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Promising Norwegian HIV vaccine Tested

Posted by Hemos on from the see-how-it-works dept.

mkeke writes "The Norway Post is reporting: "A new Norwegian vaccine against HIV has attracted interest abroad, and is now being tested on 40 Norwegian HIV patients. The vaccine apparently helps to repair the patients' immune system, thus preventing the development of aids."
You can read it all here"

5 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting, but ... by MacEnvy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All the vaccine seems to do is allow people to continue to live with HIV for a longer time, without reaching full-blown AIDS. It's a nice step, but doesn't help with the main problem - that a significant portion of HIV cases are caused by ignorance and misbelief, especially in Africa. Furthermore, the places in Africa most hardly hit by HIV don't have enough money to buy cutting-edge treatments in the first place. They are too worried about food ...

    It's too bad the details are so scarce in the article. It would be nice to know exactly what this vaccine does (enhance T-cells, etc?). For the moment, this news isn't very helpful to the majority of HIV sufferers. I suppose any progress is progress, though.

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  2. Vaccine by nycsubway · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Interesting use of the word vaccine. It seems that it actually helps stop the development of aquired immunodeficiency syndrome, but AIDS is not a virus.

    HIV is the virus, but the 'vaccine' does not prevent HIV infection, it helps stop the effects of the HIV. I think they mean it's a vaccine in the sense that it can prevent AIDS.

    An HIV infected person will still have HIV and can still transmit it to other people, even if they have had this vaccine.

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    http://github.com/gbook/nidb
    1. Re:Vaccine by Alereon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The story is sparse on details, but it seems that it works to help prevent the onset of AIDS by allowing an individual to become partially immune to the immune-system-damaging effects of the HIV virus. Partially, since they still die eventually, but it helps. If, instead of a drug that acts on the virus itself, it stimulates an immune response, it would be classified as a vaccine, methinks.

  3. Wording by cam_macleod · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not to troll or complain, but isn't that technically a treatment, not a vaccine? Correct me if I'm wrong...

    1. Re:Wording by 73939133 · · Score: 4, Informative

      A vaccine is something that stimulates the immune system with antigens. Most vaccines are preventive, but this one happens to be a therapeutic vaccine--you give it after the disease has already started. There are a few other examples of therapeutic vaccines.