Kenyan researcher Says HIV/AIDS vaccine discovery not a mirage
The Human Immunovirus HIV
NAIROBI - The discovery of an HIV/AIDS vaccine despite being fraught with setbacks is likely to happen.
University of Nairobi department of Medical Microbiology Professor, Jeckonia Ndinya-Achola, said recently at a Science Journalism workshop in Nairobi that IV/AIDS vaccine science is progressively developing.
“Evidence from history shows that it took decades to develop a vaccine for diseases like smallpox, measles and polio, which have been fought successfully,” said professor Ndinya-Achola.
He added that it might however take more and more resources to develop an
effective vaccine against HIV/AIDS.
Professor Ndinya-Achola said the major challenge limiting the development of the vaccine is the fact that the virus genetically alters itself and is thus able to evade vaccine immune mechanisms.
Professor Ndinya-Achola has been involved in various vaccine developmentinitiatives undertaken by the Kenya Vaccine Initiative (KAVI), since 1999.
He pointed out that limitations on conducting vaccine trials on humans and the mode of transmission of the virus which is mostly sexual, undermines the efforts to fight the disease.
He noted that after several failures in the development of a vaccine, researchers have now switched focus onto developing capacity and better infrastructure for vaccine research.
Kenya with 1.4 million living with HIV/AIDS is one of the African countries worst hit by the effects of HIV/AIDS.
Studies done by researchers both local and foreign have indicated that a group of commercial sex workers in the capital city, Nairobi, have failed to contract the disease despite continuous exposure to the virus. This offers researchers a ray of hope for discovery of a vaccine against HIV/AIDS.
Another study a few years ago indicated that male circumcision reduces by 60 percent the chance of contracting HIV/AIDS in men, but it has caused controversy among stakeholders, with many doubting why communities in the west that do not practice male circumcision have low incidence of HIV/AIDS.
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