This book provides a comprehensive review of the major barriers to HIV cure and vaccine. It covers the fundamental virology and immunology leading to HIV transmission, protection from infection and long term HIV persistence on antiretroviral therapy. In addition, strategies being tested to eliminate persistent HIV and the rational design of vaccines to induce protective immunity are covered. This book also discusses the challenges related to the design of clinical trials for testing the safety and efficacy of these innovative approaches. This book will provide a systematic overview and also discuss controversial issues for researchers in virology and immunology, as well as practicing physicians, and scientists in the pharmaceutical industry.

A Cure Too Far takes the reader back to the bleak time in Africa when doctors stood by helplessly and watched in horror as their distraught patients were hijacked by a ragtag army of cocky healers. It describes an obstacle-strewn struggle to stop peddlers of fake AIDS drugs and other detractors while trying to find a scientifically proven solution to alleviate the carnage. This story is informed by incredible personal accounts of individuals who played different roles in the war for survival, and of those who found the agony too much to bear, as the relentless scourge ripped apart thousands of years of cultural practices. Even when hope appeared in January 2003, through the President's Emergancy Programme for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a devastating financial crunch hit, threatening to undo all that had been achieved!

This volume summarizes recent advances in understanding the mechanisms of HIV-1 latency, in characterizing residual viral reservoirs, and in developing targeted interventions to reduce HIV-1 persistence during antiretroviral therapy. Specific chapters address the molecular mechanisms that govern and regulate HIV-1 transcription and latency; assays and technical approaches to quantify viral reservoirs in humans and animal models; the complex interchange between viral reservoirs and the host immune system; computational strategies to model viral reservoir dynamics; and the development of therapeutic approaches that target viral reservoir cells. With contributions from an interdisciplinary group of investigators that cover a broad spectrum of subjects, from molecular virology to proof-of-principle clinical trials, this book is a valuable resource for basic scientists, translational investigators, infectious-disease physicians, individuals living with HIV/AIDS and the general public.

How many human immune systems are there? How old are they? Why is there no AIDS vaccine? Is a new approach needed? Why is public opinion growing skeptical of the scientific community after three decades of public awareness about HIV/AIDS? Consider answers to these puzzling questions. Learn from the decades of experience of two senior scholars: Dr. Omar Bagasra (an eminent molecular biologist, immunologist, and retrovirologist) and Dr. Donald Gene Pace (a highly published writer who examines public health policy). Explore intriguing new possibilities about human immunity, and the development of an effective AIDS vaccine. Read Immunology and the Quest for an HIV Vaccine. Benefit from an informed synthesis backed by a wealth of peer-reviewed scientific references. Review basic concepts of immunology, and stretch your perspective by contemplating this creative synthesis that provides a provocative treatise on the origin, evolution, and etiology of several forms of immune systems. Consider compelling ideas that will have an important bearing on HIV vaccine development. Enjoy this informative volume designed for anyone interested in the development of a safe AIDS vaccine, for anyone curious about present knowledge about human immunity, and for anyone yearning for a solution to the global pandemic that is AIDS.

HIV has been at the forefront in politics, medicine, and law since its discovery in 1981. Over thirty years have passed since the virus began a wave of fear made worse by a sensationalist media. Though much of the uproar has dulled, the lasting effects on the American Psyche have remained as the AIDS death toll has risen. Although the medical community has made significant progress in managing the infection through complex drug cocktails, prevention remains the most effective tool in the fight against AIDS. However, the old aphorism “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” has been difficult to effectuate because the medical community has been unable to successfully navigate the current regime regulating vaccines. This note has three goals: first, and perhaps most importantly, to describe the gauntlet that vaccines must go through to receive approval by the Food and Drug Administration; second, to point out deficiencies in the current regulatory regime that have delayed successful development of an HIV vaccine; and third, I will make brief suggestions for improvement that could turn red tape into a bandage in the form of a cure.