New HIV vaccine gives hope

Participants from the United States, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, and Thailand were vaccinated 4 times in 48 weeks, where different combinations of "mosaic" vaccine were tested on healthy individuals aged 18 to 50 years. In the experiments, it was determined that all vaccine combinations improved the immune system response to HIV and were safe. The vaccine has also been shown to protect some monkeys from a virus that looks like HIV. Scientists will investigate whether the immune response developed by the vaccine in the next step will prevent HIV infection in humans. It is reported that some 37 million people worldwide are living with HIV and that 1.8 million new cases are reported each year.