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September 18, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Rare HIV Subtype to Leave Estonian HIV Positives Without Vaccine" Baltic News Service (www.bns.ee) (09/16/02)

The HIV strain that is spreading in Estonia is so rare that Finnish biotechnology firm FIT Biotech is shutting down any plans it initially had of testing a vaccine developed by Estonian scientists, saying it would be economically unfeasible. Approximately 85 percent of Estonians infected with HIV have the rare subtype G infection, while about 15 percent are infected with the A subtype, common to Eastern Europe and Russia.  Mart Ustav, a professor at Tartu University and FIT vice president, noted that the firm will produce the subtype G vaccine molecule in the lab; however, he said it is not likely that human trials will be conducted.  Ustav theorized that the cause of rare HIV strain's emergence in Estonia was conceivably from a virus brought in by a sailor from Africa, where six cases of the G strain of HIV have been identified.

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