You've probably heard many times about HIV infection. All people are afraid of getting it. Science does not stand still and presents good news.
Scientists are creating different types of vaccines against one of the worst diseases on our planet called human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). At first, these were just laboratory tests. Now doctors are ready to test a new HIV vaccine on humans. Moreover, tests will not be limited to a small group of people. Vaccine is going to be tested on a huge number of volunteers on three continents at once. New medicine is called ‘Mosaic’ HIV vaccine. It includes genetic material of several strains of human immunodeficiency virus. How is this vaccine made? Scientists take a portion of each strain of virus and put these portions together. This is assembled like a puzzle as a result. Vaccine is based on an inactivated herpes virus. Three synthetic HIV genes are inserted into it. Introduction of vaccines are going to occur within one year. Scientists are going to give half of amount subjects 4 doses of this vaccine, and a placebo other half of them. Naturally participants in this experiment will not know what exactly they receive. Previous test steps have confirmed that mosaic vaccine produces a strong immune response to HIV. Now scientists need to understand whether it provides long-term protection against the virus. However, part of scientific community believes that HIV can mutate and become resistant to mosaic vaccine. Clinical trial phase of the new vaccine will begin in September 2019. Tests will take 3800 volunteers from 8 European countries, as well as from several countries in North and South America. Scientists are optimistic about this project and hope that new vaccine will prove to be effective.
This was written by Nino Kutivadze