The results of this work emphasized the necessity of early diagnosis and treatment of infants with eye disorders due to the danger of serious and permanent visual impairment. AIDS virus, closely related to human HIV, was originally isolated from captive rhesus monkeys. Experimental vaccines against simian AIDS have recently shown promise and intense research in this area is underway. Dental research has also heavily relied on primates for knowledge because they have the same number and relative size of teeth as humans. Macaque monkeys, for example, allowed dental researchers to first link a specific bacterium to the growth of periodontitis.
Primates continue to be essential to medical research.
Whether it be in the study of cancer, dental research, or the search for a malaria treatment or a vaccine for AIDS, monkeys and apes will make major contributions to the elimination of human and animal disease.