Social conditions had a significant impact on survival. The monkeys in stable groups lived an average of 40 percent longer than those in changing groups -- an average of 588.5 days compared to 420 days.
Early measures of infection -- levels of virus and infection- fighting antibodies in the blood -- also predicted survival.
But surprisingly, social conditions did not predict early measures of infection. That is, the monkeys in stable groups didn't have significantly better early blood tests than the ones in unstable conditions, Capitanio said.
What did predict early measures of infection? Behavior, regardless of social condition. In both stable and unstable groups, the monkeys that received the most aggression from other monkeys had the worst blood-test results.
"Overall, animals in unstable associations did worse than did animals in stable associations. However, early on, it was clear that some unstable monkeys were somewhat protected by their greater ability to navigate the stormy social waters," Capitanio said.
"Plus, there were a couple of monkeys in stable social groups that had difficulty fitting in. So the question becomes, what distinguishes the individuals who did fairly well from those who didn't do so well? We suspect it has to do with a monkey's personal style of coping with stressful situations.
"That's the focus of our next study -- the interaction of these personality characteristics and social situation, how stress-related hormones are affected, and how the hormones affect the disease process."
For now, the study suggests some courses of action. "Public
education aimed at reducing the stigma associated with this
disease can help to reduce social stresses; moreover,
availability of support services for people with AIDS might
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Contact: John Capitanio
jpcapitanio@ucdavis.edu
(530) 752-4002
University of California - Davis
30-Apr-1998