Trials of HIV vaccine that's 90% successful, page 1

Originally posted by Lighterside
Very interesting indeed.... but it got me a little puzzled.

They say a 90% success rate on all human trials. Does that mean they gave a bunch of people the vaccine, then tried to infect them all with HIV? Would suck to be the 10% group if so.

The docs are like.... "well everyone, I've got some good news, and some bad news.... everyone who's name I called please line up on this side of the room." - "thank you for participating, your check will be in the mail"

(I'm sure there was a much more humane way to get these results, but my ignorance makes me wonder)

Usually the "call" goes out across Universities but in more cases than not most volunteers are within the Health Care Industry. Students would be the highest ratio of volunteers.

In this circumstance they would select through candidates and find the single most promiscuous of the applicants. Questions such as "percentage of the time do you engage in un-safe sex" (not necessarily in those words). Over a 2-4 year Trial, depending, there are 50 percent on placebo and 50 percent on the actual vaccine being tried. No one knows who is who throughout the Trial.

Typically a Trial begins with a physical, blood work, patient history and so forth. It may be several weeks but during those times all "encounters" are to be noted. Each visit those encounters are recorded and determined on the level of "risk" and possibly even include "direct exposure". The specifics are typically very intimate in nature as far as details but those admissions are not recorded per-say as much as the gauge or level placed by a trained physician/counselor who does the interviewing.

Chances are throughout the trial there are many instances of close calls. Participants know their history and behaviors and they usually have a desire to help others in the event something should happen. They run the risk without the Trial and so they can use this as a tool to either be more aware or to maybe even perhaps be one of the lucky ones who actually gets something that will save them for Life. Even nursing students run the risk of many kinds of exposures and HIV is one of them so it does not always mean that only "promiscuous" people are chosen for Clinical Trials.

The above statement is my assessment based on my own participation in a Clinical Trial in Galveston, TX, across from NASA. It was in a business park and very quiet and unassuming with no indication that anything was happening. I would go from Houston to Galveston once a month and get an injection and interviewed. I was in the Trial for 1 year but dropped out because I left my job and moved back home. It was for a vaccine under the Clinton Administration called Vaxgen, that is the only name I was given. It was suppose to be a Trial for an HIV Vaccine. The Trial was conducted across the Globe and there were 500 participating sights (as best as I can remember). I never found out if I was on the placebo or the actual vaccine, I could have done a follow-up if I had liked in Albuquerque but I chose not to based on life-changes. Yes I have been exposed to several live HIV virus's, I say it as if one would be different from another but in all actuality each strain carried by each individual has its own level of "potency" depending upon factors such as T-cell count and Medication saturation. I am HIV negative and I do not plan on ever "converting", so either I was graced or I was gifted, who knows!