MetaFilter posts tagged with HIV and vaccine

HIV vaccine shows promise

borkencode — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:48:35 -0800

A new HIV vaccine is showing promising results, reducing the risk of contracting the virus by 32 percent. While further tests are still needed, the vaccine is a combination failed HIV vaccines AIDSVAX and ALVAC, based on the Canary Pox virus. The study itself faced criticism from the outset.

If after 20 years you don't succeed.

three blind mice — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:58:38 -0800

Maybe it's time to give up. Last year's failed clinical trial for Merck's HIV vaccine (which once appeared so promising) led many to claim that AIDS vaccine research is in crisis. According to an unprecedented poll conducted by The Independent most scientists involved in AIDS research believe that a vaccine against HIV is further away than ever and some have admitted that effective immunisation against the virus may never be possible. Nearly two thirds believed that an HIV vaccine will not be developed within the next 10 years and some of them said that it may take at least 20 more years of research before a vaccine can be used to protect people either from infection or the onset of Aids. Worse, the animal model – which uses genetically engineered simian and human immunodeficiency viruses in a combination, known as SHIV – failed to predict what will happen when a prototype vaccine is moved from laboratory monkeys to people. "We've learnt a few important things [from the clinical trial]. We've learnt that one of the animal models, the SHIV model, really doesn't predict very well at all." Of course animal advocates have been saying this for years.

new hope for a vaccine or cure?

amberglow — Thu, 25 May 2006 17:00:10 -0800

AIDS really did come from chimps in the 1950s --..."We're 25 years into this pandemic," Hahn said. "We don't have a cure. We don't have a vaccine. But we know where it came from. At least we can make a check mark on one of those." ... ...Identifying the source of the HIV pandemic is more than filling in a missing link in the disease's progression. ...

You know what crazy is? Crazy is majority rules. Take germs for example.

missbossy — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 01:32:08 -0800

It is estimated that due to an infected polio vaccine, 10 million to 30 million people in the United States from 1955 through early 1963 were inadvertently exposed to live Simian Virus #40, a pathogen linked to various cancers. If it happened before, maybe it happened again. Perhaps AIDS was just another accidental contamination originating in an American lab - this time a hepatitis vaccine gone wrong. Why assume conspiracy Dr Cantwell?

Mutating Strands of HIV

Irontom — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 05:15:27 -0800

First Documented Case of HIV hybridization in a human being was presented at the International AIDS Society conference in Paris. In this case, genetic tests on a superinfected woman showed that the two strains she was infected with swapped genetic material, creating a new hybrid strain of HIV. The actual effects are not yet clear, but this could pose a serious problem for researchers trying to create a vaccine.

Living With Aids

Mo Nickels — Sun, 01 Dec 2002 08:50:45 -0800

Steve Schalchlin , a singer-songwriter, writes about living with AIDS in his online journal. Students at Marshall High School put themselves in the shoes of an HIV-positive girl, in the project My name is Kerry and I have AIDS (Now I'm dead!). Journalist Eric Foss keeps a diary about his visits to AIDS victims in Zambia, with pictures, video and interview transcripts. Adam Solomon writes at length about training for and participating in several AIDS rides for vaccine and cure charities. Five years old, but still affecting, there's AIDS worker Paul Gallotta's AIDS diary. Supporting group efforts of AIDS victims and other interested parties is the journal Being Alive. There's a vast catalog of compelling first-person perspective at HIV/AIDS Positive Stories, at Avert.org, and at Breaking the Silence... Rompiendo El Silencio from the AIDS Project Los Angeles.

rhyax — Mon, 25 Feb 2002 18:51:38 -0800

The NIH is abandoning phase III trials of a possible hiv vaccine due to "technical reasons" the trial will continue in thailand. On a happier note there are currently more than 90 other hiv vaccines in other stages of trials. What do people think are the chances the pharmaceuticals will decide chronic disease management is more profitable, and actually do something to make this a more likely outcome?