About AIDS

Nobel Winner: No Vaccine, No Cure

Nobel laureate Dr. Rolf Zinkernagel recently opined at a conference that developing a truly effective vaccine against AIDS is impossible. HIV won't be eliminated, he suggested, but perhaps someday will mutate into a less deadly form.

Making an HIV vaccine is difficult, because there are many virus variations. A vaccine for one variant will not protect against another variant.

He added that the fight against AIDS should focus on prevention. "AIDS is rampant because humans are undisciplined by nature. It's easy to say you want a vaccine, but it's much, much easier not to run the risk of getting it in the first place."

Nor will treatments presently envisioned eliminate someone's HIV infection, as it can lie quietly for years in nonactive cells, secure from the drugs but ready to spread at an opportune time.

"HIV can be controlled for a ... time by boosting the body's T-cells and antibodies, but it will resurface," Dr. Zinkernagel noted. Perhaps "success" could delay AIDS for 30 to 40 years, rather than the current 10 years. Perhaps, he speculated, "over the years, HIV may mutate" so much that it doesn't cause a fatal disease, just as SIV infection generally does not cause monkey AIDS among African primates.

Some may find his views depressing, even shocking. Personally, after 15 years of HIV/AIDS work, I find his statements refreshingly candid and realistic. That is not to advocate for stopping vaccine or treatment research, only to be honest about what we are likely to achieve.

Too many people make unsafe choices about sex and drug use, with the assumption that, if they become HIV-infected, they can get treatment and will be OK; or that a vaccine is just around the bend. The truth is that the AIDS virus is out there in ever-increasing numbers; risky decisions about sex and drug use equal Russian roulette for catching HIV; and, if infection occurs, it will mess up their lives. And eventually, either AIDS or the treatment side effects will be fatal. Safe choices do matter!