Essay about HIV Vaccine Clinical Trials: The Standard of Care Debate

As stated by Dr. N.A.S, finding a vaccine has been incredibly challenging due to the astonishing genetic diversity of the virus. While it is true that the genome of two HIV infected individuals can differ by up to 30%,6 it is not the integrase enzyme that causes this huge difference in the genomes as written by Dr. N.A.S. Reverse transcriptase is the error prone enzyme that makes multiple mistakes while copying RNA into DNA, which results in ~1 mutation in every new virus.6 The advantage of mutations for HIV is that these new changes are not

There are an immense amount of problems in Africa caused by the AIDS disease. Healthcare providers are available and located all over Africa. Even though they are available, they have only “enough medicine for long-term survival available for 30,000 Africans” (Copson, 3).

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS is a pandemic problem affecting global health. At the end of 2015, 36.7 million people were living with HIV/AIDS globally. The rate of incidence is more prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa with almost 1 in every 24 adults living with HIV/AIDS. In the united states, HIV/AIDS is a diversified health problem affecting all sexes, ages and races and involving the transmission of multiple risk behavior. However, with the introduction of various prevention programs and antiretroviral drugs, the incidence of HIV/AIDS has reduced.

infected cells, have opened new avenues for strategies for HIV vaccine design” (39). These antibodies

In the sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of the population suffers from HIV leading to AIDS. The culprits responsible for this epidemic include the lack of knowledge about the disease, disuse of condoms due to religious practices and the overall poor hygiene. If left untreated, the rampant surge of AIDS can terrribly impact the cost of their healthcare, the African economy and the welfare of the people. This implications justify immediately finding remedies to what ails the sub-Saharan population.

HIV is a life changing virus that cannot be reversed. It can be spread by “semen, vagina fluids, breast milk, or amniotic fluid”. This virus is a vicious virus that harms and fights the body immune system. The immune system is the body’s healing system that fights off diseases. With a weak immune system, one is more likely to become infected with diseases and illnesses. There is treatment to help aid the symptoms of HIV, but unfortunately there is no prevention vaccine for HIV.

The good news is that there is a low-cost drug, called praziquantel, which may prevent FGS and therefore also serve as a low-cost AIDS prevention strategy if it is administered annually to African girls and women beginning in their school-aged years. Currently, praziquantel is made generically and is available for 8 cents a tablet -- often two or three tablets administered at one time can help prevent FGS. In an earlier article published in the Public Library of Science I described this approach as "Africa's 32-cent solution for HIV/AIDS." Later in The Lancet ("Africa is desperate for praziquantel') my colleagues and I made an urgent plea to make praziquantel freely available. In response, Merck Serono, a division of the German pharmaceutical company Merck KgaA, committed to donating 250 million tablets in a January 30, 2012 announcement in London.

Introduction –HIV, Human immune deficiency virus which started in late mid 90s has already devastated many people causing great economic impact on their families, communities and health care systems. In USA the first HIV patient was diagnosed in 1981 after which disease spreads rapidly by which it affects nearly 1.2 million people as of now. As per US centre for disease control and prevention Out of 1.2 million

Many global health and human rights groups urged the large pharmaceutical companies to lower the price of their drugs so those patients in sub-Saharan area could afford. By 2001, “cocktail” therapy cost about $20000 per year. The formulas for making those drugs are easy, which means the poor countries could also complete the process of drug making; but without those big companies’ permission (also called “patent”), they could not make anti-HIV drugs by themselves since the companies hold the drug formulas as private properties. Those companies gave three reasons for doing this; first, they argue rather than spending money on small amount of drugs to cure a little population of patients, those poor countries should invest in educations and other things which are more urgent. Second: “cocktail” therapy requires hospitals, clinics and doctors to monitor patients, but those countries do not have completed medical system, so it might be difficult for them to make sure patients taking drugs on time and later lead to drug resident HIV. Finally, they claimed they spent numerous amount of money researching anti-HIV medicine and if they sell them for lower price, some of them might be smuggled back into the United States and other developed countries, which is why they set the price high and not willing to

The prospects for effective management of individuals with HIV are early dictation of the disease and identification and implementation of an evidence-based intervention that will slow the advancement of HIV to deleterious outcomes (Vervloet, Linn, Van Weert, de Bakker, Bouvy, & Dijik, 2012). HIV is a pandemic and pervasive disease that is associated with extensive mortality and morbidity. In the 1980s, HIV has claimed the lives of 33 million individuals’ and 35 million individuals are presently living with the disease nationwide. HIV attacks humans’ protective systems, and then replicates itself. As a result of this replication, the body cells thereby overwhelm the T-cells or the CD4

Fabrication and Falsification in Dong Pyou Han Case of HIV Vaccine Research: Not a Solely Sin

This paper will discuss the current efforts at an HIV vaccine including different approaches to solving the vaccine problem and how close scientists are. Scientists have been struggling with a HIV vaccine for a while. One solution is a drug that has enhanced and extended the lives of people with HIV/Aids. Other scientists have similar methods to solving the Vaccine problem with clinical trials and patients. However the solutions suggested in my literature review also say that they have difficulties with following through.

Economically, the Sub-Saharan African governments can’t afford to diagnose and treat infections. Expenditure on health is rarely as much as 5% of a country’s gross domestic product and can be as little as 2%. (World Health Organisation 2006 p. 37). Those countries spend on average US$10 per person per year on health compared to high-income countries that spend around US$2000 (World Health Organisation 2006 p. 37).

The most fundamental question to ask about an HIV vaccine is: 'What evidence exists that protection against disease after exposure to HIV is possible?' The best evidence for successful protection against a virulent primate lentivirus such as HIV is that monkeys are almost always protected against challenge with pathogenic SiVmac after vaccination with an attenuated (ne/-deleted) SIVmac

Although ninety-five percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are in developing countries, the impact of this epidemic is global. In South Africa, where one in four adults are living with the disease, HIV/AIDS means almost certain death for those infected. In developed countries however, the introduction of antiretroviral drugs has meant HIV/AIDS is treated as a chronic condition rather than a killer disease. In developing countries like South Africa, the drugs that allow people to live with the disease elsewhere in the world, are simply too expensive for individuals and governments to afford at market price.