AIDS waiting for approval for testing

Chinese researchers have developed an AIDS vaccine and are applying for approval for clinical tests next year, claimed sources with the National Centerfor AIDS Prevention and Control, the country's top AIDS vaccine research body.

An estimated charge for each immunization will be limited to 100 yuan (12 U.S. dollars), the Beijing Morning Post reported.

The research project, initiated in 1996, has been focused on the special viral strains of AIDS prevailing in China.

Clinical test to be launched in 2002
As animal testing has been completed, clinical tests will be launched in the second half of 2002. The first phase will take between one year and 18 months to observe the vaccine's safety, said the project leader Professor Shao Yiming.

The second and third phases will compare the incidence of AIDS between those tested and those non-tested volunteers to observe the vaccine's effectiveness.

The professor expected that the testing will be completed in 2006.

Current costly AIDS drugs are not affordable in developing countries, which are in bad need of such vaccines, said the newspaper.

HIV-infected population increases rapidly in China

Statistics from the first half of this year show that the HIV-infected population had risen by 68 percent over the same period of last year, and the number of STD cases also increased rapidly, Chinese Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang said at the China's first national AIDS conference ceremony.

The total number of HIV-positive people is estimated to be between 600,000 and 800,000 and experts warn that it will top 10 million in ten years if the number soars by 30 percent annually.

AIDS is spreading from the specific groups with high risk behavior (such as drug users and prostitutes) to the general population.

The country plans to keep the HIV-infected population under 1.5 million in 2010 and has created programs to prevent and control the spread of the AIDS virus.