Monkeys key to HIV research

Taking new approaches could be the way to find an effective vaccine to prevent HIV, researchers have claimed.

Scientists at the Yerkes National Primate Research Centre at Emory University claimed that monkeys could hold the key to finding a cure.

By looking at the way simian immunodeficiency viruses in non-human primates in Africa work, an "out of the box" method could be discovered.

Guido Silvestri, lead author of the study, wrote in the journal Nature Medicine: "Developing an effective Aids vaccine has eluded scientists because the virus is tricky. Over 25 years after the discovery of HIV as the etiological agent of Aids, no effective vaccine for the disease is available.

"Nature is giving us a message. Figure out how these monkeys can deal with the virus, and then maybe you can get humans to do the same thing."

The first human to have caught a strain of HIV that comes from gorillas was recently diagnosed in France.

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