PROMISING LEADS, a few disappointments, and some frustrations characterize the search for vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases. All these characteristics were evident at an international symposium in Oxford, England, sponsored by the World Health Organization and Oxford University.
The big question there, as everywhere, of course is: What are the prospects for an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) vaccine (JAMA. 1989;262:13)?
While scientific investigators seek the answer to that question, other sexually transmitted diseases continue to pose major challenges (JAMA. 1989;261:3509-3510). The Oxford meeting offered insight into how researchers are trying to solve some of these "other" sexually transmitted disease problems.
Candidate HSV-2 Vaccine
For example, in research on genital herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), a genetically engineered vaccine will soon be entering phase I clinical trials. Although previous attempts to develop vaccines to protect against infection with and recurrence of HSV-2 have been unsuccessful, the vaccine has produced promising