New AIDS vaccine shows encouraging results

an aids vaccine, developed by scientists in Sweden, has produced surprisingly good results. More than 90 per cent of subjects in phase 1 trials of the vaccine developed an immune response to hiv, the virus that causes aids, say scientists from the Karolinska Institute, the Karolinska University Hospital and the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (smi).

"Never has such a good result been seen with a vaccine of this type," says Eric Sandstrom, chief physician at the Karolinska University Hospital. The vaccine can protect against many of the circulating hiv types in Africa and the West, says Britta Wahren of the Karolinska Institute, in a press release.

Scientists now hope to follow up the Swedish study with a larger phase 1-phase 2 study in Tanzania.Their aim will be to corroborate the Swedish results on African subjects and to help train Tanzanians to carry out parts of the study, including sophisticated laboratory examinations, on site.