HIV undoubtedly remains the most popular virus as several hundreds of millions of dollars are expended annually in the fight against it. While success has been recorded in awareness, prevention remains an issue that has eluded HIV researchers globally. HIV vaccine research was quite silent until few days ago.
One of the facts we need to acquaint ourselves with is the efficacy of the vaccine. In the report, 31% of individuals in the study were protected. The issues this raises are quite enormous.
Firstly, 31% efficacy is not good enough in medical science. For a vaccine to be described as effective, it has to offer reliable protection to most individuals receiving it, a condition that the new vaccine failed to meet. If only 31% of participants were protected, how do we determine who will be in that 'lucky group'?
Also, HIV researchers are now faced with another challenge of explaining why some were protected, while others were not.
One of the reasons past HIV researches gave is the natural protection conferred on some sets of individuals who lack a particular gene. The researchers who conducted this study failed to tell if participants were screened for the presence or absence of this gene, plus other factors that confers protection on an individual.
They also need to tell the world the method of exposure. In science, it's a known fact that retroviruses (a group that HIV belong to) have affinity for certain parts of the body. There is the need for the researchers to declare the method of infection; this will go a long way in determining whether the protection can also be conferred on individuals who are exposed to the virus via means that were not included in the study.
The proliferation of numerous HIV strains is another factor that should be put into consideration. HIV strains generally refer to the numerous forms of the virus that are available. Strains arise as a result of mutation (mistake, interruption or interference) in any of the stages of development of the virus. HIV belongs to the class of viruses that mutate easily. We therefore need to know the potency of the vaccine on other strains. The researchers used a strain of the virus that is prominent in the region of Thailand where the clinical trial was conducted, which is quite different from that of African countries.
Another important point is that of the long term effect. Medical history is filled with tales of vaccines that proved effective at the outset only to turn around and become hazardous to recipients. With this at the back of our minds, the various regulatory bodies will surely not allow such re-occurrence as extensive studies would still be carried out on the vaccine to determine its safety.
While it's good to rejoice with the rest of the world that hope is visible, no matter how dim, we should be quick with the celebrations and face the realities that face us. The first being that the world is still far from getting a vaccine based on the facts previously stated.
We should not forget the fact that the vaccine is a blend of two previously failed vaccines. The questions this raises is what went wrong in the first instances? Let's look at basic pharmacology (basically the study of drugs).
In pharmacology, 3 things can happen when 2 chemical substances are combined. One is additive where the combined activity of both drugs is a sum of their individual activities; second possibility is inhibitory where both chemical substances antagonize one another. The last possibility is synergy where there is potentiation of the individual activities of the individual drugs. For the vaccine however, its mechanism can not yet be described; except if resurrection of functionally dead drugs is now acceptable in pharmacology.
The HIV vaccine trial that should interest Nigerians and other African countries is the one going on in South Africa and Kenya. We should be supportive and be inquisitive in order to see the possibility of adapting or modifying the vaccine, if potent, for Nigerian use. The Nigerian government also has roles to play.
Although most parts of the world are affected, the strains differ. The major Nigerian HIV 1 and 2 strains are different from the ones in Thailand and South Africa. Most countries of the world had realized this and had saddled their medical researchers with the responsibility of developing vaccines. Nigerian government should not fold hands or rest on her oars.
Nigerian medical institutions and HIV researchers should wake from their slumber and get down, working on getting us a Nigerian HIV vaccine. We should advance from the no-longer-new ABC campaigns which in my own researches are not effective for Nigeria, and start vaccine testing.
No comments:
Post a Comment