Many forms of medication have been used to try and cure, or prevent HIV and AIDS, however, none have been one hundred percent successful. More and more scientists and doctors believe that an HIV vaccine is the only option left to stop the spread of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. A vaccine is a form of medication which provides immunity against a particular type of disease. Thus, an HIV vaccine will prevent people from contracting the HIV virus.
Because approximately 33 million people worldwide have contracted the HIV virus, creating a cure, or HIV vaccine is extremely important for the well being of humans. Developing an HIV vaccine has been declared one of the World’s 16 major science ad technology projects that has mad a significant progression over the last 5 years.
Creating an HIV vaccine is an extensive and challenging task and it is difficult to find people who are willing to test and see whether the vaccine is successful, or not. There have been vast amounts of clinical testing and experimentation to date. The most successful evaluation and knowledge was gained this year, in 2011, by researchers at the University of Melbourne. This advancement in the creation of an HIV vaccine was brought about by the identification of the exact antibody which fights the HIV virus. With this knowledge, scientists are extremely close to discovering and creating the HIV vaccine. The antibody helps to drive the HIV virus back and forces it to mutate around the antibody, proving it to be successful. Scientists have high hopes that the antibody, when introduced into healthy peoples’ bloodstreams, will prevent the contraction of HIV by inducing the right immune responses. Thus, it will become an HIV vaccine.
However, in the event that this HIV-vaccine evaluation is unsuccessful, there are other worldwide projects which are in place. Other recent studies show that Chinese scientists have been successful in completing a clinical testing that uses monoclonal antibodies (MAb) to protect the human body against HIV, however, further testing is still required and in progress.
In addition to this, there is a proposed vaccine that uses the smallpox vaccine as a carrier. This is because there is a stable foundation relating to the extensive research that went into the smallpox molecule’s history. In addition to this, there is a wide application relating to smallpox, making it reliable with a high immunogenic potential. The trials started in 2007 and recent evaluations show that that smallpox as a carrier helps healthy humans’ bodies produce immune reaction cells.
Once a proposed HIV vaccine is discovered, tested and declared successful, there are three phases of clinical testing that need to be passed. The trials that the HIV vaccine will need to pass are as follows: to determine the vaccine’s effect on healthy people, to evaluate the effectiveness that the HIV vaccine will have on people who are at a high risk of contracting the HIV virus and, lastly, to test the impact that the vaccine will have on people who are at a high risk. Some countries have been able to accomplish results up to test two, however, there has never been a successful attempt at the third test.
The HIV virus has been one of the world’s largest pandemics in history which has caused pain and suffering to millions of people. With the continuation of HIV-vaccine research, hopefully, scientists will be able to discover the correct HIV vaccine and put and end to all the devastation.