FW: [ascc2] [PROVE] AIDS Vaccine Increases HIV Risk

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[PROVE NOTE: If you think this does not affect you, think again. Merck,

along with our government's own National Institute of Allergy and Infectious

Diseases came up with a GENETICALLY ENGINEERED HIV vaccine made with three

pieces of DNA from the human immunodeficiency virus that is claimed to cause

AIDS being carried by a common virus that normally causes upper respiratory

infections, called an adenovirus (common cold virus which is AIRBORNE).

There are people walking around out there in society who took part in this

trial who carry this genetic frankenstien-like HIV DNA carried by a common

cold virus. What are the ramifications? Will there be mutations in people

who are exposed to HIV changing the nature of HIV and how people contract

it? Does Merck know or care? How about our own government? The kicker is the

people in the trial who took the vaccine were more likely to contract HIV.

They seem surprised? Just about everyone who abstains from the flu vaccine

has had the experience of being the only one who didn't get sick against

their backdrop of friends and family who got the flu vaccine - something

that vaccine pushers vehemently deny can happen with vaccines currently on

the market without any reliable substantiated science. Why are our TAX

DOLLARS being wasted on this and WHO will be responsible for the

repercussions when this genetic material starts integrating into people?]

 

Warning Is Sent to AIDS Vaccine Volunteers

 

S. Africans Among Recipients Who May Be at Higher Risk of Contracting Virus

 

http://www.washingt

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR200710240

2514.html> onpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR2007102402514.html

 

 

By Craig Timberg

 

Washington Post Foreign Service

 

Thursday, October 25, 2007; A20

 

JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 24 -- South African AIDS researchers have begun warning

hundreds of volunteers that a highly touted experimental vaccine they

received in recent months might make them more, not less, lik ely to

contract HIV in the midst of one of the world's most rampant epidemics.

 

The move stems from the discovery last month that an AIDS vaccine developed

by Merck & Co. might have led to more infections than it averted among study

subjects in the United States and other countries. Among those who received

at least two doses of the vaccine, 19 contracted HIV compared with 11 of

those given placebos.

 

Researchers shut down the trial on the grounds that the vaccine was proving

ineffective, but the surge in infection among vaccinated volunteers prompted

intense scientific debate and anxiety among researchers. The failure of the

Merck vaccine is the latest in a series of disappointing results for

research projects aimed at curbing AIDS.

 

" This is my worst nightmare, " said Glenda Gray, the lead South Africa

investigator for the vaccine study. " I haven't slept for days. I have a

headache. I'm ready to resign from trials for the rest of my life. "

 

Researchers in Soweto , Cape Town , Durban and two other sites began

contacting South Africa 's 801 trial participants on Tuesday, mainly by

cellphone text message. The goal is to tell each one individually whether

they had received a placebo or the vaccine, a process called " unblinding "

the trial. Researchers are telling the roughly half who received the vaccine

that it might have increased their risk of contracting HIV.

 

" It's quite shocking, " said Nelly Nonoise, 26, who had received three

injections of the vaccine in her left shoulder.

 

She added, " I probably wouldn't have joined the study knowing there's a

risk. "

 

Another participant, Nonhlanhla Nqakala, 22, said she thought the text

message urging her to visit the vaccine test site meant she had tested

positive for HIV. Her brother and a close friend had the disease and died,

she said.

 

Nqakala said she was relieved when a doctor explained that she was not

infected, but the news of a possible problem with the vaccine -- she had

received three doses, not placebos -- left her distressed. " I thought the

trial would help us find a cure for HIV, " she said.

 

Merck developed the vaccine in conjunction with the U.S. National Institutes

of Health, and until September's announcement, researchers worldwide

considered it the most promising candidate yet in a multibillion-dollar

quest for an AIDS vaccine dating to the 1980s.

 

Scientists crafted the vaccine by genetically altering a common virus to

include elements of HIV. They hoped that it would trigger an immune response

that would make recipients less likely to contract HIV, or at least delay

the onset of full-blown AIDS.

 

The vaccine could not have caused infection, researchers say, but it could

have caused immunological changes that made it easier for the virus to take

hold during a later exposure.

 

The Merck vaccine trials took place in 15 cities in the United States ,

including Boston , Los Angeles and New York , and three in Canada . There

also were sites in Peru , Brazil , Australia , Haiti , the Dominican

Republic and Jamaica . Those trials began in December 2004 and included

3,000 participants, mostly gay men.

