An experimental vaccine reduced the presence of the HIV virus by at least 80 percent in a Brazilian study of 18 infected patients published on Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine. Viral loads in all patients fell and stayed low for one year after being inoculated with the vaccine three times in a six week period, the study said. In eight of the patients, viral loads fell by more than 90 percent. The patients did not receive any antiviral drugs prior to or during the study, which was conducted by the Federal University in Pernambuco state and sponsored by French medical institutes. Despite the encouraging results, researchers advised caution about hope for a cure for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
