from Medical Issues

Researchers Doubt Vaccine For
HIV Will Ever Be Found

July 20, 2006 - A Harvard researcher who has spent two decades searching for a vaccine for HIV, says it may never be found.

Researcher Ronald Desrosiers says: 'It would be the greatest good we could do for mankind, and we should try like hell." But, he acknowledges, "It's seriously questionable whether there will ever be an effective vaccine for HIV." His comments were published in a feature of Newhouse News Service by George Jordan.

Emilio Emini, with the drugmaker Wyeth agrees. He says: "...it is very difficult to conceive how one will make a vaccine" to protect against HIV.

According to Jordan, the AIDS virus is different than others. It targets T-cells, turning them into virus-producing factories that can create more than one million copies a day. The outer shell of the virus renders antibodies ineffective by cloaking the molecular sites where they can attach.

In addition, HIV is a retrovirus, which means it can hibernate for years before becoming active in the body. As Emini says: "It's a very clever piece of engineering. Once you get the infection, it does not go away."

Since 1981, HIV/AIDS has infected 65 million people and killed 25 million. The U.S. sees an average of 40,000 new infections yearly.

Additional Reading: Finding AIDS Vaccine May Be A Lost Cause; NARTH Medical Issues.