New HIV Vaccine For Trial & Study Will Soon Start In South Africa!

By Joyce Vega - 30 Nov '16 23:40PM

The HIV virus is called the plague of the 21st century. Every year 2 million people on average contract the virus. Currently, there are over 40 million people carrying the HIV virus, 2.5 percent of which die every year due to AIDS-related complications. Is there hope for the world?

Yahoo reports that a clinical trial of a newly developed HIV vaccine will be undertaken on the continent of Africa. The trial will include 5.400 sexually active people between the ages of 18 and 35. The chosen participants will be from South Africa, which is known as one of the HIV hotspots of the planet. There, annually, over 1.000 people contract the virus and later on develop the deadly disease.

If proven successful, this new immunization will be a long awaited salvation for countries which have been ravaged by the virus. It will be the key to solving not only the health crisis in the country but also a few social conflicts that have arisen due to the high HIV infection rate.

Live Science reports that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has made a rather bold statement concerning the trials. He claims that if the new vaccine proves successful, it, together with the preventative methods already developed will be able to put the disease among the bad memories of the past.

According to him, even a moderately effective vaccine will drastically lower the number of HIV infections occurring in areas with high infection rates.

It is reported by Fox News that South Africa has 6.8 million people living with the HIV virus. The life expectancy in the residence has fallen to 57 years, once the disease had been registered, but the government of South Africa has managed to develop a strong anti-HIV program which has brought the numbers up to 63 years expected life in 2014.

The vaccine will be the ultimate tool for increasing the effectiveness of the program, but sadly, the results of the treatment will not be available before the year of 2020.