HIV Vaccine 'Reduces Infection'

HIV Vaccine Reduces Infection

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said: "For the first time, an investigational HIV vaccine has demonstrated some ability to prevent HIV infection among vaccinated individuals.

"Additional research is needed to better understand how this vaccine regimen reduced the risk of HIV infection, but this is certainly an encouraging advance for the HIV vaccine field."

Headline: Vaccine Research Targets HIV In The Slower, Early Stage Of Infection

A vaccine's a long way off, but there is hope that its possible. Of course, we all saw how well the Fundies took to the HPV vaccine. If we get closer you can expect a similar resistance.

FTA: "HIV appears to be vulnerable when it is first introduced into mucosal surfaces in the body," said Louis Picker, M.D., associate director of the OHSU VGTI and director of the VGTI's vaccine program. "However, once HIV spreads throughout the entire body, it replicates very rapidly and becomes difficult if not impossible to control. Our approach is to attack during this early period of vulnerability. The approach is similar to that of a homeowner who sprays their house with water before sparks land on the roof. This approach can prevent the roof from catching fire and, in the case of HIV, prevent the spread of the virus."

Medical Breakthrough: Man remains HIV free.

A while back a man received a... well the article tells it all pretty succinctly.
FTA: A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia appears to have no detectable HIV in his blood and no symptoms after a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus that causes AIDS, according to a report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"The patient is fine," said Dr. Gero Hutter of Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany. "Today, two years after his transplantation, he is still without any signs of HIV disease and without antiretroviral medication."


Now before you get too excited, this isn't a practical cure. Too few people carry the mutated gene and the transplant is both costly and serious procure with all the risks you'd expect... but its a step towards a cure for HIV.