In 1997, President Bill Clinton vowed that an HIV vaccine would be found within a decade. A dozen years and hundreds of millions of dollars later, an AIDS vaccine remains elusive.
The most promising vaccine candidates have all failed and some in the HIV community have suggested it is time to focus on known prevention and treatment methods instead, like condoms and male circumcision.
According to the United Nations' AIDS agency, funding for a vaccine has quadrupled, jumping from about $186 million in 1997 to $759 million in 2005.
With few successes to report, donors may be getting tired of investing in a failing project. A 2008 report tracking AIDS funding found that investments into vaccine research fell by 10 percent since 2007.
Many vaccines, like those for polio, measles and smallpox, work by provoking the body's immune system to produce antibodies that fight the disease. But that hasn't worked for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The virus is extremely good at hiding from the body's immune system, making it difficult to trick the body into making antibodies for it.
______
To read the rest of this article, subscribe to our digital or paper edition. For previous editions, contact us for details.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
