The vaccine consisted of inactivated SIV administered alongside doses of familiar bacteria – in the first case the TB-suppressant bacterium BCG, and subsequently with gut bacteria of theLactobacillus genus, including one type commonly used in probiotic supplements. This suggests that if human studies replicate the success seen in monkeys (by no means assured in vaccine studies) the vaccine could be administered in a drink.
Two initial safety trials are now planned in humans. In one, HIV-negative volunteers at low risk of HIV will be given the vaccine to see if it stimulates the same immune- and virus-suppressant responses. In the other, volunteers living with HIV who are on fully suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART) will be given the vaccine and then taken off ART six months later if test tube results suggest the vaccine has produced such responses.