AIDS researchers look for new vaccine

Published: Feb. 7, 2008 at 12:29 AM
Order reprints
BOSTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- AIDS researchers meeting in Boston said they are starting basically from scratch in the search for a vaccine to protect against the immune disease.

The San Francisco Chronicle said the failure of a Merck vaccine study that left some volunteers susceptible to HIV has led to calls for a pause in new clinical trials.

Dr. Tony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has agreed to convene a meeting of leaders in the vaccine field to rethink strategy, the newspaper said.

Speaking at the 15th annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections Tuesday in Boston, Harvard researcher Ronald Desrosiers said current vaccine research trials were basically useless. "There is no rational basis for believing that any of the products in the pipeline have any reasonable hope of being effective," said Desrosiers.

Desrosiers said the research community needs to accept that HIV is the "undisputed champion" among viruses in its ability to mutate resistant strains, the newspaper said.


© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Killing in Germany angers Egyptians (1 min)
MLB: Florida 14, Arizona 7 (4 min)
Sexist jokes linked to battering women (12 min)
Al-Qaida more active in North Africa (22 min)
Woman carrying grasshoppers put off bus (27 min)
MLB: San Francisco 9, San Diego 3 (40 min)
AIG may pay more bonuses (42 min)
fark
"Resident found out it's not OK to shoot raccoons and gerbils...He told police that he and his neighbors...
Thousands homeless after China Quake. Quisp unavailable for comment
Ugly-ass okapi born at Denver Zoo. In fact, "okapi" means "ugly-ass" in Swahili
If you find a live grenade in your newly purchased vehicle, you probably shouldn't wait a month...
Family tries to lure back lost dog by spraying their own urine all over town. They then want to...
"Oh damn." Obama caught blatantly ogling some of the nicer scenery at the G8 summit, while Sarkozy...