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CNN Live Today
AIDS Vaccines Long-term Promises
Aired July 08, 2002 - 12:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to a disturbing trend regarding AIDS in America. It appears those most at risk for the disease are the least likely to know when they are infected.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Hi -- Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: How are you doing, Kyra?
Yes, its just as you said. Theres no question that there have been some disturbing results, some of the numbers that were hearing. Three-quarters of gay men, young gay men, and living in America, that have HIV dont even know that they have it. Seventy-five percent of new HIV infections are occurring in African-Americans, 50 percent of which are in African-American women.
Why this might be is something that were going to turn to one person who might know why that might be through his eyes. Lets take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice over): Kipper Brown knows what its like to be black and gay in a world of HIV.
KIPPER BROWN: People dont seem to these days take it as seriously as it really is. There are still lots of people having sex without condoms. There are a lot of people who have it and have just said the heck with it.
GUPTA: And he also knows what its like to be afraid to find out whether hes HIV positive.
BROWN: I was in denial. I told myself I didnt want to know and I just would rather just die without knowing.
GUPTA: Apathy and fear, two of the biggest reasons experts say the rate of new infections in young gay men is on the rise.
GUPTA (on camera): In fact, a new study finds that the majority of young gay men who are HIV positive dont even know it. In some communities, the numbers are especially alarming.
DUNCAN MACKELLAR, CDC: Ninety-one percent of the HIV positive African-American participants were unaware that they had acquired HIV.
GUPTA (voice over): And this piece of information may help solve the puzzle of why HIV is rising so fast in black women.
CORNELIUS BAKER, WHITMAN-WALKER CLINIC: So we know that there are a number of men who are living double lives because they do not feel that they will be accepted in our community if its know that they also sleep with men. And so, they sleep with men and they also sleep with their wives or their girlfriends.
GUPTA: Add to this a growing complacency that HIV isnt a big deal because of the effectiveness of medicines. But HIV treatment can mean taking as many as 20 pills a day with severe side effects. So by all accounts, preventing infection to begin with is essential. For experts, these new numbers are a wakeup call.
DR. RONALD VALDISERRI, CDC: If we do not recommit to HIV prevention, theres a real possibility that we could see increases in HIV.
GUPTA: And that would be a change.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
A very bleak picture, no doubt. And one of the focuses of this meeting here is to make sure that doesnt happen. And one of the ways it might do that is through a few rays of optimism that weve seen over the last couple of days.
I have here with me Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations, the United States nations infectious disease top doc.
Dr. Fauci, talk to us a little bit about vaccines. Thats something that weve been hearing about. People are a little optimistic about it. Weve heard a lot about that today.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Yes, vaccines play a major role in the broad picture of prevention. There are so many different elements that go into the prevention. Ultimately, if were to contain the HIV epidemic, vaccine has to be a part of that.
The problem is thats going to take years. We have some good news in the sense that we are moving into more advanced clinical trials, vaccines that at previous meetings in the past we spoke of as either being in phase one, namely just looking at safety, moving to see if they induce a response.
Now were starting to get to the maturation of those studies, where theyre ready to go into what we call an efficacy trial. In fact, we announced here today the collaboration between the Thai government, the National Institutes of Health, the CDC, the military, the Department of Defense, of the largest phase three efficacy trial thats existing going into now, a trial in Thailand.
So although one can say that thats good news, it is because were making those necessary steps, but we cant say because a vaccine is going into trial that other preventive measures are things we can disregard. That would be a disaster because right now, today; its prevention in a nonvaccine mode for the so many other ways that you can prevent. When we do get a vaccine, that will fortify that even more.
GUPTA: Right. So no question, were not hanging our hats on it yet, but for the millions of people out there who are thinking vaccine, theyve been waiting for this for a long time.
FAUCI: Right.
GUPTA: Paint a picture for us A, how long do you think it will be really before we see something like this realistically as an expert?
FAUCI: Sure, it...
GUPTA: And second of all -- let me just say as well -- what does it mean? Is this something that someone will just take a couple of pills, for the real life sort of scenario for someone who has a vaccine available to them?
FAUCI: Right, first of all any vaccine trial is going to take years. The vaccine trial that was announced today, the Thai trial, will take one year to accrue. Remember, it took 11 years of work to get to this point. So one year to get the people involved in the trial and then a three-year follow-up -- so that its a total of four years.
At the end of that four-year period, well know whether this particular vaccine was able to decrease the infections among the vaccinated versus the nonvaccinated.
If it does so to a certain extent, even if it isnt the perfect vaccine, two good things about that, and thats a big if: A, it will be the next step up on the ladder to getting a vaccine, but also you learn a lot from trials like that.
Well learn what the relationship between the kinds of responses that these individuals got and whether or not they were protected. Also as important -- something thats a little bit more mundane, but just as important, is the fact that the infrastructure that it takes to get that 16,000 into the trial isnt something you build overnight.
You add all that together and youre talking about years from today. But years start today, so you cant just say wed like to be where we want to be five, six, seven, eight years from now. But the process matured over 11 years, and now its going into high gear.
GUPTA: Got it. Well no question some baby steps, Kyra, but this has been 17, 20 years in the making really and were starting to see some fruitions of all of that labor. Back to you -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, live from Barcelona. Thanks, Sanjay.
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