Thai volunteers key to HIV vaccine trial

NONGTAPAN, Thailand — Nearly 16,000 Thais ignored the false rumors that they were being infected by the AIDS virus, and overcame their fears of becoming social outcasts to participate in trials of the first vaccine found to prevent infection with the deadly virus.

Many of the volunteers — an eclectic mix of housewives, fishermen, factory workers, laborers and even prostitutes — saw first hand how the disease ravaged this region of plantations and industrial estates in southeast Thailand, and they wanted to do their part to end the epidemic that kills millions worldwide each year.

"In the 80s, the coffin business was booming around here. It was one family, after another," said Tanad Yomaha, a volunteer whose sister and brother-in-law died of AIDS. "The temple here had at least one cremation ceremony every night and people were in perpetual mourning."

Their quiet dedication — 90 percent of the volunteers stuck with the trial for over six years — paid off when American and Thai authorities announced Thursday that the experimental vaccine had been found to prevent infection with the AIDS virus, an unexpected result that many scientists thought would never be possible.

The vaccine was shown to cut the risk of HIV infection by more than 31 percent, and while the vaccine did not meet the researchers' goal of 50 percent, it could still have a big impact. Every day, 7,500 people worldwide are newly infected with HIV; 2 million died of AIDS in 2007, the U.N. agency UNAIDS estimates.

Soon after the trials started, Kim said volunteers heard whispering neighbors say the vaccine contained HIV and that the U.S. Army — which sponsored the study with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — was using a vaccine too dangerous to test in the United States.

Some even complained they risked losing their girlfriends or jobs after word spread they were participating in the trials.

"I was scared I would become a guinea pig and that they would inject us with AIDS," said Saichon Booncharoen, a 36-year-old, who later became a volunteer and helped recruit other participants.

The volunteers, however, said their initial doubts subsided when they learned the vaccine was not made from whole virus — dead or alive — and cannot cause HIV. Ministry health workers educated potential volunteers about the vaccine and AIDS, and researchers worked with communities to stamp out rumors and misinformation.