Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 48 208 671 as at 10.22am on Thursday August 22 2002.
United States researchers have made progress in developing an Aids vaccine that would be effective against a range of strains of HIV, according to an article written in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers at the Institute of Human Virology and Advanced Bio-Science in Kensington, Maryland, said that the vaccine seems able to stimulate the production of antibodies that for the first time stop infection by several strains of HIV. The vaccine is still in an early stage of testing.
Generics for China: China’s Aids patients could get access to a domestically made variant of the drug AZT as early as next month for about one-tenth of the price of imported versions, state media said last week.
The news, which will bring hope to many thousands of sufferers who cannot pay hundreds of dollars a month for foreign treatments, comes after the manufacturers received official approval to sell the drug within the country, the China Daily newspaper said.
The current monthly treatment price of between R2 500 and R3 700 is too much for the majority of Aids patients, most of who come from poor rural areas.
Source: Sapa and www.redribbon.co.za