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AIDS: New leads for treatments and vaccines Some alarming data shows that in certain countries the rate of infections, which in the past were stable or in decline, are now increasing. According to sources at UNAIDS, in 2006 more than 4 million new people have been infected. In Central and Eastern Europe alone more than 740,000 individuals live with the disease. Research on this terrible virus is intensifying. In Europe, and notably with the support of the European institutions, numerous laboratories are testing new treatments and vaccines.
Carmen, 25 years old and HIV-positive for 6 years, bases her hopes on AIDS research. Like her, some 40 million people in the world are affected by HIV. This virus is dangerous because it affects the human’s immune system and notably the T cells. As the cells decline, the body weakens and loses its capacity to protect itself. Today in Europe, many projects have been established to combat this scourge: from prevention to research, the actions undertaken are numerous. In Rixensart in Belgium, a group of Belgian, British and French scientists are looking to develop a vaccine which has the objective of stopping the disease instead of just combating the symptoms. The basic idea is to utilise the properties of the measles vaccine and to transfer them to the HIV vaccine using modern techniques of genetic engineering. Moreover, the team hopes to develop a vaccine that is simple to use and relatively inexpensive. Meanwhile, the University of Frankfurt in Germany is concentrating its efforts on a new treatment involving aptameres. But will these nuclear acid particles be able to fix themselves onto the same receivers as the AIDS virus?
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