HIV/AIDS Statistics 4.1 million newly infected in 2005 38.6 million living with HIV worldwide 3 million deaths per year 25 million deaths since AIDS recognized in 1981

Impact
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, which is caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). This virus is passed from one person to another through blood-to-blood or sexual contact. Infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their babies during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding, with an estimated 1,800 children becoming infected every day. Currently, an estimated 38.6 million individuals are living with HIV and 2.8 million people died in 2005 as a result of infection with HIV worldwide. Epidemics in eastern Europe and central Asia are growing; 220,000 in these regions were newly infected with HIV in 2005.

Symptoms
Infection with HIV often causes no symptoms for years and may be detectable only with an HIV test. The virus commandeers and disarms immune cells of the people it infects. Over time, the immune system is unable to function properly. This advanced stage of disease, termed AIDS, leaves a person vulnerable to multiple life-threatening viral, fungal, bacterial, and parasitic infections. Many secondary infectious diseases threaten and kill people with AIDS. There is no cure for AIDS, and therefore immediate medical care is critical. Current treatments have lengthened lives, but most victims are unable to gain access to or afford the latest therapies, and viral drug resistance is a growing reality

SBRI'S Role
To prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, the United Nations and the National Institutes of Health named vaccine research and development a top priority. Assuming a leadership role in HIV/AIDS vaccine development, SBRI established the Viral Vaccines Program in 2001. SBRI's HIV/AIDS researchers are experts in neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), which are antibodies that block HIV infection. These antibodies bind to the surface of HIV and prevent it from attaching itself to a cell and infecting it. NAbs are one of several types of anti-HIV immune responses that an effective vaccine against HIV will elicit.

Nancy Haigwood, Ph.D., is testing multiple vaccine approaches as well as examining how HIV is transmitted from mothers to babies and how perinatal transmission can be prevented. Her lab recently found in SHIV-infected macaque monkeys that the envelope protein mutates at key "hotspots" in response to neutralizing antibodies and that only certain variants are transmitted from mothers to babies.

Helen Horton, Ph.D., is using immunological approaches in her work towards viable vaccines to prevent HIV/AIDS.  Her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that enable some individuals to control chronic viral infections, like HIV-1. Uncovering this new knowledge could lead to novel therapeutic interventions and more rational design of prophylactic or therapeutic vaccines components.

Donald Sodora, Ph.D., is working to understand how HIV enters body and eventually causes AIDS. His long-term goal is to apply the knowledge gained from his studies to the development of new therapies and vaccines for HIV-infected patients.

Leonidas Stamatatos, Ph.D., is an expert on HIV envelope structure and function, as well as the design of HIV envelope immunogens. He has developed novel approaches to design vaccine candidates capable of eliciting effective neutralizing antibodies against HIV.

Links
CDC HIV/AIDS  fact sheet 
WHO HIV/AIDS  fact sheet 
UNAIDS  Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. 
NIAID  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health - the major U.S. funder of basic and targeted biomedical research.
Heathopedia

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