An Arizona State University scientist specializing in infectious diseases said results from an HIV vaccine trial released last month are “a real milestone” in ongoing efforts to prevent the disease.
Bertram Jacobs, a professor specializing in infectious diseases and vaccinology in the School of Life Sciences at ASU, said this vaccine is the first to offer any positive results in the prevention of HIV, the disease that leads to AIDS.
“There has been failure after failure after failure,” Jacobs said of previous vaccines.
The results of the six-year study, which was conducted in Thailand by the U.S. Army and the Thailand Ministry of Public Health, were released Sept. 25. The trial consisted of 16,402 non-infected volunteers and is the largest HIV vaccine trial ever conducted, according to a report by the U.S. Military HIV Research Program. Half of the volunteers were given a placebo and half were vaccinated with a “prime boost” regimen, that combines two different HIV vaccines.
The trial in Thailand reduced HIV infection by 31.2 percent within the sample population, with 51 vaccinated volunteers becoming infected with HIV compared to the 74 placebo volunteers that became infected, the report stated.
Jacobs said the study indicates that the prime boost regimen works. He said that today, there are even stronger vaccines that can be used to repeat the trial and that a vaccine with an 80 to 90 percent prevention rate could be developed within 10 years.
Jacobs said individually the two vaccines are not very powerful, but together they seem to produce results, although scientists are unsure why. Even with the positive outcome of the trial, Jacobs said he is not completely satisfied.
“That’s nowhere near where we need to be,” Jacobs said. “But it sets a bar for what we need to beat.”
Lorraine Brown, a consumer advocate for the Maricopa County Integrated Health System, said the Thailand trial vaccine brings scientists closer to finding a cure for HIV.
Brown has been living with HIV for 27 years and is taking medication to help increase her white blood cell count, which has gone from three cells when she was first diagnosed to 1,265 cells presently. White blood cells are used by the body to fight infection.
Brown said that although there are medications available today that slow the progression of HIV, the number of new cases is still increasing.
Tyler TerMeer, the program manager at the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have admitted to underestimating the number of new HIV positive cases in the past.
“More and more young people walk through the door,” TerMeer said of his experience working with patients at the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS.
TerMeer, who was diagnosed with the virus five years ago, said there are more than 30 medications on the market to treat HIV. The public views the disease as a manageable chronic illness rather than a “death sentence,” which may contribute to the increase in the number of infected youth, TerMeer said.
“Communities have become a little bit complacent and silent about the epidemic,” TerMeer said.
The Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS helped develop the two original vaccines used in the trial in Thailand, TerMeer said.
“It’s kind of exciting for us,” TerMeer said of the positive impact the organization had in the study.
Although Lorraine Brown looks perfectly healthy and appears to be living and full and normal life, said even with medication, the life span of someone with HIV is half the life span of a non-infected person and finding a vaccine is important.
“Do I think it’s around the corner? You know what, I don’t know,” Brown said, “but I’m glad we’ve got scientists working on endeavors for HIV.”
U.S. Military HIV Research Program: http://www.hivresearch.org/phase3/factsheet.html