Scientists have developed a new vaccine that partially protects monkeys from an infection much similar to HIV, a breakthrough which they say could be a new weapon in the battle against AIDS.
Who were the scientists? Researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine
What did they find out? They found that rhesus monkeys which received the new vaccine were 80 to 83 per cent less likely to get infected with the Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a virus which is closely related to HIV, when exposed to it.
What were the results? The results showed that one vaccine ingredient — a protein called Env, which is involved with binding the virus with a cell — was key in helping to block the virus from entering the monkey’s cells.
This dicovery has brought some hopes for inventing a vaccine against HIV.
