Global: Antibodies offer AIDS vaccine clue

A response to the HI-Virus in two HIV positive women, which enabled them to make potent antibodies that would kill most of the HIV types from around the world, has provided South African reseachers with potential clues for the development of an AIDS vaccine. The study published on Sunday in the journal, Nature Medicine, describes how a unique change in the outer covering of the virus found in two HIV infected South African women enabled them to make potent antibodies which are able to kill up to 88% of HIV types from around the world. The discovery, described as 'groundbreaking' provides an important new approach that could be useful in making an AIDS vaccine, according to the researchers.