The idea of developing a HIV vaccine was dismissed years ago as too risky a proposition, however, scientists in the US are now in a bid to develop an HIV vaccine made of the deadly virus itself.

A team at 'VIRxSYS' of Maryland is revealed to initiate to inject people with the proposed HIV vaccine, albeit a deactivated version, after fetching successful tests of a similar vaccine against SIV -- simian HIV -- in monkeys, the 'New Scientist' reported.

The study has demonstrated that VRX1023 bears the ability to control viral load over the course of four months following a challenge with a pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV).

In addition, the scientists posted that the vaccine candidate achieved high levels of T-cell responses, outlining a 95% decrement of viral load in Rhesus monkeys which received lentiviral vaccination, as compared to non-vaccinated control animals in this study.

Franck Lemiale, Director of Immunology at VIRxSYS, said, "We are encouraged by the results of this study. The combination of strong immune responses, viral control, and CD4 preservation is tremendous".