BEIJING - China, grappling with rising numbers of HIV/AIDS cases, has begun testing a vaccine on humans, state media said Sunday.
A 20-year-old man became the first volunteer to receive the vaccine Saturday, the Xinhua news agency said. He was followed by seven others.
Forty-nine volunteers aged 18-50 will undergo trials for the vaccine in the next year and longer, Xinhua said, citing Chen Jie, deputy director of the center for disease control and prevention in the southern province of Guangxi.
The trials will be conducted in three phases, Chen said, with the first lasting 14 months. The second phase will test the immune nature and safety of the vaccine.
China initially denied it had a serious problem with HIV/AIDS, but it has been under pressure to do more to prevent a major health crisis after a scandal over infections from unsanitary, state-approved bloodselling came to light.
The government has since stepped up efforts to battle the disease.
There have been about 35 AIDS vaccine trials on humans throughout the world, most of which are still in the first phase, according to Xinhua.
More than 20 million people worldwide have died of AIDS and some 38 million more have HIV, the virus which causes it.
But in the entire 23-year history of AIDS, only one vaccine, a design based on the gp120 protein, has ever gone through the entire three-phase test process, and it proved a disappointing flop.
China estimates it has 840,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers although international AIDS experts say the actual number is much higher and more needs to be done to prevent it rising to as many as 10 million by 2010.
03/13/2005 08:23 GMT