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Nobody will argue that the creation of a vaccine to HIV will be one of the medical breakthroughs of our generation, will save countless lives and also that there is no reason why NZ should not be able to develop one. However a recent article in the NZ Herald reports: The hunt for a HIV vaccine has gobbled up $US8 billion ($NZ9.87 billion) in the past decade, and the failure of the most recent efficacy trial has delivered yet another setback to 26 years of efforts. For a country as small as NZ this is a sizable investment in a vaccine that if discovered will be shared globally. It begs the question that possible our HIV funding could be spent on more HIV Testing and education targeting the primary risk groups. The article goes on to say .. Another concern for researchers is that two vaccine trials – HVTN 505 and a previous trial known as STEP that ended unsuccessfully in 2007 – both revealed apparent increases in the number of vaccinated patients who got HIV. HVTN 505 showed 41 cases of HIV were acquired in the vaccine group, compared to 31 in the placebo group. Among some 2500 participants, the difference was not statistically significant, and so researchers found no harm was caused by the trial. Researchers are still investigating why this may have happened, but some theorise the cold virus known as Ad5 that served as a vector to deliver the vaccine may have somehow caused more infections by making it easier for HIV to penetrate the body. For companies who see more HIV testing as one of the major defences against the spread of HIV in New Zealand this is a disappointing result. But as we read on.. A small number of HIV-positive people have been found to produce antibodies that can neutralise a broad range of HIV variants, but scientists have not yet figured out how to make a vaccine from that information. It is impossible not to gain hope. If one human can create their own immunity to HIV, then that should be capable of replication. A vaccination to HIV is of course viable, but in the meantime.. About 34 million people are infected with HIV worldwide, and AIDS has killed 30 million people since the epidemic began 30 years ago. So what we need is more New Zealanders to take an HIV Test , to be diagnosed earlier and to receive early treatment. Early diagnosis saves lives. Head Start Testing is a company committed to early HIV detection through readily available HIV home testing kits for the New Zealand public.
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