TO control the spread of AIDS in India, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has agreed to undertake AIDS vaccine trials in the country. At present, an estimated four million persons in the country are infected with HIV.

On November 8, after a two-day seminar with some of the leading immunologists from the United States, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) programme, NACO has agreed to draft a concept paper on vaccine trials for Cabinet approval. The meet was organised by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) along with Department of Biotechnology and NACO.

The task before the Indian scientists is to develop a vaccine suitable to Indian conditions as HIV sub-types vary from place to place, time to time. The scientists have selected a few sites in India, including one at the National AIDS Research Institute, Pune. The vaccine to be tried is not known as yet.