BERLIN, Feb 16 (AFP) - Clinical tests on humans of a possible AIDS vaccine started in Germany for the first time Monday with the aim that it will one day combat the killer disease primarily in Africa and Asia.
The vaccine, known as tgAAC09 and the first that can be administered with a single injection, is also being tested in Belgium, team leader Jan van Lunzen said here.
The project is aimed at proving its effectiveness against subtype C of the HIV virus that causes AIDS, the most common form in developing nations.
Similar tests have been successfully conducted on monkeys.
In a statement, van Lunzen said: "Preventive vaccines have ended smallpox, nearly eradicated polio and controlled dozens of other deadly diseases."
With the trial in Germany, he added, "we bring the world a step closer to a vaccine that will end AIDS."
In a first phase of around one year, it will be tested against any possible side-effects. Subsequent phases will expand the tests into broader groups and developing countries, he went on.
He warned that even if the trials were successful, it could be eight years before the vaccine is licensed.
A successful vaccine would not directly help sufferers with subtype B HIV, which is the most common form in Europe, although the scientists hope it would have a knock-on effect on research.
Around 40 million people across the world are infected with the HIV virus, 26.6 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa, according to latest UN estimates.
Researchers are testing, or have already tested, some 30 potential vaccines but so far none has proved to be the long-cherished solution.
The trial is being conducted at university clinics in the German cities of Bonn and Hamburg and hospitals in Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium. It is funded by the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, a US organisation.
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