why is it so difficult to get a vaccine for aids?
399114
There are many reasons why an AIDS vaccine is difficult to develop.  Here is an admittedly incomplete list:\n\n1. HIV is highly mutable - it can change its genomic RNA sequence (altering its protein sequence) and the ability of our body to recognize the infection.  As such, knowing which sequence to choose for a vaccine is very difficult.  \n\n2. The virus has evolved to adapt to localized populations, resulting in numerous "clades" found world-wide.  Therefore, it may be impossible to generate one vaccine that will target all clades and multiple clade-specific vaccines will be required.\n\n3. Scientists do not understand how most vaccines work, particularly those against viral infections.  The vaccines in use today were mainly identified based on trial and error and mainly generate antibody responses - not T cell responses.  While this single arm of the immune response seems to be protective against most bacterial infections (and some viral diseases), it does not appear to be protective against HIV.  The common approaches used against other pathogens have failed.  Therefore, generation of an HIV vaccine requires us to learn a lot more about vaccine design in general.\n\n4. While there are rare people who appear to be resistant to HIV infection or can survive for many years without developing symptoms of AIDS, scientists do not yet understand what type of immune response is protective against HIV.  Therefore, there is no "gold standard" for a vaccine to try to mimic.\n\n5. There is no small animal model of HIV infection.  The closest model system for testing potential HIV vaccines is to use monkeys.  This is difficult (scientifically and ethically), time-consuming, and very expensive - and there is still debate as to how well this system recapitulates human disease.  Therefore, the process is very slow from conception to testing of a new vaccine candidate.\n\n6. Along this line, current medical ethics (as well as cost, etc.) prevent doctors from testing unproven vaccine candidates directly on humans, as might have occured 100 years ago, for fear of unanticipated side effects ("do no harm").  Before any vaccine is tested in people, it must pass numerous preliminary stages using animals and small-scale (Phase I) trials in humans before any test of vaccine efficacy (requiring a large population) is begun.\n\nDon't loose hope - there are several good HIV vaccine candidates in the pipeline and pharmaceutical companies (i.e. Aventis Pasteur, Merck) are begining to team up to combine their approaches with some recent success.
950194
click here:http://www.bestandworst.com/r/?id=4429\nhttp://www.gibbsmagazine.com/Where%20AIDS%20Came%20From.htm\nhttp://www.alldeaf.com/topic-debates/25274-where-did-aids-come.html\nhttp://beatnikboy.tripod.com/aids.htm\nhttp://www.natap.org/2002/9retro/day0.htm\n\n\nThe origin of AIDS and HIV has puzzled scientists ever since the illness first came to light in the early 1980s. For over twenty years it has been the subject of fierce debate and the cause of countless arguments, with everything from a promiscuous flight attendant to a suspect vaccine programme being blamed. So what it the truth? Just where did AIDS come from?\n\nThe first recognised cases of AIDS occurred in the USA in the early 1980s (more about this period can be found on our history page). A number of gay men in New York and San Francisco suddenly began to develop rare opportunistic infections and cancers that seemed stubbornly resistant to any treatment. At this time, AIDS did not yet have a name, but it quickly became obvious that all the men were suffering from a common syndrome. The discovery of HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS was made soon after. While some were initially resistant to the connection (and indeed remain so today), there is now clear evidence to prove that HIV does cause AIDS. So, in order to find the source of AIDS, it is necessary to look for the origin of HIV, and find out How, When and Where HIV first began to cause disease in humans.
963023
Vaccines have saved millions of lives and continue to do so.\nIt is not bad to get vaccinated despite what some people might say
683631
The problem with AIDs is that it requires complete gene therapy.  All of the DNA that has been changed by the disease has to be fixed.  That is pretty tough!  It takes years just to fix one strand of DNA from cancer.  The best thing they can do right now is drugs, to trick the DNA and slow down the process.
123261
Retrovirus takes the host's cell and incorporate that in to the virus's structure.  Hence the virus become part of the person.  AIDS is hard to cure because once a cure is found, the virus simply takes the cure cell and become a new cell.  It is this adaptability that can't get rid of AIDS.
592511
The biggest reason why a cure or vaccination are very far off are because HIV is a virus. There are no cures for the simple cold or flu virus, because viruses are very clever in that they constantly mutate and change so it is very difficult to come up with what Paul Elhrich would term "magic bullets" -ie a drug that would effectively deal with the virus, and not damage any other of the body's organisms. So basically if a thing keeps changing it is very difficlut to come up with something that will deal with it in its current state and any other future developments.
682568
the government and ngos have been spreading awareness about aids through the medium of television and news paper. but then they don't reach the poor and illiterate. for that volunteers are needed who can go from door to door and explain the use of condoms and how to protect one from aids.\n\nbut its not true that this problem is restricted only to slum dwellers. its present even in the upper classes.\nthis problem is wide spread....\nwe have to take time out to help aids affected people and spread awareness
733893
Dr. Salk's last years were spent searching for a vaccine against AIDS. I am wondering that too. Maybe natural causes.