 

In South Africa -- where an estimated 5.5 million people are infected with

HIV, more than in any other country -- the study used the same vaccine but

was administered separately. The trial here started later, with the first

injections this year, and had its own ethics oversight board. Most of the

subjects were heterosexual.

 

The ethics oversight board in the United States , which monitored the trial

everywhere but in South Africa , has not decided whether to tell

participants if they received the placebo or the vaccine, said Mark

Feinberg, vice president for medical affairs and policy for Merck.

 

Continuing research could be compromised, he sai d, if participants were

told immediately whether they received the placebo or the vaccine. Vaccine

researchers are scheduled to meet in Seattle on Nov. 7.

 

" Given the complexity of the issue, we feel the best conclusions will be

reached when all the data are analyzed in their entirety, " Feinberg said

from Atlanta , where he was traveling.

 

He added that individual participants who want to know whether they received

the vaccine will be told. Researchers also are counseling all study

participants that the vaccine may have increased HIV risk for those who

received it.

 

Other AIDS studies also have had unexpected results. Trials of two vaginal

microbicide gels to prevent HIV led to more infections among those using the

products instead of placebos. A massive study in Zimbabwe of the ability of

HIV counseling and testing to prevent the spread of the epidemic found more

infections among those with expanded access to testing.

 

 

 

 

PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and

practices that affect the children and adults of Texas . Our mission is to

prevent vaccine injury and death and to promote and protect the right of

every person to make informed independent vaccination decisions for

themselves and their family.

 

 

This information is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice.

 

 

Contact Information

prove (AT) vaccineinfo (DOT) <prove net (email)

http://vaccineinfo. <http://vaccineinfo.net/> net/ (web site)

 

 

Subscribe to PROVE Email Updates:

http://vaccineinfo. <http://vaccineinfo.net/.htm>

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Tell a Friend about PROVE:

http://vaccineinfo. <http://vaccineinfo.net//friends.shtml>

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<http://vaccineinfo.net/.htm> net/.htm

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[Guest guest]

VaccineInfo <http://vaccineinfo.net/> .net

 

 

 

 

Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education

 

 

 

<http://www.vaccineinfo.net/index.shtml> PROVE Home |

<http://www.vaccineinfo.net/.htm> Subscribe |

<http://www.vaccineinfo.net/contactus.html> Contact Us |

 

[PROVE NOTE: If you think this does not affect you, think again. Merck,

along with our government's own National Institute of Allergy and Infectious

Diseases came up with a GENETICALLY ENGINEERED HIV vaccine made with three

pieces of DNA from the human immunodeficiency virus that is claimed to cause

AIDS being carried by a common virus that normally causes upper respiratory

infections, called an adenovirus (common cold virus which is AIRBORNE).

There are people walking around out there in society who took part in this

trial who carry this genetic frankenstien-like HIV DNA carried by a common

cold virus. What are the ramifications? Will there be mutations in people

who are exposed to HIV changing the nature of HIV and how people contract

it? Does Merck know or care? How about our own government? The kicker is the

people in the trial who took the vaccine were more likely to contract HIV.

They seem surprised? Just about everyone who abstains from the flu vaccine

has had the experience of being the only one who didn't get sick against

their backdrop of friends and family who got the flu vaccine - something

that vaccine pushers vehemently deny can happen with vaccines currently on

the market without any reliable substantiated science. Why are our TAX

DOLLARS being wasted on this and WHO will be responsible for the

repercussions when this genetic material starts integrating into people?]

 

Warning Is Sent to AIDS Vaccine Volunteers

 

S. Africans Among Recipients Who May Be at Higher Risk of Contracting Virus

 

http://www.washingt

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR200710240

2514.html> onpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR2007102402514.html

 

 

By Craig Timberg

 

Washington Post Foreign Service

 

Thursday, October 25, 2007; A20

 

JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 24 -- South African AIDS researchers have begun warning

hundreds of volunteers that a highly touted experimental vaccine they

received in recent months might make them more, not less, lik ely to

contract HIV in the midst of one of the world's most rampant epidemics.

 

The move stems from the discovery last month that an AIDS vaccine developed

by Merck & Co. might have led to more infections than it averted among study

subjects in the United States and other countries. Among those who received

at least two doses of the vaccine, 19 contracted HIV compared with 11 of

those given placebos.

