Duke researchers release HIV vaccine breakthrough

After being disregarded for more than two decades, pediatric HIV vaccines may reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to infants through breastfeeding. Approximately 300,000 infants are diagnosed with HIV each year. Although some are born with the disease, most acquire it after birth. The first two years of life while children nurse are a critical period because breastfeeding is the main way in which HIV is transmitted to infants. Last year, Dr. Genevieve Fouda, a Duke researcher, led a team that reanalyzed the results of several 1990s clinical trials in which pediatric HIV vaccines were deemed ineffective. Their research showed that these vaccines induced the creation of previously overlooked antibodies which could protect some children from HIV while they are breastfeeding. “The period of breast feeding in developing countries is between twelve and twenty-four months,” Fouda said. “If a vaccine could provide protection for the first two years of life, in the case...