Russian scientists to test three HIV vaccines

Three different vaccines against HIV – all developed in Russia – are ready for trial, an HIV specialist for the Russian Health Ministry announced at a press conference held on World AIDS Day. The HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) vaccines – which are “neither worse nor better” than the vaccines created by Western companies – were developed in science centers in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Novosibirsk. “They have only entered their trial stage, but they are ready as a product. Then [they] need to be further tested, but this work will take not just one year. This is a rather expensive effort,” Aleksey Mazus, head of the Moscow City Center for Preventing and Fighting AIDS, said. HIV is a virus transmitted by body fluids, thus the main ways of contamination are blood transfusions, unprotected sexual intercourse, or hypodermic needles. The HIV infection can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). However, it is possible for...