I demand a vaccine

[hahaha]

I demand a vaccine, I don't care about the efficacy of such therapeutic vaccine, I need one, now!!

At least it makes me sleep better. I am tired of phase II, III and all the stuff.  If it is "safe" and test in phase I clinical trial, why not just let us buy it and use it?

[Dragonette]

which phase is a theraputic vaccine actually in right now?

i have been reading through your posts in the research forum but it is difficult to find the bottom line re. the vaccine.

you seem to be having a lot of problem with the meds, but you have started them not long ago. if you are unable to get proper care in Taiwan, you might do better in Thailand, which is very cheap to fly to with the new lowcost asian airlines. a lot of foriegners get treated in private hospitals there for various things from dental care to surgery because of the low costs and high quality. i don't know which drugs are available in both countries, but thailand has more experience. i don't know what the situation is like in taiwan.

take good care,

[redhotmuslbear]

I demand a vaccine, I don't care about the efficacy of such therapeutic vaccine, I need one, now!!

Vaccines are intended to prevent an infection from getting a foothold, not to treat an ongoing infection.  As Dragonette suggests, you need to take charge of your own care and stop whining about the progress of a vaccine because it's not going to help you, period.

Peace,
David

[ARMANDO]

VACCINE?? NO SUCH THING RIGHT NOW AND REALLY DON'T EXPECT IT TO HAPPEN. NO  MONEY IN A CURE!!!

[Matty the Damned]

Armando,

Matty the Damned has been meaning to ask you this for a while. but DO YOU HAVE TO TYPE EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS ALL THE DAMN TIME?

On the Intahnets using all caps is frowned up on because it's CONSIDERED TO BE SHOUTING!

You don't need to yell all the time dear. We can hear you.

MtD

[northernguy]

Vaccines are intended to prevent an infection from getting a foothold, not to treat an ongoing infection.  As Dragonette suggests, you need to take charge of your own care and stop whining about the progress of a vaccine because it's not going to help you, period.

Peace,
David

Well, actually isn't there talk of a therapeutic vaccine?  I remember reading something about one of the trials saying it might not prevent infection, but could be useful for those already infected.

Hahaha, I'm curious as to why you were put on meds so soon?

[Dragonette]

yes that's what I meant, I have been reading his posts and he was talking about a therapuetic vaccine, to make HIV latent in the body, even when you are infected (like chicken pox, mono, etc).

hahaha, please don't be offended by my suggestion to go to Thailand. It was just a thought. If you feel isolayed with the disease in Taiwan, it might benefit you. There is also a kind of hostel/gym/hangout place for poz gays in Bangkok, I haven't been there (naturally, since I am a woman!) but I saw it advertized, and there is a free walk-in HIV clinic for gays in the Bangkok Christian hospital. So I was thinking, Thailand is way ahead of te rest of Asia when it comes to HIV, and now you can fly there cheap as well...

[joemutt]

Mmm Dragonette, I reread hahaha's posts, I think he's on meds, has a job and has ok cd4's,
so I think it's not really opportune to suggest he'd move to Thailand, though I dont doubt your good intentions. The hostel etc. is ok but kinda last resort. Generally (generic) retrovirals are affordable here
but still a lot of stigma. What I read in his posts is that hahaha is in fear of death, or rather frustrated with the fact that we (people with hiv) always live with this uncertainty about possible outcomes, unfortunately there's not a lot to be done about this but work to acquire some peace of mind. I also wish there was a realistic hope for a therapeutic vaccine, but we won't know until we get there.

[Jake72]

Vaccines are intended to prevent an infection from getting a foothold, not to treat an ongoing infection.  As Dragonette suggests, you need to take charge of your own care and stop whining about the progress of a vaccine because it's not going to help you, period.

Peace,
David

Well...the world's first therapeutic vaccine for brain cancer was just approved in Switzerland (not a third-world nation with dodgy standards by any stretch of the imagination):

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/07-09-2007/0004621381&EDATE=

Some of the people posting in this thread are acting as if pursuing the idea of a therapeutic vaccine were about the same as pursuing the idea of the tooth fairy.  And while I don't advocate getting our hopes up or "counting our chickens before they hatch," the truth is that several therapeutic vaccines are already in clinical trials, mostly in phases one and two.

Here's a PDF outlining what's going on in pipeline research (as of July 2007).  Go to page 49, and you'll see which therapeutic vaccines are in Phase II:

http://www.aidsinfonyc.org/tag/tx/pipeline0707.pdf


There's even a US Army vaccine (designed first for preventive purposes, with a secondary objective of controlling viremia) going into Phase III  in Thailand:

http://www.primeboost3.org/press_eng_bk.htm

So while I'm not saying that we should already roll up our sleeves for a therapeutic vaccine, I think that more research has been done in this area than some of the posts here would suggest. 

Finally, I feel that several people have been a bit hard on Hahaha.  Many of us have just had those days once in awhile where we think 'why can't a cure or a vaccine just appear?'  It seems that Hahaha is a functioning person who works and takes medications responsibly.   From his (or her) posts, he (or she?) does not appear to be in denial or some wild-eyed maniac who's gone off the deep end.  As for "whining," if a HIV-poz user can't let off some steam or, yes, WHINE on an HIV forum on poz.com, then where can he or she do it?  Surely not in most other places.  Sometimes this is the only place where a poz individual can turn, and I think that most of us can agree that occasionally we all need to vent anger, frustration, etc.