OT: HIV vaccine

strongandfit

Twitter going crazy with the HIV vaccine thing.

agarlits

There's an HIV vaccine????????

courtney_love2001

It's a pretty amazing thing. It is definitely taking a stride in the right direction toward developing a vaccine. However, it is only 35% effective, there is no human model, and is probably decades away from being a plausible option for someone to use. You have to think, how will they ever test this in humans? Give a person a vaccine and then tell them to go out and intentionally become exposed to HIV? No thanks...

HIV research is so amazing. It is just that HIV is such a nasty little critter. With every replication, it can change itself in some tiny way to evade the immune system (and by default any vaccine or antibodies against it). Hopefully they have discovered something completely new and amazing...yet one more stride toward HIV treatment.

tubbytabbytales

There's an HIV vaccine????????

They've been working on one for YEARS. It still isn't 100%, but the most recent test showed something like 31% success rate? So it's a huge improvement!

Unknown

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agarlits

I remember watching these videos in highschool about people that were Immune to HIV because their cells lacked certain receptors so the HIV protiens couldnt bind to the cell.

I guess if they had a vaccine that killed those receptors then theoretically you could immunize yourself against it but thats not really plausible.

Does anyone have any insight into how this vaccine works or maybe an article about it?

I cant imagine they would expose you to even a weak strain of HIV.

christahollis

They could test it in populations that will most definitely put themselves at risk anyway. I've seen studies where they were testing preventive methods in South-East Asia, because the prostitution trade there is booming...and so is the AIDS epidemic.

BrendaLee

They could test it in populations that will most definitely put themselves at risk anyway. I've seen studies where they were testing preventive methods in South-East Asia, because the prostitution trade there is booming...and so is the AIDS epidemic.

That's exactly how they test its effectiveness- in populations of people who are are at high risk to contract HIV, then they see how many people who got the vaccine contract HIV as opposed to those who were given placebo- though I can't imagine anyone volunteering for such a test. To test its potential toxicity, they use volunteers that already are HIV positive.

__

Here's one article:

http://www.chvi-icvv.gc.ca/faq-eng.html

courtney_love2001

That seems very unethical. Well, since they're "probably" going to get HIV anyway, let's just let them be our guinea pigs...that kind of makes me mad really...oh well, we are blessed to live in the US where there are standards of who can be experimented on, so let us be thankful for that!

Maybe there will be an HIV vaccine someday...but I wouldn't hold my breath for it being any time in my lifetime :ohwell:

BrendaLee

That seems very unethical. Well, since they're "probably" going to get HIV anyway, let's just let them be our guinea pigs...that kind of makes me mad really...oh well, we are blessed to live in the US where there are standards of who can be experimented on, so let us be thankful for that!

Maybe there will be an HIV vaccine someday...but I wouldn't hold my breath for it being any time in my lifetime :ohwell:

I'm in Canada. Trials are taking place all over the world though- I think the largest number of trials are actually in the US. Only one trial of 16, 000 people in Thailand has reached Phase III, which is efficacy testing.

GreenEyedMonster

Makes ya wonder how they human tested the anthrax vaccine...