An experimental vaccine could prove to be the ultimate weapon against AIDS, research suggests.

Studies indicate it has the potential to clear the body of all traces of the AIDS virus, HIV.

Uniquely, the injected vaccine is carried by a persistent virus which remains in the body for life.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) enables the immune system to be constantly on the alert for HIV.

Researchers in the US used different versions of the vaccine against a monkey form of the AIDS virus, Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), with outstanding results.

More than half the rhesus macaques monkies treated responded to the point where even the most sensitive tests detected no signs of SIV.

To date, most of the animals have maintained control over the virus for more than a year, gradually showing no indication they had ever been infected.

Unvaccinated monkeys infected with SIV went on to develop the monkey equivalent of AIDS, caused by the collapse of their immune systems.

The findings suggest the vaccine could be effective enough to rid the body of immunodeficiency virus completely, according to the scientists writing in the journal ‘Nature’.

Conventional antiretroviral therapies are able to control HIV infection, but cannot clear the virus from its hiding places within the immune system’s white blood cells.

Study leader Dr Louis Picker, from Oregon Health & Science University’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, said: “The next step in vaccine development is to test the vaccine candidate in clinical trials in humans.

"For a human vaccine, the CMV vector would be weakened sufficiently so that it does not cause illness, but will still protect against HIV.”

CMV belongs to the herpes family of viruses, and like other members of the group never leaves the body once an infection has occurred.

An estimated half of all adults in the UK carry CMV but suffer no or few symptoms.

The virus is spread through bodily fluids such as saliva and urine.

When symptoms do occur, they are similar to those of flu including a high temperature and swollen glands as well as tiredness.

People with weakened immune systems can have a more severe response.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/vaccine-is-found-to-clear-the-body-of-hiv-virus-15154765.html#ixzz1N9MacfdV

A silver bullet to defeat HIV/AIDS still doesn’t exist, but the world is getting closer.

An international study released this week found that transmission of the virus can be nearly eliminated if patients are simply given drug therapy as early as possible.

The trial was among 1,763 couples where one partner was infected. The couples were split into two groups - in one group the infected partners had received anti-retroviral drugs immediately upon diagnosis, in the other, the infected partners had begun therapy later.

Over the course of six years, researchers found that those who had started treatment early were 96 percent less likely to transmit the virus to their partners than those who had begun treatment later. The data was so overwhelming that the study was terminated years ahead of schedule.

The results are the first to prove what HIV/AIDS experts already suspected - that immediate treatment offers major health benefits. They also back San Francisco public health officials’ much-debated recommendation from last year that people should be treated as soon as possible after their diagnosis.

“The pendulum has really swung towards early treatment,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of HIV prevention for San Francisco’s Public Health Department.

It’s poignant that the study’s release is happening just weeks before the 30th anniversary of the first reports of HIV in the United States.

“This year there have been a lot of positive signs in terms of turning the epidemic around,” Colfax said. “Maybe in another 30 years, (HIV) won’t be around.”

In the meantime, this study poses a new challenge to public health officials. The evidence is clearly starting to show that it’s much better to treat patients earlier, but from where will the money come?

Anti-retroviral medications have made huge strides in the past five years. The side effects are less debilitating and the drugs are more widely available in poor countries that have been racked by the epidemic.

Unfortunately, they’re still very expensive. Many poor countries, already struggling to deliver therapy to those with full-blown AIDS, will probably conclude that they can’t afford to launch early treatment programs for people who aren’t already sick.

That would be a mistake. Yes, anti-retroviral medications are pricey - but what are really expensive are new HIV infections. Early treatment offers enormous returns for patients’ health and productivity, and now, it appears, that benefit extends to their partners as well. It doesn’t come cheaper than that.

This article appeared on page A - 9 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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• Educate and distribute information about HIV/AIDS locally;
• Promote and provide HIV Testing;
• Increase HIV/AIDS community mobilization and involvement efforts locally; and
• Encourage linkage to care and treatment for those newly diagnosed with HIV and promote reengagement to care and treatment services for people living with HIV.

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