| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| HIV vaccine looks good - 90% get immunity! |
| 2006-09-05 |
| This article is written a bit tricky. The vaccine is from the US, the human test group in Sweden. The Swedes wrote the story so their title says Swedish HIV vaccine. Not Swedish Vaccine test of American vaccine. Other than the spin its some real positive news for a change. A Swedish HIV vaccine study being conducted by the Karolinska Institute, Karolinska University Hospital and Smittskyddsinstitutet (SMI) has shown surprisingly positive results. Over 90 percent of the subjects in the Phase I study conducted in Sweden have developed immunity against HIV. According to Professor Eric Sandström at Karolinska University Hospital, “Never has such a good result been seen with a vaccine of this type.” The trial subjects were vaccinated on three occasions with this vaccine using a needle-free method of injection. This vaccine-based HIV vaccine is produced by the US National Institutes of Health and was donated for use in this Swedish study. Scientists now hope to follow up the Swedish study with a larger phase I or phase 2 study in Tanzania, planned to commence this autumn, in order to corroborate the Swedish results on African subjects and to help train Tanzanians to carry out parts of the study, including sophisticated laboratory examinations, on site. The project is being led by Karolinska Institute professors Gunnel Biberfeld and Britta Wahren at the SMI and Eric Sandström at the Karolinska University Hospital. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #17 That's basically it, Frank. Nature did not design rounds to be chambered that way, to be crude about it. Gays' behaviors and needle sharing among addicts is not only dangerous to them, but to a significant number of the general population. If many of the aforementioned individuals think that getting an innoculation for AIDS will get them off scott free, they have another thing coming. By not changing behaviours, there will be some other nasty disease setting up shop inside that will make it even more difficult for the medical researchers. Changing behaviors will be more cost effective than taking national treasure and burning it up on something that is largely preventable. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-09-05 23:26 |
| #16 raincoats would help. To memorialize or romanticize bareback riders is self-destructive to the Gay population, and ultimately hazardous to the general pop. Bathhouse behavior is stupidly sekf-destructive, and teh aura of invincibility, along with the meth increase, is causing gays to have 10-20 anal partners in a looooong night. Whoda thunk they might pick up a bug? Idiots |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-09-05 22:10 |
| #15 Butt banditry will never stop Frank. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-09-05 21:00 |
| #14 the issue is the homosexual community deliberately choosing to risk catching "the bug" since vaccines and cocktails appear to have diminished the risk of dying - at least immediately. There needs to be a wholesale change in their behavior or it won't last as a vaccine. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-09-05 20:55 |
| #13 TW - its better to be %90 safe than %0 safe. Consider 1 out of 10 condoms tear as condoms are only consdered %90 safe. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-09-05 20:28 |
| #12 A good first step. My concern is, that with the HIV virus mutating so quickly in response to a hostile environment, and with only a 90% effectiveness, how soon will this vaccine become ineffective? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-09-05 19:04 |
| #11 I wonder if the same people who complain about the new HPV vaccine will complain about this. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2006-09-05 18:09 |
| #10 “With all the hype and vast amounts of cash that has been channeled into AIDS and AIDS research, has there been spin-off benefit and or any derivative drugs, therapies and or research that has directly helped the rest of us?” Yes, HIV research has greatly improved the understanding of viral infection, immune response, basic molecular biology, etc. The long-term payback will be immense. However, most spending on HIV has not been for research, but for treatment of patients with AIDS. Research pays off big in the long-term but people suffer in the short-term. I would prefer that at least 5% of total government expenditure on a disease go for research, but I’m not dying of HIV, cancer, heart disease, or Alzheimer’s. |
| Posted by: Hupeger Creamble4059 2006-09-05 11:25 |
| #9 Don't disagree, SB, but. There's a finite number of research dollars. They should be spent in a way that saves the most lives. I'd suggest malaria and diarrhea expenditures would save a lot more lives. Of innocent children who do not engage in promiscuous sex. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-09-05 10:16 |
| #8 no mo uro, sure, behavior modification helps. But I'm not quite willing to become a lesbian who refuses all blood transfusions to ensure I don't get AIDS. (Look it up....stats show they are the least likely to get the disease, but somehow I don't think that means the Divine is blessing that lifestyle and cursing the rest.) I've known one gentleman who definitely died of AIDS, one courageous lady, and two whom I suspect died of it (officially they died of "blood infections"). They were all wonderful people who, regardless of how they may or may not have spent their Saturday nights, did not deserve that kind of terrible death. I'd rather have cancer, and yes, I've seen death from cancer up close and personal (both parents). Here's hoping that this is a first step to a vaccine against this horrible disease, and that the research leads to therapies for other ailments soon. |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie 2006-09-05 09:59 |
| #7 "So much time and money spent on something which can prevented for free by simple behavior modification." For the most part that's true, but tell that to my cousin who died of AIDS after receiving tainted blood. Of course, the blood supply is more carefully screened now than it was then, but my cousin didn't do anything to deserve this horrible disease. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-09-05 09:06 |
| #6 American Trial Lawyers generating up their solicitation commercials yet? Yes, I see that it isn't FDA approved yet, but when has that stopped them? I seem to recall a two medicine concoction issued out by doctors without FDA approval for weight reduction and it was the pharmaceutical companies that got sued for it. |
| Posted by: Elmeretch Spoque3740 2006-09-05 09:06 |
| #5 Yeeeeha! I'm Back! |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-09-05 06:41 |
| #4 So much time and money spent on something which can prevented for free by simple behavior modification. Money which could have been used to research treatments for conditions which are completely behavior independent. No such thing as political correctness out there. Nope. And even if there were, no harmful effects. /sarcasm off |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2006-09-05 06:14 |
| #3 Seems to me there are many variants on AIDS-causing viruses out there. Looks like 10% of those in Sweden can get around this vaccine. Don't take it as license to do what you want! Unless of course you are one of those who think Darwin was wrong . . . . |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-09-05 03:29 |
| #2 A bit more A Swedish plasmid DNA HIV vaccine developed with European Union support has stimulated strong immune responses in a small phase 1 trial, Eric Sandstrom of StockholmÂ’s Karolinska Institute reported on Wednesday at AIDS Vaccine Â’06 in Amsterdam. Plasmid DNA immunogens are promising candidates for a HIV vaccine due to the profile of the induced immune response, cost and robustness. However, the immune response is weak when given alone as a standard intramuscular injection. The immune response may be increased in several ways. Intradermal immunisation has, in other systems, given stronger responses that have been further increased by concomitant administration of GM-CSF (granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor). [..] ~~~~~~~ Even more AIDS Vaccines ~~~~~~~~ Question for the Med ppl: With all the hype and vast amounts of cash that has been channeled into AIDS and AIDS research, has there been spin-off benefit and or any derivative drugs, therapies and or research that has directly helped the rest of us? ..Like has it translated into cures for any other viruses and or other pathogens? |
| Posted by: RD 2006-09-05 02:30 |
| #1 Good timing |
| Posted by: newc 2006-09-05 01:41 |