Mboup’s blood samples became critical to furthering AIDS research.

New HIV Virus Strain Confirmed

The new HIV virus strain detected by Mboup was isolated by Phyllis J. Kanki, an associate professor of pathobiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, which houses the AIDS Institute’s laboratories. Kanki was impressed with Mboup’s work and has worked in conjunction with him often in recent years. According to Africa Report, Kanki called Mboup “a very special kind of person. He’s really an intelligent guy. He follows the field in a very conscientious manner. He has a very broad view which is very important.”

At a Glance…

Born 1951 in Dakar, Senegal. Education: Doctorate, Pharmacy, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal; Doctorate, Immunology, Université de Tours, France. Military service: Lieutenant-colonel, Army, Senegal.

Co-discovered HIV-2 virus; has conducted extensive AIDS research with Senegalese prosititutes since 1980s; appointed professor of microbiology, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal, mid-1980s; became head of Laboratory of Bacteriology and Virology, Le Dantec Hospital, Dakar, Senegal; co-presenter of findings on HIV-2 at International Symposium on African AIDs, Brussels, Belgium, 1985; collaborated on studies of HIV-2 with researchers at Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Harvard AIDS Institute, and Universités de Tours and Limoges, France; sent by World Health Organization to conduct epidemiological survey of HIV infection in Benin, 1987; led Sixth International Conference on AIDS in Africa, Dakar, Senegal, 1991; helped develop method of separating DNA from white blood cells infected with HIV-2.

Addresses; Office —School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal; Laboratory of Bacteriology and Virology, Le Dantec Hospital, Dakar, Senegal.

Mboup, Essex, Kanki, and a French colleague presented their early findings on the new HIV virus at the International Symposium on African AIDs in Brussels, Belgium, in November of 1985. Their continued research left little doubt about the existence of such a virus, which appeared to be isolated mostly to West Africa. Genetically, the new virus fell within the spectrum between one found in healthy green African monkeys and the already established HIV virus. Eventually, the new virus was named HIV-2. Like the original HIV virus, now called HIV-1, the new virus appeared to attack the human immune system by destroying T-lymphocytes.

A major role was played by Mboup in a collaborative research effort initiated in 1986 with researchers at his school in Senegal, the Harvard AIDS Institute, and the Universités de Tours and Limoges in France. This group focused its efforts on determining the differences between HIV-2 and HIV-1, in the hope that such knowledge would expedite formulation of an AIDS vaccine.

In 1987 the World Health Organization (WHO) sent Mboup and another Senegalese colleague to Benin. Mboup’s assignment was to provide Benin’s public health administration with a short-term AIDS combat and surveillance plan. He and his associate conducted an AIDS epidemiological survey, which indicated that the country had a low HIV infection rate. Mboup’s skill was made evident by the fact that the survey was completed in under two weeks.

Led Important AIDS Conference

Helping to put Africa on the map in AIDS research, Mboup led the Sixth International Conference on AIDS in Africa in Dakar in 1991. This symposium was attended by 2,000 researchers from 45 African countries and 34 other nations. “We wanted to show that Africans could organize something,” Mboup told Africa Report. This meeting helped to raised consciousness about the AIDS crisis in Africa in many ways. A specially produced film called Une Conversation that beseeched people in Africa not to stigmatize AIDS victims was screened during the conference. In addition, a daily eight-page conference newspaper, Le Baobab, was published in English and French during the proceedings.

Despite lacking the kind of support available to research facilities in leading industrial nations, Mboup’s laboratory in Dakar has been hailed by top scientists as rivaling the best in the world. Essex has claimed that its facilities match those of any standard AIDS laboratories in the United States. Working with Kanki in his Dakar laboratory, Mboup has devised a number of important laboratory skills. Among these is a way to separate DNA from white blood cells infected with HIV-2. He has also cut the costs of tests that screen and confirm both HIV-1 and HIV-2 viral infections. While the costs of this screening and confirming are over $25 per person in foreign laboratories, Mboup and his team reduced the cost to under 30 cents.

In his own country, Mboup has managed to reduce the HIV infection rate to one of the lowest in Africa. His achievement is significant considering that two million adults have contracted AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, an amount representing two-thirds of the current world total according to WHO. His efforts have been greatly helped by Senegalese policies, which require Senegalese prostitutes over age 21 to have photo identification cards that contain their addresses and a record of mandatory health exams.

Along with several colleagues, Mboup put some of his findings into a monumental treatise called AIDS in Africa that was published in 1994. This work encompasses findings of more than 70 AIDS specialists from Africa, Europe, and North America. The authors’ goal was to expedite research, treatment, and intervention across the African continent, as well as to add to the knowledge base on AIDS overall.

This massive tome features coverage of the biology of retroviruses, epidemiology of the HIV and human T-cell lymphotropic viruses in Africa, clinical aspects of retroviral diseases, preventive measures, counseling, ethical and legal issues, and the socioeconomic impact of AIDS. One concern that Mboup and his fellow authors had after publication was that the cost of the book, which was more than $200 per copy to order and ship to Africa, would limit its distribution to the countries that needed it most. To help offset this problem, Mboup and his fellow authors and editors agreed not to receive any royalties so that African researchers and clinicians without adequate funds would still be able to procure it.

In his review of the book in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Kevin M. De Cock said, “The authors show, for those who need convincing, that AIDS is having a devastating impact on a continent whose resources are already stretched by poverty and rapid population growth, with damage extending beyond the health sector to the socioeconomic development of already fragile societies.” He added that “I can think of no alternative work covering AIDS in Africa in this depth,” and called it an “important effort.”

Compared HIV-1 and HIV-2

Much of Mboup’s recent work has focused on how HIV-1 and HIV-2 differ in their potential to cause disease. Subjects for his studies have often been Senegalese prostitutes with HIV-2, who have tended not to become ill from their exposure to the virus. In a 1994 issue of Science, Mboup and others reported on an eight-year natural history study of these prostitutes that showed the HIV-2 virus was less virulent than HIV-1 in this population. Women with HIV-1 demonstrated a 67 percent likelihood of not developing AIDS five years after infection, while those with HIV-2 had a 100 percent chance. Although Mboup and his collaborators noted that HIV-2 infection posed a lower viral burden, it was determined that more clinical evaluations were needed.

While his own laboratory is continuing its high-level work, Mboup feels that more needs to be done in his continent. “The burden is really in Africa,” he said during a visit to the Harvard AIDS Institute noted in Africa Report. “There are a lot of opportunities working in Africa. But we have a lack of resources. We have to bring in the international scientific community.”

Maintaining a high profile in his native Senegal, Mboup is also a lieutenant-colonel in the Senegalese army. His coworkers and international colleagues have frequently cited his unrelenting dedication to the fight against AIDS. As Essex said in Africa Report, “Souleymane is definitely the most successful of the AIDS researchers I’ve met in Africa with respect to both real success, understanding, and commitment, and in proving he would stay with it for ten years and grow from the standpoint of training others and obtaining results.”