In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece (online.wsj.com, 4/25) published April 25, Seth Berkley, MD, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, addresses the need for continued vaccine research following recent disappointing trials.
While many AIDS experts have suggested that funding be targeted less toward HIV vaccine research and more toward treating the virus—particularly following Merck’s vaccine trial cancellation last year—Dr. Berkley writes that vaccine research remains essential and should not be abandoned.
“The past two decades have produced a steady stream of incremental advances in knowledge that provide the foundation for AIDS vaccine discovery efforts now underway across the globe,” Berkley writes. “In fact, we have probably learned more about HIV and its disease course than about any other pathogen in history.”
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
