20 minutes – Researchers move closer to HIV vaccination

Scientists have made significant progress in the search for a vaccine against the HIV AIDS virus. An active substance has produced an immune response in humans and protected the monkeys from infection, as reported in The Lancet newspaper

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The next step is to test the drug on 2,600 women in South Africa. "The results are promising, but we have to be careful," said Dan Barouch, professor of medicine at Harvard University, AFP's news agency. Available data have not shown that humans can be protected from HIV by the vaccine.

Resounding results in monkeys



In a laboratory study, 72 monkeys were injected with the drug and an HIV-like virus. Two-thirds of the animals were thus completely protected from infection by the vaccine.

Barouch and his team also conducted a study of 393 healthy adults aged 18 to 50 from East Africa, South Africa, Thailand, and the United States. . Part of the group received the active substance, the remaining participants received only one placebo. Barouch, a medical professor, said the drug on trial had triggered "strong immune responses in humans."

Use in humans



The drug also caused side effects in a few participants – five of them complained of stomach upset and diarrhea, dizziness or back pain. As a result, vaccine research can now move to the next phase: the drug will be injected to 2,600 women in South Africa to see if it can actually prevent AIDS. The results are expected in 2021 and 222.

Finding an AIDS vaccine is extremely difficult because the HIV virus is highly adaptive. Globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 37 million people are infected with HIV or already living with AIDS.

Every year, about 1.8 million people newly infected with the virus, which destroys the immune system of the human body. About one million people die each year from consequences.

(fee / sda)