An experimental drug helped monkeys with a form of the Aids virus control the infection for more than a year, suggesting it may lead to a vaccine for people, or even a cure. Researchers said Cytomegalovirus (CMV) works by priming the immune system to quickly attack the HIV virus when it first enters the body, a point at which the virus is most vulnerable.
Dr Louis Picker of the Oregon National Primate Research Centre, whose study appears in the journal Nature, said he thinks it will be possible to have a vaccine ready to test in people within three years.
CMV enables the immune system to be constantly on the alert for HIV.
Researchers used different versions of the vaccine against a monkey form of the Aids virus, SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus) with outstanding results.
More than half the rhesus macaques treated responded to the point where even the most sensitive tests detected no signs of SIV.
To date, most of the animals have maintained control over the virus for more than a year, gradually showing no indication that they had ever been infected. Read More
