DUBAI, Dec 7, 2007 (AFP) - A discoverer of the HIV virus which causes AIDS appealed for funds on Friday to help develop a new vaccine both to protect the healthy and treat sufferers of the deadly disease.
"I am continuing research on AIDS ... particularly on the forms of the virus which are resistant to existing treatment," especially triple-therapy medications, French professor Luc Montagnier, 75, told AFP.
The virologist, who launched the World Foundation for AIDS in 1983 together with the former UNESCO director general Federico Mayor, was in Dubai to seek funding for the groundbreaking new scheme.
His "project aims to develop a therapeutic vaccine which would both treats sufferers and protects those not infected from the virus," within the next three years, he said.
He said the project would cost more than 10 million dollars (6.8 million euros) every three years before it can be commercialised and mass-produced.
Montagnier appealed for donations from the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, which he said was more at risk from AIDS due to a rising number of tourists.
Those moving to the UAE, as in the other Gulf kingdoms, are subjected to medical tests every three years including those for AIDS before being issued with a residence permit.
People with the virus, which affects 33 million people worldwide, are automatically rejected.
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