AEGiS-ST: SA has big role in search for HIV vaccine

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

SA has big role in search for HIV vaccine

Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - October 22, 2009
Claire Keeton

Blocking infection should remain the main goal in the search for an HIV vaccine, said Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US government's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at yesterday's closing of the Aidsvac conference in Paris.

The renewed emphasis on finding a preventative vaccine after 26 years of failure is encouraging, said Prof Lynn Morris, head of the Aids unit at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, in Johannesburg. The modest success of an HIV vaccine tested on 16000 volunteers in Thailand has played a role in reinvigorating the research.

Morris is in collaboration with scientists around the world in trying to identify the neutralising antibodies that will be necessary for the development of a vaccine that will prevent HIV infection.

South African scientists are participating in the search in a "big way", said Prof Malegapuru Makgoba, chairman of the African Aids Vaccine Programme.

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