HIV vaccine is promising for tests on humans and monkeys |

A new HIV vaccine has shown promising results. The treatment has allowed the immune system of those vaccinated to produce responses against HIV, according to a study published in the journal Lancet. However, it is not yet possible to know if these people would not be infected with HIV if they had contact with the virus.

"The challenges in developing an HIV vaccine are unprecedented: the ability to induce HIV does not necessarily mean that the vaccine will protect humans from infection," Dan said. Barouch, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in the United States, and coordinator of the study

. monkeys, also with encouraging results. The animals were vaccinated against a virus similar to HIV but affecting the monkeys, and 67% of them were protected against the virus.

About 37 million people in the world live with the HIV virus. Each year, about 1.8 million people are infected.

Despite advances in HIV treatment, no cure or vaccine capable of protecting against the virus has yet been discovered. Among the advances already made is pre-exposure prophylaxis, called Prep, which can prevent regular HIV infection.

The invention of the vaccine represented a huge challenge for scientists. One reason is that there are many varieties of HIV virus. Previous attempts to create a vaccine were limited to specific types of viruses.

In addition, another difficulty is that the virus mutates to avoid being attacked by our immune system.

But in the case of this new vaccine, scientists developed a treatment from parts of different types of HIV virus – a kind of mosaic. Image Law GETTY IMAGES [19659011] How the research was done

Scientists tested various mosaic vaccine combinations in 393 people aged 18 to 50 who were seropositive and healthy. Participants were randomly selected from the United States, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa and Thailand. Each received 4 vaccines for 48 weeks – about 1 year. Some of them were the actual vaccines that were under test; others were placebos

All vaccine combinations tested have caused the body's immune system to respond to HIV. In addition, all were considered safe for human application.

Already in the monkey study, 72 rhesus-type animals, randomly selected were vaccinated. As a result, one of the tested vaccine combinations also generated an immunological response, just as it did with humans, and was able to protect 67% of the monkeys from the virus.

The next stage of the study will be the treatment of 2, 6,000 women in South Africa who are at risk of contracting the disease.

This is the fifth HIV vaccine to reach this phase of efficacy testing with population groups. Of these, only one has produced evidence that he is able to protect against HIV.

Michael Brady, Medical Director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, a UK charity fighting HIV / AIDS. "It is important to be cautious and clear that there is still much work to be done before an effective HIV vaccine becomes available."