 

Researchers shut down the trial on the grounds that the vaccine was proving

ineffective, but the surge in infection among vaccinated volunteers prompted

intense scientific debate and anxiety among researchers. The failure of the

Merck vaccine is the latest in a series of disappointing results for

research projects aimed at curbing AIDS.

 

" This is my worst nightmare, " said Glenda Gray, the lead South Africa

investigator for the vaccine study. " I haven't slept for days. I have a

headache. I'm ready to resign from trials for the rest of my life. "

 

Researchers in Soweto , Cape Town , Durban and two other sites began

contacting South Africa 's 801 trial participants on Tuesday, mainly by

cellphone text message. The goal is to tell each one individually whether

they had received a placebo or the vaccine, a process called " unblinding "

the trial. Researchers are telling the roughly half who received the vaccine

that it might have increased their risk of contracting HIV.

 

" It's quite shocking, " said Nelly Nonoise, 26, who had received three

injections of the vaccine in her left shoulder.

 

She added, " I probably wouldn't have joined the study knowing there's a

risk. "

 

Another participant, Nonhlanhla Nqakala, 22, said she thought the text

message urging her to visit the vaccine test site meant she had tested

positive for HIV. Her brother and a close friend had the disease and died,

she said.

 

Nqakala said she was relieved when a doctor explained that she was not

infected, but the news of a possible problem with the vaccine -- she had

received three doses, not placebos -- left her distressed. " I thought the

trial would help us find a cure for HIV, " she said.

 

Merck developed the vaccine in conjunction with the U.S. National Institutes

of Health, and until September's announcement, researchers worldwide

considered it the most promising candidate yet in a multibillion-dollar

quest for an AIDS vaccine dating to the 1980s.

 

Scientists crafted the vaccine by genetically altering a common virus to

include elements of HIV. They hoped that it would trigger an immune response

that would make recipients less likely to contract HIV, or at least delay

the onset of full-blown AIDS.

 

The vaccine could not have caused infection, researchers say, but it could

have caused immunological changes that made it easier for the virus to take

hold during a later exposure.

 

The Merck vaccine trials took place in 15 cities in the United States ,

including Boston , Los Angeles and New York , and three in Canada . There

also were sites in Peru , Brazil , Australia , Haiti , the Dominican

Republic and Jamaica . Those trials began in December 2004 and included

3,000 participants, mostly gay men.

 

In South Africa -- where an estimated 5.5 million people are infected with

HIV, more than in any other country -- the study used the same vaccine but

was administered separately. The trial here started later, with the first

injections this year, and had its own ethics oversight board. Most of the

subjects were heterosexual.

 

The ethics oversight board in the United States , which monitored the trial

everywhere but in South Africa , has not decided whether to tell

participants if they received the placebo or the vaccine, said Mark

Feinberg, vice president for medical affairs and policy for Merck.

 

Continuing research could be compromised, he sai d, if participants were

told immediately whether they received the placebo or the vaccine. Vaccine

researchers are scheduled to meet in Seattle on Nov. 7.

 

" Given the complexity of the issue, we feel the best conclusions will be

reached when all the data are analyzed in their entirety, " Feinberg said

from Atlanta , where he was traveling.

 

He added that individual participants who want to know whether they received

the vaccine will be told. Researchers also are counseling all study

participants that the vaccine may have increased HIV risk for those who

received it.

 

Other AIDS studies also have had unexpected results. Trials of two vaginal

microbicide gels to prevent HIV led to more infections among those using the

products instead of placebos. A massive study in Zimbabwe of the ability of

HIV counseling and testing to prevent the spread of the epidemic found more

infections among those with expanded access to testing.

 

 

 

 

PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and

practices that affect the children and adults of Texas . Our mission is to

prevent vaccine injury and death and to promote and protect the right of

every person to make informed independent vaccination decisions for

themselves and their family.

 

 

This information is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice.

 

 

Contact Information

prove (AT) vaccineinfo (DOT) <prove net (email)

http://vaccineinfo. <http://vaccineinfo.net/> net/ (web site)

 

 

Subscribe to PROVE Email Updates:

http://vaccineinfo. <http://vaccineinfo.net/.htm>

net/.htm

 

Tell a Friend about PROVE:

http://vaccineinfo. <http://vaccineinfo.net//friends.shtml>

net//friends.shtml

 

 

 

 

Removal from PROVE Email Updates: http://vaccineinfo.

<http://vaccineinfo.net/.htm> net/.htm

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