Dazzler
09-24-2009, 06:31 AM
(CNN) -- A vaccine to prevent HIV infection has shown modest results for the first time, researchers have found.
In what is being called the world's largest HIV vaccine trial ever, researchers found that people who received a series of inoculations of a prime vaccine and booster vaccine were 31 percent less likely to get HIV, compared with those on a placebo.
"Before this study, it was thought vaccine for HIV is not possible," Col. Jerome Kim, who is the HIV vaccines product manager for the U.S. Army, told CNN.
Kim emphasized that the level of efficacy was modest, but given the failures of previous HIV vaccine trials, "yesterday we would have thought an HIV vaccine wasn't possible."
He called the results from the trial an important first step that will help researchers work toward a more effective vaccine.
Researchers have tried to prevent the spread of HIV since they discovered its cause in 1986. Previous vaccine trials failed to prevent infection. And during one trial, the vaccine seemed to boost the chance of being infected, which ended testing early.
The new study was conducted in Thailand, with more than 16,000 people between ages 18 and 30 participating. They were all HIV negative at the beginning of the trial.
Nearly 8,200 received a placebo and a similar number received a combination of six vaccines over six months. All were followed for three years.
Source (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/24/hiv.vaccine/index.html?iref=mpstoryview)
In what is being called the world's largest HIV vaccine trial ever, researchers found that people who received a series of inoculations of a prime vaccine and booster vaccine were 31 percent less likely to get HIV, compared with those on a placebo.
"Before this study, it was thought vaccine for HIV is not possible," Col. Jerome Kim, who is the HIV vaccines product manager for the U.S. Army, told CNN.
Kim emphasized that the level of efficacy was modest, but given the failures of previous HIV vaccine trials, "yesterday we would have thought an HIV vaccine wasn't possible."
He called the results from the trial an important first step that will help researchers work toward a more effective vaccine.
Researchers have tried to prevent the spread of HIV since they discovered its cause in 1986. Previous vaccine trials failed to prevent infection. And during one trial, the vaccine seemed to boost the chance of being infected, which ended testing early.
The new study was conducted in Thailand, with more than 16,000 people between ages 18 and 30 participating. They were all HIV negative at the beginning of the trial.
Nearly 8,200 received a placebo and a similar number received a combination of six vaccines over six months. All were followed for three years.
Source (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/24/hiv.vaccine/index.html?iref=mpstoryview)