PARIS, Feb 18 (AFP) - France said on Friday it was suspending trials of two prototype vaccines against the AIDS virus as a precaution after an American volunteer suddenly fell ill with a neurological disorder.

The vaccines, codenamed Vac 16 and Vac 18, are part of an ambitious vaccine programme launched by the National Agency for AIDS (ANRS), and the suspension will put back work by a year, ANRS said.

The move was decided after a US volunteer in his forties needed hospitalisation last December for myelitis, an inflammation of the spine that can cause problems with mobility and even lead to paralysis.

The volunteer, who has not been named, was not testing either of the French vaccines.

He had been injected with a test US vaccine, HVTN 42, which has now been withdrawn from trial by the American authorities, ANRS said.

Vac 16 and Vac 18 are affected, however, because both vaccines use HVTN 42 as part of their formula.

The volunteer had enrolled in another trial to test anti-HIV drugs, but it was unknown whether these drugs, when combined with the vaccine, had caused his problem, ANRS said.

AIDS vaccines try to prime the body's immune system to recognise the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS.

To do this, vaccine formulae are often a combination of several strategies that can borrow a molecule from another vaccine.

The search for a vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is one of the most frustrating areas of AIDS research.

Only one vaccine has ever completed the long three-phase process of assessment for safety and effectiveness on humans, and the result was a disappointing failure.

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