43729
Well, Iam no Doctor but still I will try to explain what I can recollect from my School biology classes. Vaccine is basically dead or weak micro organisms injected into our body so that our antibodies (proteins for immunity) get trained to fight them. Once they are trained (pardon my layman's language) they are ready to fight strong micro organisms of the same type. But in the case of HIV - these viruses have a special ability they can simply change their form ie even if we train our antibodies - by the time our antibodies get trained the virus changes its form. So that the virus looks like an entirely new variety. Further thier is a wide variety of HIV strains. This is only one of the reasons. For further details read these please: http://www.lanl.gov/news/index.php?fuseaction=home.story&story_id=1306&view=print\nhttp://www.amfar.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/press/record.html?record=109
861481
On any single encounter with an infected partner, the risk is high, but not 100%. Multiple encounters increase the risk of transmission substantially.\n\nContrary to popular belief, HIV is actually quite difficult to catch. It is about 5000 times more difficult to contract than Hepatitis C for example (another sexually transmitted disease).\n\nYou should always use a condom if you want to avoid risk; you cannot rely on a person knowing their status. You don't know your status right now do you? And it takes several years for AIDs to develop, so often people feel and appear completely healthy while being infectious.\n\nThe chance of transmission varies with the time that the person has been infected. In the early stages they can be very infectious (before there are any signs). They wil become less infectious after a while and if they are on a therapy, they may reduce their viral load so as to be imperceptable. This doesn't mean you cannot catch it from them but the chances are reduced.\n\nThere is nothing you can do at this time except wait, and do not have unprotected sex with anyone else. Get your first test in three months time, and a further test after six months. If both are clear, you should be OK.
456814
There isn't a cure, and there may never be.  Some cancers have really good therapies (ie testicular cancer, childhood leukemia).  Some really don't, ie pancreatic, glioblastoma.  Some cancers still kill within 1-2 years, and this hasn't changed in decades.  But many are more treatable now.  AIDS has alot of drugs for treatment, but it's actually hard to prevent people from getting AIDS (vaccines difficulties) or to root out HIV (antiviral difficulties).  All we can do really is keep it from spreading.  Maybe in a few more decades we can do this.  Cancer will always be a problem because you won't know you have it until it's too late, since most people don't do checkups for every type of cancer out there every year.  Maybe in the future we'll have a blood test that can tell if you have any type (or 99% of them) of cancer.  ALot of work is going into that, including some that our lab is doing.  But believe me there is no vast consipracy; but you can make the arguement that potentially life saving drugs are not on the market because the regulatory hurdles are too high or they won't make a profit.  Drugs cost billions to get FDA approved, and unless they are going to benefit alot of people pharma companies aren't going to bother with them.  That's economics, it's not a conspiracy.  If we didn't have such huge requirements then there would be alot more drugs available, and alot more people will die from them.
955011
im not sure .. but if you look into aids you come up with some interesting things that seem to be supported by some pretty convincing evidence ... in a nutshell they say aids was started through vaccines in africa and select groups of people in the US.
366357
When you get a vaccination, you are usually being given a dead virus, or a weakened virus that won't harm you.  You body then develops antibodies to this virus.  These antibodies circulate in your blood system, usually for the rest of your life or for a given period of time and give you immunity towards the live virus if you encounter it.
1125740
No! No one is immune to HIV or Aids...\n\nWhy? Because the viruses change often (there is a high level of mutation). It's the same reason why they can't find a cure...It doesn't stay the same long enough for them to specifically target it....
1178526
technically speaking if the government can put money into research i am fairly certain a cure could be around the corner several woman from the ivory coast have become immune to the disease as well as i personally know one woman who's husband was infected she tried for years and never contracted AIDS i know it seems weird but she loved him very much and wanted to die with him ......they are still alive and kicking both of them she is AIDS and HIV free i would think they should study these people who have these natural immunities to see what is so different about them and develop a cure if me an average Jane knows about this i am sure scientists do as well and are working on it
981106
They say it lasts anywhere from a few months to 6 years.  It depends on your immune system which is particular to each individual.  \nSome vaccines don't take at all, because your body never produced antibodies. \n\nIf it's been since childhood and you absolutely need to get one, go ahead, but if you don't need it, don't get it.\nIn my opinion, the risks sometimes outweigh the supposed benefits.\n\nIf you have never had risky sex, been a drug user, etc. then you could have gotten some type of hepatitis in your blood stream from the vaccine which will never become a full blown illness.\n\nSome people have HIV forever and it never turns into AIDS, they never die from it.\nThe immune system is a very complex thing, and it is unique to each individual.
594968
A vaccine looks like the real thing to our body.\nSo it fools our defense system to start building antibodies for that one germ or virus.\n\nSo when we are infected, our defense is already up and running.