There s hope still
A new cheap, oral aids vaccine in presently being developed at the University of Maryland's Institute of Human Virology in the us.
According to Dr Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of the virus and head of the institute, the drug is expected to undergo human tests in Uganda in as little as 18 months and could cost as little as $1 or less per dose. The vaccine is one of several expected to be tested in Uganda, according to Gallo's institute and the International aids Vaccine Initiative.
Gallo said: "I don't feel this announcement is the answer to aids, but it's a very important additional step towards the next line of hiv prevention candidates.' Francis Omaswa, Uganda's director general of health services, who attended the news conference, said a vaccine is the only hope in his country which has one in 10 or 4.2 million hiv positive cases and high-priced treatments and drugs are beyond the reach of most.
The vaccine will be developed from a strain of salmonella bacteria (responsible for typhoid) which is genetically altered to be less infectious and to carry portions of the hiv dna into the body. Once the bacteria invade intestinal cells, their cells break apart and the hiv dna they carry is released. The intestinal cells are then hijacked by the hiv and produce a part of the hiv virus, which is not harmful but causes an immune response. Researchers hope that will allow the body to fight off an attack by the real hiv virus.
More than two dozen potential aids vaccines have been tried worldwide. Only one, however, has advanced to large-scale testing, the researchers said.
Results of trials of that vaccine, produced by Vaxgen, should be available in late 2002 or 2003, said Peggy Johnston, director for aids vaccines at the National Institutes of Health.
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