Possibly capable of preventing multiple strains of the virus.
A team of scientists at Harvard have made some good progress towards an HIV vaccine.Early testing in humans has shown promise; Everyone who received the drug produced some sort of HIV immune response, with 80% producing more advanced responses. The same vaccine, tested on rhesus monkeys, protected about 67% from the simian-human immunodeficiency virus, meaning it may be effective against HIV.
That said, it’s a long way from being done. There still needs to be more testing to prove that the vaccine is effective in humans. And that testing will involve around 2600 women in southern Africa who are at risk of contracting HIV. Four other vaccines have made it to this stage, but they all failed to produce the necessary results.
That said, this vaccine seems to be primed for success. That’s in part due to the fact that this one is a “mosaic”; a drug made with a number of fragments from different strains of the virus in an attempt to make a universal vaccine. And the promise of such a drug is that it can be mobilized across a number of different communities effectively. Is it a sure-fire thing? Probably not, but it’s the best contender we’ve ever had.
Source: Engadget
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