The global conversation about AIDS is beginning to sound like a high-decibel exercise in finger-pointing and blame. This dangerous trend should be on the minds of the thousands of attendees convening in Mexico City this weekend for the XVII International AIDS Conference. Thirty-three million people around the world are HIV-positive, and more than 6,800 become infected every day. Tests on microbicides and vaccines have failed, and have put some volunteers at greater risk of HIV infection. Yet critics are attacking the very programmes and people trying to solve these problems, with some even calling for an end to government spending on the search for a vaccine. This is an overreaction. As many scientists point out, the search for a malaria vaccine has seen dozens of failed trials, whereas only three AIDS vaccines have so far been tested in efficacy studies. What is needed are better vaccine candidates to test, so it makes sense that the major backers of HIV vaccine trials, including the US National Institutes of Health, are now focusing on the basic research that could help the field move forward (see page 565).
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