According to a recent article posted on the website for Channel 11 out of Atlanta, there might be some very strong hope for the future of an AIDS vaccine:
The world could have a new vaccine designed to kill the AIDS virus in as little as three to four years according to an Atlanta-based group working on the vaccine.
It is a scientific advance that could save tens of millions of lives, and it is being developed on the campus of Emory University.
I’m a bit confused about how this vaccine works, but you need to bear in mind that I really have no idea how a smoke detector, my microwave, or aspirin works. I don’t even know how the next tissue pops up out of a box of Klennex when you grab one to blow your nose.
But apparently, the vaccine employs a “decoy virus” which contains minuscule amounts of HIV, amounts so small no one would actually get AIDS from the injection. This sets up “memory cells,” which would attack the actual virus should you become exposed. In a scientific nutshell:
The vaccine works using a one-two pharmaceutical punch to prime the body then kill the virus.
“It raises both antibodies that can block the virus and it raises white blood cells called t cells that can kill the virus infected cells,” said [Dr. Harriet Robinson, Ph. D., of the Emory Vaccine Center].
I hate to build up false hope, but steps like this on a small level (according to the article the lab where this powerful work is getting done is smaller than my garage), where progress, at times surprisingly, seems to be made.
How important could this next step in defending and treating AIDS be? Well, according to ADVERT, an international AIDS charity, “estimates from the UNAIDS/WHO AIDS Epidemic Update around 37.2 million adults and 2.3 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2006.” Combined that would be like every single person in California having HIV. Or everyone in Canada and New Zeland put together. Or all of Spain.
Let’s hope, and pray, and hope some more that there’s an end in sight.
To keep yourself informed about HIV and AIDS, just click the red ribbon. Remember, friends, knowledge is progress.
