Less hope for Aids vaccine
2008-10-14 19:18
Special Report
The SA Medical Association says it is "gravely concerned" about HIV/Aids statistics which show a huge Aids-related leap in South Africa's death rate.
Cape Town - Scientists attending an international Aids conference in the country say the global economic turmoil is likely to take its toll on research funding and add to the problems plaguing the elusive search for a vaccine.
Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says it is impossible to guarantee that a fully effective vaccine will ever be discovered. But he says scientists will never give up trying.
Fauci and the head of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise said on Tuesday they feared that funding for research may dwindle as philanthropic organisations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation feel the squeeze.
- AP