Simian Vaccine Shows Promise For HIV

The Independent reports:

A vaccine designed to tackle SIV, the monkey equivalent of HIV, may have successfully cleared the virus from infected animals, paving the way for research into a HIV vaccine for humans. It was previously thought that both the human and simian immunodeficiency viruses could be managed with antiretroviral therapies, but not eradicated. However, a study published in the science journal Nature showed that of 16 monkeys exposed to the virus who were injected with a vaccine, nine appeared to be able to clear their body of the disease. US researchers from the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute at Oregon Health and Science University are now hoping to use a similar approach to test for a vaccine equivalent in humans. The team examined a strain of the virus called SIVmac239, which is up to 100 times more deadly than HIV.

Researchers are now looking into why the vaccine only worked for some of the monkeys.