AIDS vaccine protects people, shocks researchers. Science Daily [Internet]. 2009 Sept 24 [cited 2009 Sept 27]. Available from: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre58n1ax-us-aids-vaccine/
For the first time in history, an AIDS vaccine has proven to be somewhat effective. A clinical trial sponsored by the US government and conducted in Thailand proves to have reduced the rate of infection by 31.2 percent among 16,402 volunteers over 3 years.
The vaccine used in this study was created from a combination of two failed products: Sanofi-Pasteur's ALVAC canary pox/HIV vaccine and AIDSVAX. While researchers are still not sure why the vaccines work when coupled together, it marks a monumental victory in the fight against HIV infection. It also leaves researchers debating about how to most effectively test the limited amount of vaccine they have left to find out how to make it more effective.
The surprising results validated the merits of the study, which had been harshly criticized for being unethical and a waste of money because the vaccines it was made out of had no effect.
Since the AIDS virus was identified in the 1980s, it has infected 33 million people and killed 25 million people around the world. Although a commercial product is still years away, this new experimental vaccine has created hope that an effective vaccine will be manufactured in the near future.
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