There is always a ton of different theories regarding HIV and how to cure/prevent it, but I thought this one was particularly interesting. A group of researchers at the University of Liverpool have speculated that black death may have enabled some Europeans to be immune to HIV:
Devastating epidemics that swept Europe during the Middle Ages seem to have had an unexpected benefit – leaving 10% of today’s Europeans resistant to HIV infection. But epidemics of which disease? Researchers claimed this week that plague helped boost our immunity to HIV, but rival teams are arguing that the credit should go to smallpox.
Either way, some European’s carry a mutation which affects a protein known as CCR5 on the surface of white blood cells. The mutation prevents HIV from entering the cells and thus doing their damage.
Intense stuff man. I wonder if they can use this knowledge to come up with a vaccine?
Read: BoingBoing
MasterMaq's Blog 
You can’t make a vaccine based on a mutant target cell receptor, unless you genetic engineer all humans to have this. Anyways, HIV will probably mutate to override this in the next couple of years.
I say it’s improbable that a vaccine will be made for HIV. First of all, there’s no real money to be made in developing vaccines, and especially to a disease that infects so little people in the Western world (I know, it’s a bit cynical of me). Also, HIV mutates too quickly for anything to recognize it for a vaccine.
I have a cure for HIV, but it involves knowing straightaway whether you have been infected – INTERFERONS!!! Someone do clinical trials on this and prove me right!
Thanks for the info about the vaccine, and yeah, unfortunately mutations seem to be happening quickly. I read something the other day about a possible HIV mutation in Toronto.
Even if it does mutate quickly, they could still make a vaccine could they not? Wouldn’t it be somewhat similar to a flu shot that is constantly updated? Or maybe I am way out to lunch here…
Mutations will be seen more and more as people in the West don’t take their meds for treatment. In Africa, they are 70% more likely to take their ARV meds. Sadly, this is going to get a lot worse, in part because the rapid HIV tests used in the field in developing nations often give false-negatives, helping it spread…and mutate.