Researchers say HIV vaccine reduces infection

Researchers say they have for the first time developed an experimental HIV vaccine to cut the risk of infection.



The vaccine, a combination of two earlier experimental vaccines was given to 16,000 people in Thailand, in the largest ever such vaccine trial.



Researchers found that it reduced the risk of contracting HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS by nearly a third.



It has been hailed as a significant, scientific breakthrough, but a global vaccine is still some way off.



The study was carried out by the US army and the Thai government over seven years on volunteers in parts of Thailand.



The volunteers were all HIV-negative men and women aged between 18 and 30.



The vaccine is based on B and E strains of HIV that most commonly circulate in Thailand and not the C-strain which predominates in Africa.