Thailand – Thai and American researchers announced the development of a vaccine to reduce the risk of contamination by the AIDS virus. This announcement follows the results of a clinical trial conducted on 16,400 people.

This test was conducted by the Ministry of Health of Thailand and the U.S. military. It shows that the vaccine reduces the risk of infection in 32.1% of cases. In their official statement, the researchers suggest that: “This result represents a breakthrough because it is the first time there is evidence that a vaccine against HIV has a preventive effect.

This vaccine is a combination of two vaccines tested previously, which alone had appeared ineffective one like the other. Tests have been conducted since 2003 in two Thai provinces on seronegative volunteers, aged 18 to 30 years, and considered moderately at risk. Researchers must now understand the operating process of the mixture of the two vaccines.

This small step is a great hope for scientists. It is about a big first success on the way of a universal vaccine. The World of Health and UNAIDS, however measured optimism because “there remains much work to do.” Seth Berkley, president of the Initiative for Vaccine against AIDS (IAVI) greets a significant scientific result: “For the first time a proposed vaccine is effective in humans. Until now, we had proof of a feasibility only on animals”