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China Tests AIDS Vaccine
by Darnell Clayton
Originally posted to BNN 3/13/2005
China has begun testing a new AIDS vaccine on a group of volunteers after they were given physical exams and signed waivers, the government said. A total of 49 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 50 will be part of the three-stage tests, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing Chen Jie, director of the disease control agency in southern China's Guangxi region.
This is a good sign, as China is known to detain and harass AIDS victims (they still deny it's an official problem for their country). China claims to have only 840,000 cases but many health experts dispute that claim and reason that it is much more than that. In either case, I am proud that China is taking the step attempting to bring about a cure a disease that has devastated millions around the globe.
The first stage of testing will last 14 months, Xinhua said. It didn't say what the stage was meant to test, but said the second would cover the "immune nature and safety of the vaccine." At that time, state media said the vaccine, already tested on monkeys, was developed by Chinese scientists who have studied the genetics of the AIDS virus since 1996.
There is more information about this at Google News if you're curious, but this sounds like the first good news coming out of China in a long while (especially with the new succession law against Taiwan). Hopefully more developments can be released about this, and there will be more international cooperation when it comes to fighting this deadly disease.
Source: Las Vegas Sun
Darnell Clayton blogs at Hidden Nook.
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