South Africa is expected to begin its first HIV/AIDS vaccine trials at the end of September, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported on Monday.
Following this week's approval by the Medicines Control Council (MCC), the trials are expected to be the first phase of a series of three that could take seven to 10 years to complete.
However, local AIDS researchers recently warned that the common occurrence of people contracting more than one strain of HIV was hampering vaccine research.
A report by the local Institute of Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases said: "The challenge of more than one HIV subtype has hampered the development of effective HIV vaccines and made it difficult to treat people with dual infection."
The institute cautioned that, unlike 'flu, each time a person was exposed to HIV they risked reinfection. People with more than one type of HI virus also showed a rapid progression towards AIDS.
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