I dont think there will ever be an AIDS vaccine because there is just WAY too much money tied up in AIDS research, charities, medical care etc etc.
Cure AIDS and you're sealing up a GOLD MINE and people know it.
That's a problem that researchers are muddling over right now. My parents work for a large pharm company and they have recently (in the last few years) closed down their infectious disease division and vaccine research. Why? Because it's not profitable. The biggest target for infectious disease such as heptitis and AIDS is the third world, and vaccines prevent illnesses, while treatment means prolonging one. It's a sad truth that companies make more money from treating a disease rather than preventing it. Surgeons get paid more than internists. Cocktail drugs is more expensive than a vaccine (if it comes in the future).
I also saw an interesting show about AIDS in Africa, about a researcher there who says he hopes to find a cure before a vaccine because once a vaccine is found, there will be no more money from developed nations for a cure. Remember, many diseases that ravage third world countries have vaccines against them today. And he also mentioned that a vaccine today doesn't negate the millions that will continue to suffer this disease, nor prevent many more people from getting infected due to lack of immunization in these poor countries. Something to think about.
i'm interested in how such a vaccine would work because
1. isn't a virus extremely hard to treat
2. it's in your blood... how do you treat a blood virus that gets pumped through your whole body?
but also, i would say it oculd work if the patient is on a healthy diet and looks after his/her immune system (after all, that is what the virus attacks)
I think you have some misunderstandings about how a vaccine work. A vaccine is a weakened or dead or genetically altered form of a virus or bacteria which is introduced into the body to trick the immune system into reacting against it.
The human body can form something called antibodies against an infinite number of foreign 'markers' (viruses, bacterias etc) if given enough time. These antibodies can then kill the foreign marker and extinguish the disease.
However, the disease may kill the person before that happens. A vaccine introduces a harmless version of the disease into the body, tricking the body into reacting and fighting against it, so that when the disease next attacks for real, the body already have the immunity against it. Sorry, I can't do a better job describing it, but that's a (rough) outline of how vaccines work in laymen's term.
AIDS is tricky because it is extremely mutagenic. Hence, anytime a vaccine is introduced against a current strain, a mutated form already exists which will survive against the vaccine induced antibodies to continue to attack the body. The vaccine will, in affect, allow for selection of those strains that are resistant, resulting in a mutant, vaccine-resistant strain. Evolution at work right here.
Sadly, my virology professor believes the current strategy we have against AIDS will never come up with a vaccine or cure. She believes the disease will simply become a chronic, treatment ailment like hepatitis.