HIV breakthrough with vaccine test

Thailand's Ministry of Public Health says the world's biggest HIV vaccine trial has produced the best results yet in preventing the virus.

Sixteen thousand volunteers from Thailand took part in the $140 million trial.

The US Army sponsored it using a so-called "prime-boost" combination of two vaccines.

Researchers say the vaccine has produced the best results of any tested so far, with a 31.2 per cent efficiency rate in preventing HIV infection.

But they say it is not yet high enough to be used commercially.

The volunteers were men and women under the age of 30 who lived in the provinces of Chonburi and Rayong where HIV is prevalent because of cross-border migration and the sex industry.