Today, Tuesday, December 1, the world celebrates World AIDS Day, and on this occasion a question arises why scientists were able in less than a year to access vaccines for the emerging corona virus that causes Covid-19 disease, and on the other hand, they were unable to reach the vaccine for HIV after 37 Scientists have discovered years since its discovery.

World AIDS Day is celebrated on December 1 of each year, and the celebration of World AIDS Day 2020 comes under the slogan "global solidarity and resilient services."

Since the beginning of the "AIDS pandemic" in the early eighties of the last century until today, it is estimated that more than 75 million people have been infected with HIV worldwide, while the virus has killed more than 32 million people as a result of AIDS-related diseases.

This is according to the UNAIDs website.

AIDS - which is an acronym for "acquired immune deficiency syndrome" - is caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects immune system cells called "differentiation cluster cells". 4 (CD4), which helps the body to fight infection The virus replicates within the cells of differentiation cluster 4, infecting cells and destroying them.

In the absence of effective treatment using a combination of anti-retroviral drugs (antiretroviral drugs), the immune system becomes so weak that it is unable to fight infection and disease, according to the World Health Organization.

Is AIDS different from HIV?

In response to the question, "Is AIDS different from HIV?"

The organization says on its website that acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a term referring to the extreme stages of HIV infection.These stages are defined by the emergence of any of the 20 types of cancer, and the life-threatening "opportunistic infections" that are called It has this name;

Because it takes advantage of a weak immune system.

The organization adds that AIDS was a defining feature of the early years of the HIV epidemic, before antiretroviral therapy became available. Now that this treatment is available to more people, the disease stages of most people living with the virus are not progressing to reach However, people with HIV who have not been tested, people whose condition was not diagnosed until at a late stage of infection, and people who do not take antiretroviral therapy are more likely to have AIDS, however.

The AIDS virus was first identified in 1983, and in 1984 US officials announced that the HIV vaccine would be ready for testing within two years;

But after 36 years, there is no vaccine against HIV, so why?

What is a vaccine?

The vaccine is a preparation given to a person to build immunity in his body against a specific disease, and it consists of disease germs that have been killed or weakened, and upon entering the body, it stimulates the immune system to form antibodies to a specific disease and immune memory, so that the immune system remembers the pathogen microbe, so that it attacks and eliminates it Immediately when it enters the body the next time.

Why is the AIDS virus a challenge for vaccine developers?

1- The change and fluctuation of types of HIV

HIV mutates frequently;

This makes it difficult to find a vaccine for it, because it constantly changes its shape and composition.

In addition, there are many subtypes of HIV, each of them genetically distinct, and additional subtypes are likely to continue to emerge, and this presents another challenge;

Because a vaccine that protects against a subtype may not provide protection against other types, according to the "History of Vaccines" website.

2- Lack of natural immunity to AIDS

HIV is different from viruses of other diseases such as measles and chickenpox, so unlike it, no one can recover naturally from infection with HIV.

Conversely, if someone contracted measles and survived, the immune response to the infection would usually be sufficient to prevent measles in the future.

Researchers can use this naturally derived immunity as a model for the level of protection a successful vaccine should provide.

Without a natural immunity model, researchers do not have a way to determine the immune response that might be effective against HIV, so developing an HIV vaccine is more difficult.

3- Lack of an animal model that reliably predicts vaccine efficacy in humans

Animal models are an important tool in understanding the underlying pathway of infection and the immune system's response to most diseases, as well as in vaccine research.

However, there is no reliable non-human animal model for HIV infection and immune system response.

Animal HIV vaccine tests have not yielded accurate predictions of how the vaccines will work in humans.

Currently, researchers are continuing to conduct trials to test vaccines against Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-SIV, the monkey virus associated with HIV, in the hope of using similar methods against HIV.

Corona teaches us things that will help us defeat AIDS

Nevertheless, the amazing global cooperation that succeeded in reaching vaccines for the Corona virus in less than 12 months, teaches us that with the concerted global efforts, many obstacles can be shortened, and this may help scientists in the struggle of scientists to reach an AIDS vaccine.

In statements to the Independent, Mike Bodmore, director of Stop aids in the United Kingdom, said that the past ten months have strengthened the spirit of cooperation between leading global health agencies, governments and the pharmaceutical industry, which should be adopted similarly to combat the virus. Human immunodeficiency.

Adding that "mobilizing the global health structure and various institutions together, and pooling funding at the global level, all this rapid response shows what we can do globally if we choose to coordinate and work together, and support each other in solidarity."

Bodmore emphasized that the ability to act very quickly against COVID-19 was based on previous responses to AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and Ebola.

To date, the number of Corona virus infections has exceeded 63 million, and deaths 1 million 470 thousand.

We conclude with a set of facts about AIDS globally, according to the World Health Organization:

  • At the end of 2019, there were about 38 million people living with the virus.

  • As a result of concerted international efforts in response to the virus, service coverage has steadily increased.

    In 2019, 68% of adults and 53% of children living with HIV in the world were receiving lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART).

  • At the end of 2019, 25.4 million people were accessing ART.

  • Between 2000 and 2019, new HIV infections decreased by 39%, deaths from it decreased by 51%, and 15.5 million lives were saved thanks to antiretroviral therapy.

    This achievement came as a result of the great efforts made within the framework of national programs to combat the virus, with the support of civil society and international development partners.

  • More than two thirds of people living with HIV live in the WHO African Region (25.7 million people).

  • There is no cure for a virus infection.

    However, effective anti-retroviral drugs can control the virus and help prevent its transmission to other people.