H.I.V Vaccine Breakthrough

The search for a H.I.V. vaccine has been long and frustrating, but Dr. Picker a vaccine expert at Oregon Health & Science University may have made a breakthrough. In a recent experiment Dr. Picker “tested his vaccine in 16 monkeys who were then infected with simian immunodeficiency virus” (Donald G. McNeil Jr.). The virus is closely related to HIV, and in most normal cases the primates would have died a miserable death. Oddly enough the vaccine cured only nine of the monkeys, but still this was a huge breakthrough. The monkeys were slowly cleared of the virus and even three years later you couldn’t tell them apart from the monkeys that never suffered the virus. This was the first time the existing infection was completely eliminated; many scientists often do similar experiments to “test ideas for potential AIDS vaccines by creating similar one against S.I.V.” (Donald G. McNeil Jr.). Dr. Picker’s vaccine was unlike any other, his curing was similar to the curing of two famous cases known as the Berlin patient and the Mississippi baby. They both no longer have HIV lurking deep in their bodies, but still it is hard to be sure because only certain tissues from the body can be tested. Dr. Picker had an advantage by working with monkeys, because he was able to “necropsy them, grind up every organ, and take 240 samples” to make sure their bodies no longer possessed the virus. The vaccine was fused with S.I.V. genes and the cytomegalovirus, better known as the “big cell” and is a part of the herpes family. This fusion of viruses seems to work best. Dr. Picker cannot be sure that this vaccine will work on humans; he believes it will take around three more years of research and experimenting to find the right fusion of viruses. After reading this article I am completely intrigued, this is amazing to me. Dr. Picker’s vaccine could be a breakthrough for the medical field. I feel like we should expect to see a vaccine for the cure of H.IV. within the next ten years. Technology has opened up so many gateways for science, and also just society in general. It is important to find a cure for H.I.V. and the sooner the better. Many people suffer from this virus; this leaves people with a weak immune system. Once H.I.V destroys so many of your CD4 cells then your body cannot longer fight infections and diseases. This can result in another virus known as A.I.Ds. The virus has been around since the 1800’s, so hopefully soon Dr. Picker’s vaccine will be mastered, and then used on humans to cure the virus for good. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/science/new-hope-for-hiv-vaccine.html?ref=science&_r=0