New HIV Vaccine is Effective in Animals
The long difficult search for an effective AIDS vaccine continues–the most recent promising lead is from Crucell and Harvard researcher Dan Barouch. The vaccine stimulates the body’s T-cells and prevents an infected animal from developing full blown AIDS. It does not stop the initial viral infection from taking hold but prevents most of the associated illnesses.
Netherlands-based Crucell and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston reduced levels of simian immunodeficiency virus–SIV, (the monkey virus that is related to HIV) as much as 250-fold and prevented AIDS for more than 500 days in the online edition of the journal Nature. Testing of a similar type of vaccine in 48 healthy people is ongoing.
Last year, a vaccine being developed by Merck & Co., also appeared to keep monkeys healthy, was unsuccessful in human testing. The new vaccine does offer some promise, said Dan Barouch, the lead author and a virologist at Harvard University and Beth Israel.
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